Genre
Historical Fiction
Setting and Context
The setting of the book is in different countries. Part One, “The Yet Unknowing World,” is set in Nagasaki, Japan on the day of the atomic bomb on August 9, 1945. Part Two, “Veiled Birds,” is set in Delhi, India during the British Raj in 1947. Part Three, “Part-Angel Warriors” is set in Karachi, Pakistan and a mujahideen training camp in Afghanistan in 1983-4. Part Four, “The Speed Necessary to Replace Loss,” is set in New York City and Afghanistan in 2001.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is omniscient. The point of view is close third person.
Tone and Mood
The tone of the novel is serious and somber.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The main protagonist of the novel is Hiroko Tanaka. Other protagonists are Konrad, Elizabeth, James, Sajjad, Harry, Kim, and Raza. The antagonists of the novel are various nation states and what they will justify in the face of war.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the novel is the desires of the individual vs the demands of the nation-state. Another is individual consciousness vs nationalism/patriotism.
Climax
The climax of the novel occurs at the very end of Part 5, “The Speed Necessary to Replace Loss.” Kim and Raza meet for the first time face-to-face right when the police are taking him away due to Kim’s betrayal.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
Shamsie often uses imagery to describe settings in a way that demonstrates that particular character’s state of mind. When Sajjad is feeling optimistic in the beginning of “Veiled Birds,” the landscape around him is lush and colorful. In contrast, when Raza reaches a moment of despair in “The Speed Necessary to Replace Loss,” his surroundings reflect his inner turmoil: "He looked up into the distant hills—already darkened into silhouettes in the early part of the long winter night—memory rather than sight providing him with images of coloured strips of cloth tied to the ends of long poles. Some bleached to whiteness, some bright as fresh blood, each marking the burial place of those who had died in some version of the war which had rolled across Afghanistan for over twenty years" (303).
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between Raza’s ideological fantasies in joining the mujahideen in “Veiled Birds” and Kim’s ideological nationalism following 9/11 in “The Speed Necessary to Replace Loss.”
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
