Karan Mahajan

One of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2016 A New York Times Notable Book of 2016 On a hot May day in 1996 a car bomb detonates in a Delhi marketplace. Just a 'small' bomb, but it is fatal for two Khurana school boys. Their friend Mansoor survives the blast bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb. After a failed stint at university in America, Mansoor returns to Delhi, where he becomes entangled with the mysterious and charismatic Ayub, a fearless young activist. Yet Mansoor isn't the only one damaged by the bomb. Mr and Mrs Khurana are trapped in labyrinthine legal battles, desperate for justice to appease their grief. Young bomb maker Shockie, striving for the future independence of his Kashmiri homeland, is also in Delhi that day, and afterwards will be inextricably linked to the blast. Humane and clear-eyed in equal measure, The Association of Small Bombs tackles the most urgent issue of today with astonishing empathy. Karan Mahajan writes about the effects of terrorism on victims and perpetrators alike, proving himself to be one of the most provocative and dynamic novelists of his generation.

The Association of Small Bombs

After witnessing his two friends killed by a "small" bomb that detonated in a Dehli marketplace, Mansoor Ahmed becomes involved with a charismatic young activist, whose allegiances and beliefs are more changeable than he could have imagined.

Melody Izard

bombs and masturbation and religion and porn and remorse and carpal tunnel syndrome.

A GRANTA BEST YOUNG AMERICAN NOVELIST 2017 When the Khurana boys and their friend Mansoor set out for one of Delhi's markets, disaster strikes without warning. A 'small' bomb detonates, killing the brothers instantly. Mansoor is one of the few survivors. From India to America, the lives of victims and bystanders, mothers and fathers, comrades and adversaries are changed forever. Even the young bomb maker cannot escape the heat of the blast. 'I can't remember the last time I read a book which conjured a world so rich and so convincing' MARK HADDON 'Brilliant... Masterful' KEVIN POWERS 'Unusually wise, tender and generous' JIM CRACE 'Breathtaking... Unforgettable' ADELLE WALDMAN 'Packed with small wonders of beauty and heartbreak that are impossible to resist' DINAW MENGESTU

Amanda Wells

I really took my time with this book. Not because it wasn't engaging, but because I felt it needed space in my mind. 
The subject matter - terrorism, bombs, and life in and around them - is one that I am reluctant to confront. And I really did enjoy the way this book was written - there were some truly beautiful passages, particularly the one early on about being the bomb.
"The best way to describe what he felt would be to say that first he was blind, then he could see everything. This is what it felt like to be the bomb. You were coiled up, majestic with blackness, unaware that the universe outside you existed, and then a wire snapped and ripped open your eyelids all the away around and you had a vision of the world that was 360 degrees and everything in your purview was doomed by seeing."
I gasped at that imagery, so beautiful and terrible.

I also loved the balance the book struck between really relating to and understanding the flaws and sympathies of each character, and attempting to 'objectively' portray the cause and effects of terrorism, activism, bombs, politics, and daily life. It seems the book was balanced in perspective, as well as between very small and personal moments, and large sweeping (often poetic) over head views. 

Perhaps the book shied just a little too much away from the gut punch that it might have been. Perhaps one more glimpse into Shockie's life, or Anusha, and it might have been a 5 star read. As it is, I'd still recommend it. I've never read a book from these perspectives before, and rarely accidentally come across a book so very Indian in its voice and context.

Nico J

I would give it a 3.5. It's dark, and there's something profoundly sad weighing on the whole narrative which the words attempt to explain but it just doesn't cut it. The unfamiliar words pulled me out a little bit, perhaps because words are usually italicized or put in a footnote, or even a glossary at the end. I don't mind doing the leg work but coupled with the wavy narrative, made it difficult to have the energy to look everything up. That's it, it has a heavy energy, it makes you tired with its depression. The sadness and anxiety surrounding Vikas pervades the entire book, is an analogy for it, really. 

People seem hung up on the changing perspectives. I'm generally not bothered even though I do agree with the notion that some authors can do it better than others. In this case, it clearly follows one bomb's effects into another generation, showing how the political climate, the culture, and the chance encounters carry the pervading depression into another generation and ultimately, it's as is said, the bomb is inside us. Maybe it's showing we all can be knocked off our path by a chance encounter, that we absorb all the toxic shrapnel and can culminate into our own ticking time bomb.

Shreerag Plakazhi

The emotions are a bit forced and the writing alternates between great and mediocre. I just couldn't connect with the characters enough and I attribute that to the author falling back on cliches far too many times. The attempt and the idea behind the attempt are great but the execution falls far short of the expectations from a book with such an interesting title. It's a shame when books don't live up to the title's potential.

Christina Hufford

3.5 stars. It's an incredibly well written, introspective character study, but it's also *very* heavy and depressing, without an ounce of hope or single moment of levity. I think it's a story that's worth reading, but be warned: this is DARK.

National Book Award Finalist Winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Winner of the American Academy of Arts & Letters Rosenthal Family Foundation Award Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award Winner of the Bard Fiction Prize One of the New York Times Book Review’s Ten Best Books of the Year One of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year PEN Center USA Literary Award Finalist for Fiction Simpson Family Literary Prize Finalist Shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Longlisted for the FT/Oppenheimer Emerging Voices Award Named a Best Book of the Year by: Buzzfeed, Esquire, New York magazine, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, The AV Club, The Fader, Redbook, Electric Literature, Book Riot, Bustle, Good magazine, PureWow, and PopSugar “Wonderful. . . . Smart, devastating, unpredictable. . . . I suggest you go out and buy this one. Post haste.” —Fiona Maazel, The New York Times Book Review “Brilliant.” —Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal “[Mahajan’s] eagerness to go at the bomb from every angle suggests a voracious approach to fiction-making.” —The New Yorker For readers of Mohsin Hamid, Dave Eggers, Arundhati Roy, and Teju Cole, The Association of Small Bombs is an expansive and deeply humane novel that is at once groundbreaking in its empathy, dazzling in its acuity, and ambitious in scope When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana, two Delhi schoolboys, pick up their family’s television set 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 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 among the story of the Khuranas and the Ahmeds is the gripping tale of Shockie, a Kashmiri bomb maker 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.

The Association of Small Bombs

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