A BOOK REVIEW ON THE NOVEL "CITY OF SPIES "PRESENTER MUHAMMAD HASNAIN

1. AS’SALAM O ALAIKUM

2. Presented By: Muhammad Hasnain
Presented To: Sir Jamaal Ahmad
Book Review on
“CITY OF SPIES”
Author: Sorayya Khan

3. ABOUT AUTHOR
 Sorayya Khan is the author of CITY OF SPIES (2015). Over the
years, her work has been published in various literary quarterlies
and several anthologies.
 She is the daughter of a Pakistani father and a Dutch mother, was
born in Europe, and moved to Pakistan as a child. She now lives in
New York with her husband and children. She spent part of her
childhood in Islamabad and Lahore in 1970’s.
 She’s the author of three novels Five Queen’s Road (2006), Noor
(2009) and the City Of Spies (2015).

4. CITY OF SPIES
MAIN IDEA
Set in Islamabad and Lahore, this novel is a young
girl’s coming-of-age story that explores her
conflicting loyalties and her ongoing struggle to
make sense of her world.
Aliya, an eleven year old is struggling in her life,
stuck in Americans and Pakistanis, she tries to set
apart her school life and personal life.

5. CITY OF SPIES
CHARACTERS
Aliya Shah
The narrator of this novel.
She’s a smart girl whose father is Pakistani and mother
is Dutch.
Who finds herself facing an identity crisis between
being Pakistani or American.

6. CITY OF SPIES
Javed Shah
Father of Aliya.
Worked for UN in Austria.
The Chairman of WAPDA in 1970’s
 Irene
Mother of Aliya, a Dutch converted to Islam.
 Her Muslim name was Yasmin.

7. CITY OF SPIES
 Amir
 Brother of Aliya.
 He lived in Cairo for Studies at Al-Azhar.
 Lehla
 Sister of Aliya,
 She lived in New York.
 Grandfather
 He lived in Lahore
 He was deaf but the smartest person in
Aliya’s Family.

8. CITY OF SPIES
Sadiq
The one person who, I feel, is the star of the book,
 is the servant of the family.
. Hanif
Son of Sadiq.
A very beloved boy
Who was killed in a car accident

9. CITY OF SPIES
 Lizzy
 She is the American friend of Aliya.
 She studied with Aliya at American School in Islamabad
 Mr.Simon
Father of Lizzy, who worked for the USAID. Later
on, revealed to be a CIA spy.
 Anne Simon
Mother of Lizzy, who was a nurse. Later on became a
teacher at Aliya’s School..

10. CITY OF SPIES
 MAIN EVENTS
 Hanif’s Death
 The beloved boy, of Aliya’s servant has come to Islamabad for a change in
his life, who had become withdrawn after Bhutto was arrested, for whom
he had been worried. He had left playing cricket, his favorite sports or
being happy. After coming here, he changed and came to his full life.
 In Feb 1978, He was coming back from shopping, having bought new
shoes with his father at night. Suddenly a driver came out of nowhere and
hit Hanif, killing him at the spot. The death of his son made Sadiq a broken
man. Aliya was deeply sorrowful at the death of a small child.

11. CITY OF SPIES
Prime Minister’s Hanging
On, 4th of April 1979 Aliya is told by her father that the prime minister was
hanged to death. Hanif was right that “the prime minster will live as long as
he lives”. It had been a year since he died and the prime minister arrested for
a murder, and sentenced to death. Aliya is affected by this, she felt it
humiliating going to the American school, as the prime minister of her
country was hanged, that was approved by CIA, fathers’ of the American
students.

12. CITY OF SPIES
 American Embassy at Fire
 As when the seizure in Makkah took place, the Pakistanis were
angry and assumed that the Americans were involved in it.
 On Wednesday 21st Nov1979, a small crowd of angry locals had
gathered outside the school gates. They were so angry that they set
the Embassy on fire. Aliya’s grandfather came to rescue her and
drove her home with her friend Lizzy and her brothers also.
 The Pakistanis forced Americans to leave the country that night, this
was the last day Aliya saw Lizzy.

13. CITY OF SPIES
SUMMARY
 In Sorayya Khan’s city of spies, she hints the conflicting loyalties of
a girl to the people around her and is describing Pakistan of 1970’s
 In the story, Aliya has just turned eleven, her ‘half-half’ mind (with
a Pakistani father and a Dutch mother) is a constant, reflected in her
thoughts. General Zia and his strict orders have taken over the
Pakistan of 1977 and PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is in jail, soon to be
hanged. The Constitution is suspended, the national assembly has
been dissolved and the governors and chief ministers fired.

14. CITY OF SPIES
 Little Hanif, her servant’s son, gave up his love for cricket because
the imprisoned PM meant something to him. Now, he only prays for
his release. Her own sister and brother are to stay in foreign
countries, away from their families, away from this military
dictatorship. She had an American friend at school, Lizzy. Little
Hanif being run over by a car and killed him. It is revealed in the
novel that the culprit is Anne Simon, Lizzy’s mother.
 Aliya was not just seeking answers to the happenings around her.
She was also looking for a whole identity, forced into pieces. When
the American school was burned by Pakistanis, she found herself no
longer half-half, but now she was suddenly Pakistani.

15. CITY OF SPIES
 The Pakistanis attacked the embassy in the revenge of seizure of the Grand Masjid
in Makkah. The attack at the American school and Embassy made the Americans
leave Pakistan as soon as possible.
 Lizzy, with her family left Pakistan, on that night which left Aliya sad. They left
on buses of the school, which were painted from yellow to sky blue.
 Sadiq was missing on the night and Aliya follows him, they end up in the 87th
street, where the Simon’s lived, she figured out that he was trying to kill Anne
Simon but he was not. When the bus had been leaving to take the Americans to
the airport her relationship with her servant Sadiq was what left a lasting
impression. In a scene towards the end, ‘When the spitball hit my hair, I prayed
that Sadiq had been spared,’ says it all. Sadiq was transferred to Lahore with her
grandfather, as he was considered unstable due to his behavior the next day. Aliya
thought Sadiq was responsible for the embassy attack.

16. CITY OF SPIES
 It was years later, she found out what had really happened on that day
in November and finally came to terms with the past. On her last visit
to Lahore, she found out Sadiq’s truth of the day on which embassy
was burnt. Sadiq had been gone to the Embassy road that day, after
the attack he went there to check what was going.
 It is revealed that Sadiq had helped a babysitter to escape the
embassy that day with Anne Simon’s child. Aliya is ashamed on her
thoughts, these many years.
 The story ends on everybody settled in their lives and everything
changed in the country, except the government, the hills and the
melodious azaans. Providing a brief account of her unfortunate
country in the years gone by, she feels sad passing by Islamabad and
Lahore of her childhood.

17. CITY OF SPIES
 MY VIEWS
 This delicate political novel evokes the sights and smells of the
Pakistan of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and General Zia. We are inside the
head of a child spying on her past. I read this novel as the story of a
schoolgirl in Pakistan of 1970’s my country’s historical time.
 City of Spies makes such an impressive read for me because of the
author’s writing way. The author has written the book wherein
words flow like it's in their nature
 Aliya is a sensitive and an observant girl, the story has a great
narrator who keenly focuses on her surroundings.

18. CITY OF SPIES
 Aliya’s effort to learn Urdu, and finding her whole identity as a
Pakistani pleased me.
 After reading this novel, it felt that it was a memoir but it wasn’t. It
was totally a fictional novel.

19. Jazak Allah