This did save me from looking more into fatima’s work
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68 of 86 people found the following review helpful
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Interesting Baqwas (Garbage), June 6, 2010
By
Zico “Zico”](http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3545EKQ5H46RK/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pdp)
**This review is from: Songs of Blood and Sword (Kindle Edition)**
I approached this book with both interest (I am a Pakistani and from Karachi, and attended the same high school as Ms. Bhutto) and an open mind. I have heard that Fatima Bhutto is a smart, outspoken, and young Pakistani woman. For this reason, I was curious about the content of this book. Neverthless, coming from a family as cursed and controversial as the Bhuttos, I had reservations initially, about whether she would indeed provide truth, clarity, and candor into the crazy world of the Bhutto clan. As I had expected, the book is a huge and utter disappointment.
It is impossible for a Bhutto to be balanced and objective regarding all that the Bhutto ruling clan have contributed to Pakistan both positively and (overwhelmingly) negatively. Despite a Western liberal education, formative years outside of the larger Bhutto yoke, and slights received by various members of the Bhuttocracy, Ms. Bhutto has not been able to shed her Bhutto-ness, especially when approaching the subject of her grandfather, and her father. Her views regarding her aunt Benazir were already well known to me, thru her various comments in the media in the past. That Benazir and her husband have left our country in tatters is apparent to anyone who lives in the real world (not the PPP stalwarts who are deluded beyond comprehension). This book did not provide any analysis or information that any realistic and interested party into the world of Paksitani politics, would have known anyway. Her comments about the Benazir-Zaradari Axis was not enlightening in the least, except for her personal remarks about them, which makes for interesting tabloid-esque material.
The real problem with this book is the lack of adequate critical analysis of her grandfather and her father. It is understandable on a personal level, that the author would hero-worship her father and grandfather. Those are natural instincts, especially among women in our part of the world, with respect to paternal figures in their lives. But if she was setting out to write an honest book about the controversial Bhutto clan, then her father and grandfather, who are the main players in the ‘Songs of Blood and Sword’, deserved and merited to be analyzed very critically and very thoroughly.
Although she tries hard to claim otherwise (‘I’m not my grandfather’s keeper’ in one quote from the book), the analysis of her grandfather was pitiful. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a nefarious, vindictive and megalomaniacal leader. Undoubtedly gifted with a brilliant mind, mesmerizing presence, and an orator par excellence, he was nonetheless, the archetypal Third World megalomaniac. Coming myself from a strata of society, in which family members and family friends were involved either personally with Mr. Bhutto or in a governmental capacity, I have never heard one kind word about this man. None of these people I allude to, had anything to gain from or lose, by commenting negatively on Mr. Bhutto as a man and as a leader. Yet their remarks about him are vitriolic to say the least.
That Ms. Bhutto only briefly mentions this vindictiveness and any of his other shortcomings, is ample proof of the lack of objectivity and honesty in the assessment of her grandfather. His horrendous role in the splitting of Pakistan, his declaring Ahmedi’s non-Muslims for his political gain, his paranoia leading him to kill countless political foes, are not given any discussion or analysis. I agree with the analysis of his early years as a Foreign Minister, but what the hell happened to the analysis once he became leader? Utter garbage. Cursory mention of his controversies (nationalization of industries, declaring Ahmedi’s non-Muslims, his role in cleaving Pakistan, his ordering the murder of Ahmed Raza Kasuri). The same can be said regarding her father. Very nice to read tender comments and statements of Murtaza Bhutto the father, but nothing of his infamous temper, his arrogance and sense of entitlement, and his vindictiveness.
Overall, my feeling after reading this book was that it was an interesting read, with some interesting insights into the twisted Bhutto clan. But it really lacked any semblance of balance and objectivity. It’s is hard for one to be critical of one’s own family. It is also hard to be an apologist for their shortcomings. But my feeling is that this book shouldn’t have been written in the first place, if there was no true objective analysis given. It is basically a subjective account into the world of Pakistan’s curse, the Bhuttos. And an attempt to angelicize (word?) her father and grandfather.
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