“Dhaka
Stories” —The Nation
“The World
in My Hands” —The Daily Star
“Dhaka
Stories” —The Nation
“The World
in My Hands” —The Daily Star
“Good Night, Mr. Kissinger opens in 1970, in the days before war,
when an unfinished suburban house is suddenly occupied by the family of an untouchable and
disarming girl. Her brief appearance in her young neighbor's life overshadows (at least for
a time) the tanks that soon roll onto their idyllic street. Kissinger ends in present day
Dhaka, with the construction magnate Shabhaz ruminating about his dysfunctional family on
the forty-first floor of the highest tower of the city-one which he himself built. Ahmed
plunges into this anarchic, overwhelming place, plucking individuals from the masses to tell
stories of love and ambition, family secrets and exile. There are the brothers Bahram and
Jamshed, whose father dresses them in similar clothes to avoid sibling rivalry. And
Ramkamal, author of the greatest novel never written, whose disappearance leaves behind a
group of disjointed followers trying to make sense of their lives. And there is James
D'Costa, the exiled Bangladeshi waiter with an unlikely name, whose encounters with Henry
Kissinger force a tense confrontation between past and future. From beginning to end, Good
Night, Mr. Kissinger traces the modern history of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and its rise from
provincial outpost to megacity.”
—BookPage, starred review
Praise for The Last Fire Season:
Item 1 of 10