In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (2009)

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is a collection of short stories by Pakistani-American author Daniyal Mueenuddin. It won The Story Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and the 2009 National Book Award.

Stories

"Nawabdin Electrician"

"Saleema"

"Provide, Provide"

"About a Burning Girl"

"In Other Rooms, Other Wonders"

"Our Lady of Paris"

"Lily"

"A Spoiled Man"

Summary

The stories uncovers a variegated society in which people's social status and expectations are understood without being explained, and in which the class system and poverty are shown to influence any decision made at a critical moment in the characters' lives. The book consists of eight linked stories written in Pakistan in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, and describe Pakistani culture from within.

Reviews

Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief and chairman of Bertelsmann AG's Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, says;

"The Pakistani writers are addressing change and what's happening today in the world. There is something completely contemporary in this writing."

Poet and Writer Magazine writes;

"Mueenuddin's book investigates life in his native Pakistan (he was also raised in Massachusetts) through the lenses of individuals in different stations, from an electrician to a woman servant to a farm manager, a position the author himself occupies today. He described himself as being in the profession of identifying characters, both in his writing and in his business at home."