A Case of Exploding Mangoes

There is an ancient saying that when lovers fall out, a plane goes down. This is the story of one such plane. Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988? Was it because of: mechanical failure, human error, the CIA's impatience, a blind woman's curse, generals not happy with their pension plans, the mango season or could it be your narrator, Ali Shigri? Teasing, provocative, and very, very funny, Mohammed Hanif's debut novel takes one of the subcontinent's enduring mysteries and out if it spins a tale as rich and colourful as a beggar's dream.

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"Witty, elegant, and deliciously anarchic. Hanif has a lovely eye and an even better ear."<br>-John le Carre <br>"Unputdownable and darkly hilarious . . . Mohammed Hanif is a brave, gifted writer. He has taken territory in desperate need of satire - General Zia, the military, Pakistan at the time of the Soviet-Afghan war - and made it undeniably his own."<br>-Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist<br>"<br>""A sure-footed, inventive debut that deftly undercuts its moral rage with comedy and deepens its comedy with moral rage . . . The novel has less in common with the sober literature of fact than it does with Latin American magical realism (especially novels about mythic dictators such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Autumn of the Patriarch) and absurdist military comedy (like Joseph Heller's Catch-22). Hanif adopts a playful, exuberant voice, as competing theories and assassination plots are ingeniously combined and overlaid."<br>-"Kirkus Reviews <br>""Pakistan's ongoing political turmoil adds a piquant edge to this fact-based farce . . . Hanif's depiction of military foibles recalls the satirical wallop of Catch-22,"" [He brings] heft to this sagely absurd depiction of his homeland's history of political conspiracies and corruption."<br>-"Publishers Weekly <br>""Entertaining and illuminating . . . Hanif has crafted a clever black comedy about military culture, love, tyranny, family, and the events that eventually brought us to September 11, 2001."<br>-"Booklist<br>"<br> "Insanely brilliant. . . . [Hanif] writes with great generosity and depth." <br>-"The Washington Post Book World" <br>"Funny, subversive, erotic and sad. Anyone thinking of applying for the job of unhinged, religious dictator should read it first." <br>-Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time <p>"From the Hardcover edition."

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Mohammed Hanif was born in Okara, Pakistan, in 1965. He graduated from Pakistan Air Force Academy as Pilot Officer, but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism. He has written plays for the stage and BBC radio, and his film The Long Night has been shown at film festivals around the world. He is a graduate of UEA's creative writing programme. He is currently head of the BBC's Urdu Service and lives in London.

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