Recently I read "The Good Muslim" by Tahmima Anam, an unforgettable story about the consequences of peace after the shadow of war.. The book outlines the minimal triumphs and the continuous struggle in the life of the much loved fictional character of Maya Haque. It is a story about love, loss, faith, politics and family conflict. The story is set in Dhaka and talks about Maya, a young doctor (mid-wife and surgeon), during and after their struggle for independence. Maya and her mother survie the war to welcome home Sohail (Maya's brother). As is typical with war vetrans from their time, he suffers trauma and manic depression from the unspeakable he did and witnessed during the war. Maya is estatic her brother returns home. Sohail, troubled by something he did during the war beings to recend into a cucoon of silence and turns to religion , specifically Islam, after some direction from his mother. The act itself is not shared until much later in the plot. The book then goes on to explain all they went through when the lost their father and were forced to move to Pakistan when they were 10, and then follows Sohail in his tumultuous journey into religions fanatism. He loses touch of reality, turns his back of family, love and education. Maya unable to handle it much longer leaves Dhaka, and becomes a village doctor for 10 years only to be influential in the life of a pregnant village girl who delivers a baby with down syndrome. The village folk take it as a curse and whip the mother as punishment and Maya is forced to, abadon her friend return to Dhaka where Sohail just lost his wife. Sohail's son is a fast favourite of Maya's and we that at the age of five, is an illiterate street urchin, all in the name of religion. Sohail goes on to become a religious leader, leading people into a world of illiteracy and darkness. The book also goes into a description about the unsung heroes of war - the women. The one;s that are left behind and await eagerly for news about the fate of their loved ones and the ones that are left unprotected un enemy territory. Maya Haque helps these women who were abused and taken advantage of by foreign armies after the community turns their backs on them. The leads to further conflict between Maya and Sohail. Maya also meets a man, Joy, towards the middle of the novel, who shares her principles and strengthens the readers idea that all will end well for her. However, we are drawn into the climax that follow Maya into troubled waters where she finds herself after she goes out to rescue her beloved nephew. To stop myself from giving away too much about the book I shall not go into the details but its enough to say that it is heart wrenching.
What made it hard to accept were Maya's revolutionary ideals and courage, so atypical in a woman from her time and background. Perhaps that is what qualifies to make her the heroine of a book, but one cant help wonder if this Bangladeshi writer, born into an affluent family and educated abroad, truly understand the quality of of life that people lead or still lead in a south asian country like Bangladesh. Otherwise the book is well written, the plots- complete and the characters become dear to the reader's heart. As the winner of the Commonwealth Writers prize and shortlisted for the the Man Booker award it is an easy sell and definitely a must read for dreamers and idealists alike.
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