Tournament of Books discussion

The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

About the Book: (source: www.karan-mahajan.com)
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.

About the Author: (source: www.karan-mahajan.com)
Karan was born in 1984 and grew up in New Delhi, India. His first novel, “Family Planning” (2008) won the Joseph Henry Jackson Award and was a finalist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. It was published in nine countries. His second novel, “The Association of Small Bombs,” was released by Viking USA in March 2016 and is forthcoming from Harper India and Chatto & Windus UK.

Karan's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker Online, The Believer, NPR’s All Things Considered, The San Francisco Chronicle, Granta.com, Bookforum, Tehelka, and the anthology Stumbling and Raging: More Politically Inspired Fiction.

Karan has worked as an editor in San Francisco, a consultant on economic and urban planning issues for the New York City government, and a researcher in Bangalore.

A graduate of Stanford University and the Michener Center for Writers, he currently lives in Austin, Texas. He is at work on his third novel and is represented by Jin Auh at The Wylie Agency.

Author’s webpage: http://www.karan-mahajan.com/

Twitter handle: @kmahaj
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Happy reading!!

I'd love to hear what people think of the way this one ended - the weird surreal almost magical realist elements in particular!

I just finished it after reading A Fine Balance. A Fine Balance was set in 1975 and this one in 1996 to early 2000. I thought it well done. The surreal ending that you talk about, I think, to me I thought it was implying that the person who placed the second bomb was really losing his sanity and in the end he had, but not sure. The rest of the ending seemed pretty realistic too me.