Amidst the Dead
By Faheem Sikander
Liberty Publishing
ISBN: 978-627-7626-150
418pp.

It is always a good feeling to pick up an English novel written by a fellow countryman, especially one that is published in Pakistan. Amidst the Dead is the debut novel of Faheem Sikander, a member of the nation’s civil service. A graduate from Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration, he had also taught English after receiving a Masters in English Literature. Without doubt, therefore, the book is written by a bright, intelligent man, who has seen many different facets of life.

The novel is mainly set in Peshawar and revolves around Ahsan, a civil servant in the police force. Like the author, Ahsan has also taught English at one time and, perhaps like the author again, has chosen the civil service over teaching, only because of the greater prestige attached to it. These autobiographical touches and more are discernible in the novel, like the fact that both Ahsan and the author are natives of Peshawar and are fond of English literature.

In the author’s note at the beginning of Amidst the Dead, Sikander calls his novel literary fiction. This immediately diminishes the importance of the plot in favour of characterisation. It is not surprising, therefore, that the story of the novel is simple and highly predictable.

The conflicted and gloomy character of Ahsan is the main force in the novel. Ahsan is a disconsolate and depressed soul, both because he has lost his lady love and because his job affords him little satisfaction. We also discover that he is highly emotional and sentimental and often requires the pragmatism of his younger brother to steady him.

A debut novel by a Pakistani civil servant, based on the realities of Pakistani society, has hints of autobiographical details and is a brave effort, but is also an uneven and laboured read

The object of Ahsan’s love is Ada, a girl who studied with him at university, but with whom he lost touch after graduation. In a story replete with explanations, the reader is not quite clear why Ahsan had to suffer alone for so many years. Surely, after his induction in the police, he could have located Ada. In fact, it is only when Ada somehow finds him and phones him that he is reunited with her.

In the meantime, he becomes infatuated with another, older woman, a doctor. It takes many chapters to enumerate the details of this woman’s life and even that of her nurse’s. Unfortunately, even after wading through the minutiae of these women’s biographies, the reader is unable to discern any material connection of these characters to the main thrust of the story.

Without giving away any spoilers, it can be said that Amidst the Dead is a love story. There are many obstacles in the path of the lovers, not the least being Ahsan’s job. Here, the author ably sheds light on the civil service of Pakistan. According to him, it is a career where honest and conscientious officers often find themselves sidelined and even reviled. Their presence is viewed as an irritant by others of the cadre. Ahsan is thus beset with difficult choices between his heart and his conscience, and the path of love becomes a very rocky one.

Even though the novel is character-driven, the dramatis personae is not one that evokes empathy. It is difficult to be concerned about the fate of the players in the story. The characters are neither endearing nor interesting enough for the reader to become concerned about their fate.

The characters of Ahsan and Ali, the younger brother, are envisioned as two sides of a single coin. Ali is ruled by his head and Ahsan by his heart. It is a telling and, in some ways satisfying, consequence of this that Ali not only keeps his brother from making grave mistakes but ends up as a successful and rich businessman, while Ahsan continues to be dejected, dispirited and full of angst.

Ahsan is depicted as a believer in dreams and omens. His dark nature sees his future in drab colours. The long dream sequences that he experiences are dismissed by Ali as the raving of a dismal mind but Ahsan takes them to heart and makes plans accordingly.

The character of the female protagonist, Ada, is that of a stereotypical Pakistani woman. Even though she is in her mid-thirties, as she is a classmate of Ahsan’s, she is made out to be persistently weepy, whiny and helpless. Ada is in tears whenever she makes an appearance in the story. Her red and swollen eyes are often commented upon. It is only near the end that she shows some grit.

Amidst the Dead is an uneven read. It is slow and laboured. On the one hand, Sikander makes many literary allusions and uses abstruse vocabulary. But, on the other, the writing is stilted and repetitious and marred by ubiquitous errors of grammar, usage and syntax.

The author’s lengthy and recurrent discourses on the social evils rife in Pakistan are also distracting for the reader. Weaving the story so as to show the negative effects of these societal ills rather than orating about them would have increased the impact of the novel. The telling just disrupts the rhythm of the story.

Better editing could also have eliminated gaffes, such as a child contracting smallpox in the 21st century, and typographical errors overlooked by spell check. It could also have reduced the length of the book and made the story more gripping.

Amidst the Dead is Faheem Sikander’s first foray into fiction. It is a valiant attempt and as such needs to be applauded. The story is based on the realities of Pakistani society. The difficulties of marrying for love, the challenges of government jobs and the lowly position of teachers in the eyes of the public are all part of the Pakistani landscape that are brought forth in the book.

Sikander also talks of mental illness, the deplorable treatment of minorities, the biradari culture and the evil nexus of landlords and politicians. So, even though Amidst the Dead does not present any stirring revelations, the author is fearless in laying out the truth as he sees it.

The reviewer is a freelance writer, author of the novel The Tea Trolley and translator of Toofan Se Pehlay: Safar-i-Europe Ki Diary

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 3rd, 2024