I truly could not breathe for a few seconds, and actually re-read the paragraph a couple of times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong! Durrani's fourth book "Happy Things in Sorrow Times" (2013) is a novel based on the childhood and youth of an Afghan girl Rabia.

But, whether the creation of imagination or a patch from reality, if Mustafa Khar is as how this text has analysed him, I am throughly hurt. Khar is depicted in the worst possible way as a womaniser,extremely cruel and a political opportunist.I was not a bit shocked by the political manoeuvres or the illegal relationships or discriminating your own children based on their looks or even the treatment of women as sex tools. Like all women of her rank, she was expected to marry a prosperous Muslim from a respectable family, bear him many children, and lead a sheltered life of air-conditioned leisure.

Reviewing a biography, however, sort of makes that an impossibility, because what you are commenting on is the author’s life itself. A review of the book contracts by the English newspaper The Independent described Sethi as acting in good faith and described him and Mohsin as "the injured party". Tehmina had an affair with another woman's husband because of lust and her own blood, did the same to her! She believed her mothers and sisters were conspiring against her all her life but she had no evidence. I am not saying anything written in this book is wrong because I very well belong to the same society.

These criticisms are more valid and relevant than the critiques that could easily be made about her character. And when you eventually warm up to her, (or feel sorry for her), which you do by the time you're halfway through the book, you can't help but think of Tehmina as a person you know; a friend who has made a few mistakes, and really, really, want her to stand up for herself. He is a Barbarian who tries to mingle among the elites of society but always stands out because of his feudal heritage and rural upbringing. She is tormented by mental childhood scars and the fact that her mother favoured her lighter skinned sisters.

The book doesn't teach us much that we don't already know: Pakistan is a lawless, patriarchal society that allows men like Khar to be cruel to their wives, but also has men like Anees. Just when you realize that it is the last time for Tehmina to compromise on her self-respect and come out of the traps of this dangerous man, Khar plays too low to keep this already confused woman more confused. Horribly deluded, Tehmina always believed that Mustafa’s inability to hold a workable marriage all this while was because “he had not found the right woman” yet, but this was soon to be challenged. She argued in the book that the real power of feudal landlords, like Khar, is derived from the distorted version of Islam that is supported by the silence of women and of society as a whole.What also pushed me to get a copy of this book was because of William Hoffer, who co-authored my absolute favourite book 'Not Without My Daughter'. And then before starting it, I cleared my mind of all the reviews I had heard about the people/character in this book.