Detonations remain muffled in this wonderfully restrained, shrewdly comic novel, yet even the smallest shock reverberates ... Ms. Hasan grants this hero such a complete inner life—and surrounds him with such finely drawn characters—that the very air he breathes seems dense with thoughts and longings.
Hasan is cannily observant, a sophisticated writer with a wry and subtle sense of humour, with which she highlights the ridiculousness and futility of seemingly ordinary milieus, while never detracting from the increasing alienation of a community.
Anjum Hasan, a gifted writer who deserves wider recognition, deftly highlights the power of ideas and the peril of majoritarianism. While some may find History’s Angel a little talky, others will enjoy it more for just that reason.
At times the story indulges in too much navel-gazing with one Hindi or Urdu couplet too many. But through Alif, the reader, too, can mourn the rapid decline of secularism in India while savoring the calming rhythms of daily life in one of the world’s biggest metropolises.
Erudite and languid ... While the story is slow moving and at times unfocused, Hasan frequently blends her chronicle of Alif’s problems with insightful internal monologues, in which he reflects on the country’s history and simmering anti-Muslim sentiments.
