The Association of Small Bombs, Karan Mahajan
The Association of Small Bombs, Karan Mahajan
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The Association of Small Bombs

Author: Karan Mahajan

Narrator: Neil Shah

Unabridged: 9 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/22/2016

Synopsis

The Association of Small Bombs is an expansive and deeply humane novel that is at once groundbreaking in empathy, dazzling in acuity, and ambitious in scope.When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana, two Delhi schoolboys, pick up their family’s television at a repair shop with their friend Mansoor Ahmed one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb—one of the many “small” bombs that go off seemingly unheralded across the world—detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb. After a brief stint at a university in America, Mansoor returns to Delhi where his life becomes entangled with the mysterious and charismatic Ayub, a fearless young activist whose own allegiances and beliefs are more malleable than Mansoor could imagine. Woven into the story of the Khuranas and the Ahmeds is the gripping tale of Shockie, a Kashmiri bomb­maker who has forsaken his own life for the independence of his homeland.Karan Mahajan writes brilliantly about the effects of terrorism on victims and perpetrators, proving himself to be one of the most provocative and dynamic novelists of his generation.

About Karan Mahajan

Karan Mahajan grew up in New Delhi, India. His first novel, Family Planning, was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize and published in nine countries. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR’s All Things Considered, and many other publications. A graduate of Stanford University and the Michener Center for Writers, he lives in Austin, Texas.

About Neil Shah

Neil Shah is an Audie Award-nominated narrator and AudioFile Earphones Award winner who has recorded over one hundred audiobooks. A classically trained actor with an MFA from the Old Globe/University of San Diego program, Neil has appeared off-Broadway and on regional stages, as well as in film and television.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Snotchocheez on April 24, 2017

3 stars I think I'm overdosing on war and terrorism, which are not the best subjects to be stuck on in these very volatile days of late. It's not necessarily Karan Mahajan's fault that his thought-provoking novel The Association of Small Bombs left me cold and wanting something else to read, but I c......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on March 16, 2019

This book is a quick read about difficult subject matter. While the message is important, I was kind of lukewarm on the delivery and I never really got into the book. At times it was interesting, but there were a lot of other times I found my attention wandering. Any story about religion and terroris......more

Quotes

“The Association of Small Bombs is not the first novel about the aftermath of a terrorist attack, but it is the finest I’ve read at capturing the seduction and force of the murderous, annihilating illogic that increasingly consumes the globe.” Wall Street Journal

“Smart, devastating, unpredictable and enviably adept in its handling of tragedy and its fallout.” New York Times Book Review

“Mahajan’s ambitious and all too painful novel about terrorism…carries us deep into the human side of a tragedy.” Washington Post

“In Mahajan’s riveting and intricate story, the aftershocks of small bombs are as inescapable as their explosions.” Vice

“In The Association of Small Bombs, violence is far less the bloody fulfillment of Islam’s tenets than it is a misguided attempt to counter Muslim oppression.” The Millions

“The ordinary humanity in these characters—before, during, and after tragedy besets them—is the strength of this audiobook and of Neil Shah’s narration…Shah eschews the melodramatic, instead leaving the room needed to hear the wailing of mothers, the confusion of fathers, and the disenfranchisement of youth. In ‘keeping it real,’ Shah ensures that listeners connect with Mahajan’s story.” AudioFile

“Throbbing heads, frayed nerves: this residue of violence, a physicality delivered with varying intensity, is the hallmark of this novel.” Flavorwire

“[Mahajan is] strong at exploring the very long shockwaves of small-scale violence…[A] novel that’s alert to the intersection of the emotional and political.” Kirkus Reviews

“Mahajan’s talent is in…weaving together the evolving motives and passions of his characters so intricately that in the end we see each as culpable, and human.” Publishers Weekly

“Urgent and masterful, this novel shows us how bystander, bomber, victim, and survivor will forever share a patch of scorched ground.” Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

Awards

  • Millions.com Pick
  • A Flavorwire Pick
  • Men’s Journal Pick
  • Bustle Pick
  • Vol.1 Brooklyn Pick
  • PopSugar Pick
  • BookRiot Pick
  • Travel+Leisure Magazine Pick
  • The Week Magazine Pick
  • Wall Street Journal Pick
  • Publishers Weekly Pick
  • Kirkus Reviews Pick
  • Audible Pick
  • Time Magazine Pick
  • National Book Award Finalist
  • Goodreads Readers’ Choice
  • BuzzFeed Books Pick
  • New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book of the Year
  • Huffington Post Best Book
  • Vulture.com Pick
  • Anisfield-Wolf Book Prize
  • NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award
  • PEN Literary Award
  • International Dublin Literary Award - Nominee
  • International Dublin Literary Award
  • Simpson Family Literary Prize
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