Fatima Bhutto's The Runaways is a poignant and powerful novel that delves into the lives of three young individuals from different backgrounds who are drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and their search for identity. Set against the backdrop of a world grappling with issues of extremism and identity politics, Bhutto's narrative is both timely and deeply affecting, offering a nuanced exploration of the forces that drive individuals to seek belonging and purpose.

The novel follows the intersecting stories of Anita Rose, Monty, and Sunny. Anita Rose, a girl from Karachi’s slums, dreams of a life beyond her impoverished surroundings. Her journey is one of self-discovery and resilience as she navigates the challenges of her environment and her aspirations for a better future. Bhutto's portrayal of Anita is rich with empathy and insight, capturing the complexities of her inner world and the harsh realities she faces.

Monty, on the other hand, comes from a wealthy background but feels stifled by his family's expectations and the superficiality of his social circle. His story highlights the emptiness that can accompany privilege and the deep-seated desire for authenticity and meaning. Bhutto skillfully contrasts Monty's external affluence with his internal struggles, creating a character that is both relatable and compelling.

Sunny, a British-Pakistani teenager, is grappling with his identity and the cultural tensions that come with being caught between two worlds. His radicalization and subsequent journey are depicted with sensitivity and complexity, avoiding simplistic explanations and instead delving into the psychological and social factors that contribute to his choices. Bhutto's treatment of Sunny’s character is particularly noteworthy for its depth and nuance, offering a sobering look at the allure of extremism.

The strength of The Runaways lies in Bhutto's ability to weave these disparate narratives into a cohesive and compelling story. Her prose is lyrical and evocative, capturing the essence of each setting and the emotional landscapes of her characters. The novel is rich with cultural detail, offering readers a vivid sense of place and a deeper understanding of the social and political contexts that shape the characters' lives.

Bhutto's exploration of identity, belonging, and the search for purpose is both timely and universal. The novel raises important questions about the impact of globalization, cultural displacement, and the forces that drive individuals to seek radical solutions to their struggles. Through her characters, Bhutto provides a powerful commentary on the human condition, highlighting the interconnectedness of personal and political narratives.

The themes of The Runaways resonate deeply in today’s world, making it a significant and thought-provoking read. Bhutto's empathetic storytelling and her ability to capture the voices of her characters with authenticity and grace make this novel a standout. It is a compelling exploration of the search for meaning in a complex and often hostile world, and a testament to the resilience and determination of those who dare to dream beyond their circumstances.

In conclusion, The Runaways is a beautifully written and profoundly moving novel that showcases Fatima Bhutto's talent for crafting intricate, character-driven narratives. It is a story that will stay with readers long after the final page, offering a poignant reminder of the power of empathy and the enduring quest for identity and belonging.

Originally really impressed with the writing and the depth of characters, these stories never really came together for me.

5 "insightful, frightening, astute" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Verso Books. This was released August 2020 and I am providing my honest review.

Ms. Bhutto takes a deep dive into disillusioned Pakistani youth.

This book follows three young people developmentally, socially and culturally from childhood to young adulthood. Two boys and one girl. Three different social classes, different types of struggles but all feel unheard, aimless, hurt. All these hardships, griefs, losses and experiences lead to Jihad extremism in Iraq.

The book explores the psychology, sociology and cultural/religious aspects in great depth, deep interest and with a compelling narrative that kept this reader riveted as well as deepening my understanding as to what can lead somebody to religious/political extremism.

The prose is semi-literary, the story is deep and important and the three main protagonists will stay in my consciousness for a very long time.

Brava Ms. Bhutto !

I really enjoyed this ambitious book that takes us through different lives and different cities, all connected through the experiences of young Muslims. Tackling weighty issues ranging from radicalisation, inequality, love and queerness, there was a lot to delve deep into here. I think the characterisations could have been stronger to support these but al the same, a worthwhile read.

It's an okay read. Average at best.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.. All the best to the author.

This was a nice book, I enjoyed the writing and the characters were fun to read about, would surely recommend!

'How far would you run to escape your life?'

Fatima Bhutto has a way with language to describe the scenery, settings and all the horror with such a vivid and rich use of words.

The characterisation within 'The Runaways' is complex yet with the simplicity of humanity.

This novel tackles difficult topics and themes yet is timely and relevant and I would recommend it to others.

This storyline had potential to be done very well but it ultimately missed the mark for me. Parts of it are well written and interesting but unfortunately this book ended up being disappointing. It ultimately brought to mind Home Fire - Kamile Shamsie which I thought was better executed!

Fatima Bhutto has written a masterpiece. This novel took me into the heart of Karachi and wouldn't let me out until it got to Nineveh.

Bhutto's novel is what I like to call atmospheric. I felt like I was in Karachi, as I read it. Every area and location in the book was described perfectly. I could sense the sadness and despair in the slums, and the emptiness in the houses of the rich. In the second part of the book, set in the desert of Iraq, it felt like I was marching through the hot sun. It's tough to describe the atmosphere of a location without getting bogged down in minutiae, but when it's done right, the results are spectacular.

