''Karachi, You're Killing Me!'' is a 2014

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crime-thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

novel by the Pakistani journalist-writer

Saba Imtiaz Saba Imtiaz is a Pakistani author, journalist, music critic, and screenwriter from Karachi. She previously worked for ''The News International'' and ''The Express Tribune'', and is currently writing for ''The New York Times'', ''The Guardian'', ...

. The author's

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

was released in paperback by India's

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on 1 February 2014. It is written about a 20-year-old reporter, Ayesha Khan, living in one of the world's most beautiful cities,

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, about her misadventures and finding a nice lover. The novel received mostly positive feedback from the reviewers. Imtiaz describes the novel as ''"

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"'' meets ''" The Diary of a Social Butterfly."'' In 2015, the novel was optioned by producer Vikram Malhotra for a Bollywood film adaptation.

Plot

Ayesha Khan, a journalist in her twenties living in one of the world's most lively cities,

, whose work is to show up at bomb sites and picks her way through scattered body parts. Ayesha is hopeless in finding a nice guy like her old friend Saad, to share her personal thoughts with. Other than that, her most basic problem is how to straighten her hair.

Critical reception

''Karachi, You're Killing Me!'' has received critical acclaim. In a review for ''

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'' ( AP), Rebecca Santana wrote that the novel successfully dismantles Pakistani stereotypes without moralizing. Santana praised the author's complex and tenacious depiction of the protagonist, unlike Bridget Jones and traditional portrayals of Pakistani women. Somak Ghoshal wrote for the ''

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'' that "the satire is pitch perfect and may hit those of us who live in the subcontinent harder than the rest" and that the "refreshingly devoid of glosses and translations, Imtiaz's novel is unapologetically faithful to the cultural nuances from which it emerges." In the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' review by Manjula Narayan was also positive, stating that "a comedy of manners, an incisive look at the journalistic life, an examination of a city with a dangerous edge, and an attempt to stand chicklit on its head, ''Karachi, You're Killing Me!'' is, quite simply, a very good read." Ghausia Rashid Salam of ''The Missing Slate'' praised the author and novel and called it a "pretty fantastic" debut novel. Nudrat Kamal wrote for the '' Newsline'' and stated that the "humour is the greatest strength of the novel." ''

The Friday Times ''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language online publication based in Lahore, Pakistan. History ''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, a husband-and- ...

'' Mohsin Sidiqui praised the author and the novel, and stated that "Ms. Imtiaz has managed to pull together a novel that you want to read and share with people, not because of a misplaced sense of "Oh crap, it's another Pakistani writer, I suppose I have to be mildly positive," but instead because it's actually laugh-out-loud funny, witty, and entertaining."

Film adaptation

On 9 April 2014, India's Abundantia Entertainment acquired the Bollywood film adaptation rights to the novel. The film would be named Noor which would star Sonakshi Sinha as a female lead and Vikram Malhotra would produce. Author Saba Imtiaz would also be involved in developing the screenplay.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 2010s in comedy 2014 novels Novels about journalists Pakistani crime novels Pakistani thriller novels English-language novels Random House books Pakistani comedy novels Pakistani novels adapted into films Crime comedy 2014 debut novels Novels set in Karachi