She had not thought of destination so much as departure, wheeling through the world with the awful freedom of someone with no one to answer to. She had become, in fact, a figure out of myth. The character who loses everything and is born anew in blood. This book is amazing. No, scratch that. Amazing is probably too weak a word here. Think Astounding. Remarkable. The kind of book you tell your best friend to read so you can discuss it together, going over all the finer points. I’ll admit, I start...

A twisting yarn of a book that struck me as something written fresh on the heels of 9-11. There were certain elements of the plot that I thought were probably even more impactful for readers who read this book a few years after that horrific event. Beginning in Nagasaki, Japan, just before the second nuclear bomb drops, the story ventures to India, Turkey, Pakistan, and New York as it follows two families, one of German-English and another Japanese-Pakistani extraction. Lives mirror and intersec...

I was impressed with the scope of this novel - from Japan to Pakistan to America, and covering about half a century - it touched upon a broad spectrum of cultures, politics and lives, with the twists and turns in the story largely governed by geographic location. For me it was all about identity, and how a sense of identity can be damaged by the horror of an atomic bomb, or by failing exams, by subterfuge, or by looking different to those around you. But as well as exploring alienation, this boo...

This has quickly become one of my favourite books of all time. It's an important and beautifully written read, give it a chance.

It is a saga of two families whose lives are inextricably intertwined. It is an epic tale sweeping across continents over a sixty-year period. Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie begins in Nagasaki on August 9, 1945; goes to India just before partition in 1947; to Pakistan in 1982-1983; and concludes in New York and Afghanistan in 2001-2002. The central figure is Hiroko Tanaka, a Nagasaki resident. The novel opens with her as a twenty-one-year-old and engaged to a man of English and German descent.

The journey from Hiroko Tanaka to an almost Hiroko Konrad and finally, Hiroko Ashraf was intensely poetic and linked to the many absurdities of life. Everything written in the book can be reflected in one simple phrase, "The speed necessary to replace loss." More than a search for identity, Burnt Shadows is a tale about learning the secret about loss. There is no overcoming, just a bitter fading of it and an ever pronounceable taste that can surface anytime.For Raza Konrad Ashraf, the narration

NO SPOILERSI finished this last night. Three or four stars? Do I REALLY like it or do I like it. While I was reading it, I REALLY liked it, but with time it is the story that will remain not all the wonderful lines that are so intriguing. I think it will turn into an "I liked it" book. You will thoroughly enjoy the time spent with this book if you enjoyed the quotes below. Don't think three stars means, aacch choose something else. I loved it b/c it was thought provoking. The last third of the b...

A quietly devastating exploration of the human costs of war. Ranging from Nagasaki in 1945 via pre-partition Delhi and Karachi through to New York and Afghanistan in 2002, the story interweaves tales of conflict and moral choices and ambivalences with an intensely moving family story. Beautifully written and thought provoking - Shamsie is a talented story teller with plenty to say about the modern world.

For me,it is Kamila Shamsie's second best book,after Home Fire.Not that I'd call it a great book,but it's still much better than the rest of her books.It tries to tackle too many subjects,and doesn't quite succeed.It begins with the story of a Japanese victim of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.But if the idea was to show the destructive effects of the atomic bomb on this victim,that doesn't happen.The Japanese woman moves to India and goes through the rest of her life, without showing any ill eff...

A novel with great scope ranging over a vast sweep of modern history, written with great warmth and understanding. The characters are well drawn and believable. Characters with flaws, who make mistakes which have consequences, but who are understandable and feel like real people.The novel is broken up into three sections. The first is in the 1940s; in 1945 Hiroko Tanaka has become engaged to Konrad Weiss, a German living, like her in Nagasaki. He is killed by the atomic bomb and she is injured.

"Burnt Shadows" was a gift to me from a friend who valued this book highly. It was a gift for me because it has given me much food for thought. At the outset, I was determined to enjoy this book to share the pleasure with my friend, but as I progressed I could observe why she ranked it so extremely well. I will not attempt a summary here. One can easily find that elsewhere. The scope of this novel is huge. It spans about 60 years, from the A- Bomb in Nagasaki, to the partitioning of India and Pa...

Undoubtedly a 5.0. How swiftly the author has swept through the eras; three generations suffering at the hand of fate.. and war. How effortlessly she has woven the myriad of ideas, linking them with each other through real life occurrences is particularly commendable. Not only is this novel thought provoking but it also tells a tale of recent times. How war is bringing nothing but turmoil and destruction. How misunderstandings and lack of communication gives chance for evil to prosper and one to...

'Why? Can't women travel alone in India?'Elizabeth almost laughed. So much for those demure Japanese women of all the stories she'd heard. Here was one who would squeeze the sun in her fist if she ever got the chance; yes, and tilt her head back to swallow its liquid light.Here is how to write a novel with emotional truth: find your characters, and let them make their stories. But Kamila Shamsie, who in Burnt Shadows does this so superbly, has done so much more. When I shared the opening themes

For the first two-thirds of this book it was 5-stars in my head, up there with Home Fire - then the final third just became too convenient, too schematic, too obviously plotted. I could believe that someone present in Nagasaki the day the bomb was dropped could take herself to India to witness the dying days of the Raj, then the Partition and birth of Pakistan. I could even accept that her teenage son should become embroiled in the politics of Afghanistan when the Soviets invade, given his mixed...

I read so much, and so quickly, that it takes a rare exception of a book to send me searching for post-it notes and a pen to write down quotes from the writing. I found the writing in this book so compelling, that I stopped reading everything else for two whole days and just immersed myself in the story of a woman who finds herself in the midst of several acts of war in the lifetime. From Nagasaki where she is scared mentally and physically, to Delhi where she runs with her new husband from the

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie is an ambitious epic book that grabs you in the prologue, as an unnamed narrator is disrobed and left to wait naked with only a steel bench to sit on. His thought is – “How did it come to this.” How stark is this setting – but the grace of the language warns you that this is a story that you want to see unfold.The story spans 60 years and takes the reader to five different countries: Nagasaki, August 1945; Delhi 1947; Pakistan 1982-3; and New York/ Afghanistan 200...