Sunny, the British boy, has a character arc that perfectly describes he alienation first and second generation immigrants feel in a new country. His need to belong and feel like a part of something was real and heartbreaking to read. As a first generation immigrant myself, that feeling like you're from nowhere was something I felt too. Bhutto made a character who could have been painted as a monster into someone deserving sympathy. This aspect of the book will live with me for quite a while.

I recommend this book to anyone trying to understand how and why people can get radicalized.

I found this to be a difficult read. It was well written, but the language sometimes did not flow well and I had difficulty connecting and holding my attention.

However I have recommended that we purchase it for our library.

Thak you for sending me this ARC.

Despite a good start, I found this novel to drag a bit. Good characters suffering hardship merely for where they were born make this look at Karachi seem brutal ,and also make the book a bit difficult to read. Only my opinion.

Bhutto's The Runaways follows a bunch of misfits (a girl and two young men) who are radicalised under different circumstances in Karachi and London. As far as plotlines go, it's not groundbreakingly new territory but Bhutto ensures the narrative is gripping, filled with glimpses into the disparities and discrimination entrenched in the Pakistani society and the constant erasure of immigrant identity (sometimes by immigrants themselves) to assimilate into the western society in London. The Runaways follows its main characters in the slums and mansions of Karachi, London's immigrant neighbourhoods and in the deserted villages surrounding Nineveh / Mosul in Iraq. Even as it reaches a rather predictable ending, the book is nevertheless unputdownable and that's the success of Bhutto's incisive prose.

The protagonists of this story are three young, lost and directionless people (Sunny, Monty and Anita Rose) who become radicalized and morph into extremists looking for a sense of self worth and external validation.

Validation from the person they love, from a society that degrades them, and from the world in general.

The plot though not very unique is still powerful and intriguing.
However, I found the narrative a bit dull except for occasional flashes of brilliance.

I also felt the characters were not very well sketched out given the subject matter and the story arc did not feel logical, except for Sunny, his confusion, conflicting thoughts and journey to finally feeling a semblance of “power” were very well presented.

It was quite paradoxical how some of the characters themselves coming from suppressed and suffocating environments chose to become a part of a fundamentalist radical group seeking a sense of belonging.

My main qualm with the book was that the narrative presented had many stereotypical muslim hypocrites but did not feature a single Muslim character that was sincere to their beliefs while being spiritual and peace loving.

Also, the representation of the minority community of Pakistan got me excited but that story line ended without really exploring the potential there.

“No two persons ever read the same book.”
So you can still read and enjoy this book
I didn’t and that’s my opinion.

P.S. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie deals with similar themes and was frankly a better book for me.

Read further for what I felt were basically plot holes but..

*Spoiler alert*

Anita had been fed an intellectually rich diet of esteemed writers that she loved by a communist gentleman that she revered and she still chooses the path to extremism?

Plus her magical transformation from a Christian to a Muslim who can speak fluent Arabic is quite hard to digest given that it’s hardly given any line-space in the book.

Who leads her to Islam and how?
Why doesn’t she go to a Church seeking peace or confide in her mother?

She doesn’t bother to cover her face given her history but it still takes eons after her rising popularity for her “secret” to be uncovered?

Monty is assigned a “very important” mission that is basically traveling through a desert on foot without any training with Sunny, who’s guarantor has bailed and become quite famous but nobody is really bothered.
The depiction of the fundo group felt very hollywood-ish and wired for failure by self-sabotage, like would they really recruit people with no background checks?

The whole important task was just taking breaks and charging their phones while looking up social media all along.
Probably the intelligence agencies were watching and waiting for the self-sabotaging to play out.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I started reading this book with some hesitation since the reviews on Goodreads are all over the place. It's a long-ish book and I was worried it would be a slog.

I read it in two days! I can't give any analysis or insight into how realistic it is about joining the Islamic State. I've read in other reviews that many young recruits were not very knowledgeable about actual Islam and the Quran, which resonates with these characters. I appreciated the three main characters' stories and found the writing was smooth and easy to read.

The story follows three young people who join the Islamic State. They have very different backgrounds and they each have reasons for feeling alone, unknown, and unseen. Their backstories are very detailed and cover a big range of issues (about half the book is set before they join). Sunny grew up in England and is interested in Islam, struggling with his sexual identity, and then gets slowly recruited and radicalized by his older cousin.
Monty lives in Pakistan and his family is extremely wealthy: he has a driver; he's coddled from all danger in his life.
Anita Rose also grows up in Pakistan but in extreme poverty. Her brother makes a lot of sacrifices to raise the family out of poverty and that includes illegal activities.
The three are all interconnected in the story and I found myself feeling so sad for them all. The author did a good job of showing how people can be misled, have their self-doubt preyed upon, trapped by circumstances beyond their control, and in the end radicalized.
Sunny and Monty spend time on a mission together walking 150 kilometers through the desert to scout out a battle site. Multiple times I was holding out for them to break down their walls and tell each other their real stories, why they were there, and how they were questioning being in the Islamic State after all. But instead they dug in deeper to hiding their true selves.
I thought the ending was sad but fitting. I wished for a little more at the end but I can understand why it ends where it does.

