Nadia Akbar is a Pakistani-American novelist. She was born and raised in Lahore. She holds degrees from Cornell University and the graduate creative-writing programme at the University of Arizona.
Lahore is burning. General elections are right around the corner. The summer city rages with the drug-fuelled parties of the oblivious, the rich and famous, while campaign posters and rally cries dominate the airwaves.
Bugsy, rock RJ and host of the nation's top English radio show, is young and fabulous. Seeking more than wealth, fame and prestige, he performs a dangerous favour for an old friend that plunges him into the dark recesses of desi politics. Nida, a young student desperate to escape the oppressive atmosphere of her traditional family home and her conservative college, and still mourning the death of her brother, throws herself recklessly into the drug-addled arms of Omer Ali, son of the prime minister's right-hand man. As Nida spirals into decadence and Bugsy descends into darkness, their paths cross and sparks begin to fly.
Nadia Akbar's audacious debut has all the makings of a cult novel-parties, drugs, mysteries, love triangles, political intrigue and power struggles-but its lush, sexy writing has the assuredness and precision of the most acute style of our time. Told in alternating voices and brimming with sharp observation, Goodbye Freddie Mercury hits the rocks and trails a twist.
Goodbye Freddie Mercury has all the right ingredients to make a thrilling entertainer. The politics is relevant, the society is relevant, the corruption is relevant, the frustration is relevant. Akbar's biggest achievement in the novel is perhaps her language-a seductive mixture of English with
desi vernacular-which gives a refreshing immediacy to the experience of reading the novel. Akbar doesn't bank on the modesty of the English language; rather, she blows it apart to create a pertinent and urgent young voice
Goodbye Freddie Mercury by the Pakistani-American writer Nadia Akbar exudes a charming yet brazen candour that belies its status as a debut novelNadia Akbar's debut novel is an explosively racy one, with witty and unapologetic observations about desi culture and life among the privileged in LahoreTraversing the upper echelons of society in a politically charged setting at the dawn of fresh elections, the pacy narrative is peppered with social critiqueIt's impossible not to instantly relate to Bugsy and Nida even when they take you on an over-the-top sex, drugs and rock and roll tour of contemporary PakistanNadia Akbar's latest book
Goodbye Freddie Mercury is an addition to the list of literary pieces breaking stereotypes in the country. A tale chronicling everything from general elections to the lives of a radio jockey and a young student fervently wriggling out of the cusp of an orthodox family, Akbar's novel is being hailed as something of a cult, accurately capturing drugs, sex and parties in the country we call our long-lost neighbour