CW: abuse of animals, murder, child pornography, violence.

Weaves a story of poverty, desperation and the lengths people will go to including violence. A solid plot with seamless writing. Strong characters that linger with you long after the last page. Very much enjoyed this and you will too. Happy reading!

In this riveting novel. Bhutto examines how the combined, escalating experiences of poverty, desperation and alienation become catalysts to Islamist extremism. At a narrative level, the novel presents the interconnected story of three young people from starkly different backgrounds who find themselves drawn to a violent Islamic extremist movement in Iraq-- the Ummah Movement that takes advantage of the humiliation that its protagonists have suffered due to poverty, colonialism, or Islamophobia. Anita Rose?Layla, born in the slums of Karachi, is seeking a better life, the key to which she believes lies in mastering English. Sunny is a motherless Pakistani-origin Briton from Portsmouth who is is riddled with self-doubt until a charismatic cousin comes back into his life and entices him with an alternative future. Monty, the blue-blooded son of a business scion, who is in love with Layla, defies his life of entitled privilege and yearns for purpose.

The Runaways is as much about questioning the validity of truths, as it is about examining Sunny’s sexuality, Monty’s empathy, and Anita’s ambition--all of which are omnipresent even when the three willingly take life-altering decisions. Replete with twists and turns and horrifying revelations, The Runaways successfully handles with extraordinary compassion the reality of how young people in scattered places like Britain and Pakistan abandon the safety of home and find themselves at the core of to religious extremism and graphic deaths in the desert, dramatically shifting from Karachi and London to the battlefields of Iraq.

This book finally came out in the US, 2 years too late. Thank you to @netgalley and @versobooks for my galley.

Sunny is British born Pakistani living in Portsmouth; but he never felt that he belonged there. Monty’s father owns half of Karachi; but he doesn’t feel home ever. Anita, who mother works as a ‘maalish waali’ or masseuse, feels that the world doesn’t have enough place for the ones marginalized by poverty. Sunny, under the influence of his Syria return cousin Oz, and Monty and Anita, by confluences of events that bond them together; end up in Syria in what they think would be the fight of their lives, the Ummah Movement that would destroy the west and establish the supremacy of Islam. Whether this mission is salvation that each of them is looking for or devastation as it potentially seems like, remains to be seen.

This is Bhutto’s most complex book, in my opinion. The three characters are incredibly complex, and the layering is very nuanced. It’s very hard to place their feelings or their motivations behind their activities. The non linear time line, helps create a sense of mystery and gives ample room to digest the more gory details. And the climax is stunning, it reminded me a lot of Kamila Shamsie’s Homefire, a book whose climax still sends chills down my spine.

@fbhutto wrote this book when the ISIS operations in Syria were at their peak and young girls like Shameema Begum were suddenly disappearing from Britain, only to emerge as Jihadi brides in Raqqa. She goes on to explore human psyche that compels one to embrace such extremist ideologies. And seldom it has anything to do with religion. It’s a lack of identity and a sense of belonging; abject poverty and the disequilibrium of power in society. A reason that I would have never thought to be high up in this list; but is probably the most intense of human emotions; is love.
#fatimabhutto #syria #islam #pakistan #bookstagram #therunaways #netgalley #netgalleyreview #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #bookreview #unitedbookstagram #bookstagramindia #booklover #bookish

The Runaways' narrative switches between the 3 main characters. Anita lives in the slums of Karachi, Pakistan with no hope to get ahead until her neighbor introduces her to his book collection. Monty lives on the other side of Karachi and is very well off and his father has high hopes for him. Things start to shift when he falls for a girl at school. Meanwhile, Sunny was born and raised in Portsmouth, UK but feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere. His father migrated to the UK from India and wants the best for his son. Sunny is very confused about his own identity.

The three stories eventually wind together in a story about lost souls trying to find their own identity in the extremes of religion.

This book had some similar themes to [book:Home Fire|33621427], which I really enjoyed. In both books we see young muslims tempted to the more extreme corners of their religion. We see people questioning the decisions they've made. I recommend this to anyone looking for a fictional #ownvoices perspective of Muslim youth wandering into the mire.

Thank you to Verso Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available Aug 18 2020

Unsettling and fast paced, Fatima Bhutto's The Runaways attempts to peel back the layers on modern day Karachi. When Anita accidentally runs into Monty at her new, private school in Karachi she can hardly predict the changes that are about to come her way. Addressing everything from the vacuity of modern, upper class living to the personal conflict homosexuality in Islam to a young girl's yearning for freedom, Bhutto's novel feels like it pulls the reader in many directions at once. It's often muddy grounds both philosophically and ideologically, and gets even more confusing when the characters start to adopt secondary names. The final scene is chilling and tense and I wish more of that dramatic writing was carried throughout the rest of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Verso and Fatima Bhutto for this advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review. This was a tough book to read but one that asks many important questions that I play on my mind for a long time to come.