{"id":5017,"date":"2020-02-24T20:25:53","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T20:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridareview.cah.ucf.edu\/?post_type=article&p=5017"},"modified":"2020-02-24T20:25:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T20:25:53","slug":"the-voices-that-listen-behind-closed-doors","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-voices-that-listen-behind-closed-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"The Voices That Listen Behind Closed Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Up in the Main House & Other Stories<\/em> by Nadeem Zaman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unnamed Press, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paperback, 176 pages, $17<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In many books that follow the struggles of the servant \/ lower class, the characters are so defined by their relations to those above them that their existences seem dependent upon and subservient to their masters and mistresses. Nadeem Zaman, however, circumvents this in his new and riveting short-story collection, Up in the Main House<\/em>. By moving the master \/ upper class to the periphery, Zaman zooms in on the lives and humanity of those often oppressed in his birthplace of Dhaka, Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The result is a collection of seven connected stories in which the protagonists contend with personal conflicts amidst social, religious, and political disparity and distress. In the titular story, Kabir must decide whether to stop his wife\u2014Anwara\u2014from playing mistress while the home\u2019s owners are away, yield to her newfound power, or join her. Meanwhile, \u201cThe Caretaker\u2019s Dilemma\u201d explores Abdul Hamid\u2019s struggle to negotiate a suitable marriage for his daughter before he dies while negotiating manipulative dowry shenanigans. In contrast, \u201cThe Happy Widow\u201d follows Rosie Moyeen, a woman blamed for her husband\u2019s death, as she tries to reconcile memories of her marriage with her bitter neighbor\u2019s stories of ex-husbands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kabir\u2019s description of his mistress as a \u201chigh-strung hag\u201d at the beginning of his story starts the collection with one of the many unapologetic voices that populate it. When his wife puts on such a persona, the class-based conflicts of identity and power siege Kabir in more intimate ways than any master or mistress could. Ramzan\u2014the old nightguard that winks with \u201cboth eyes\u201d\u2014advises Kabir to join his wife but also threatens a failed thief with death and imprisonment. The resulting dynamic is simultaneously hilarious and unsettling. Zaman entertains readers while keeping them constantly aware of the characters\u2019 potential fates. The deft handling of character, voice, and tone are a joy to read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While \u201cThe Caretaker\u2019s Dilemma\u201d possesses the same elements of craft as \u201cUp in the Main House,\u201d it employs them to subtler effect while weaving in interiority, dagger-like dialogue, and social masks. Hamid is repulsed by his friend Sobhan\u2019s greed but still agrees to negotiate a dowry since he desires to protect his daughter from the \u201cshame\u201d that is \u201calways the burden of the girl\u2019s side.\u201d Zaman simultaneously humanizes Dhaka\u2019s upper class and increases the story\u2019s sense of dread when Harun Qureshi, Hamid\u2019s master, tells him that he will pay for the dowry and warns him: \u201cWhatever your friend asks you for, don\u2019t say no.\u201d Sobhan, on the other hand, reveals his true nature when he says, \u201cIn money matters even family comes second.\u201d His smiles, underhanded insults, speeches about \u201chonest \u2026 men,\u201d and objectification of people make him a character the reader loves to hate. Even his servants are tainted, as can be seen in how they \u201chelp with the luggage\u201d the first time Hamid arrives but are unwilling to do so when they think the deal is done. In all of this, Zaman shows that none are free of this society\u2019s expectations\u2014and consequences when they are not met.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Happy Widow\u201d synthesizes parts of the other stories\u2019 styles. Mrs. Zaheer, Rosie\u2019s neighbor, possesses a blunt voice. She describes her ex-husbands as \u201ca bastard of the highest order\u201d and \u201ca gambling, philandering louse,\u201d respectively. In contrast, Rosie exhibits a complex interiority like Hamid\u2019s. The story examines a female perspective not often addressed. Rosie admits that \u201cthe way [Mr. Moyeen] loved her scared her,\u201d and the story explores her reconciling with what she did and thought about doing to test whether he was human, fallible. Because of her thoughts and actions, it is easy to dismiss Rosie as a near-sociopathic woman if one forgets the cultural grounding established in \u201cThe Caretaker\u2019s Dilemma\u201d and at the beginning of Rosie\u2019s own tale. However, \u201cThe Happy Widow\u201d is an amazingly subtle and complex tale about a woman coming to terms with her story in a culture that says she has none. Through small, precisely crafted actions\u2014such as worrying if she had washed the dishes wrong and, in an act of rebellion, \u201c[leaving a picture] slightly out of place\u201d\u2014Zaman allows Rosie and his readers to acknowledge and break away from enforced stories.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though links to the Qureshi family are what primarily connect the stories, they are also united by how the protagonists\u2019 actions are motivated by pride. In a moment of clarity, Kabir realizes,<\/p>\n

His damn foolish pride; that had done it. Just like it had done it countless times over the years, \u2026 doing no more in the end than undoing his grit to push it away, leaving him as he was now, too far gone to turn back, give in.<\/p>\n

The collection begs the reader to consider if the preservation of pride always leads to self-destruction and when pride is worth the damage it can cause.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amidst this conflict and complexity, Zaman weaves fresh, compelling, figurative language. Songs are as \u201cout of joint\u201d as their singers. \u201cLaughter rattle[s]\u201d around and within characters \u201clike marbles in a tin can.\u201d Stories are repeated like the songs in a \u201cprecious record collection.\u201d Life is askew in slight, beautifully unsettling ways.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The collection is not perfect: long stretches of dialogue dilute intense moments and pull the reader out of the stories\u2019 world at times. Nor is it for everyone. The stories often do not end cleanly as many Western stories do and, therefore, ask the reader to imagine the future fallout or triumph. While I find Zaman\u2019s choice to end his stories on moments of change wise, other readers might feel cheated of a final scene. As a whole, though, the book is an engaging collection of stories that entertain and discomfort as great stories do. When I finished, I found that I\u2014not the characters\u2014was the one with my ear against a closed door, hoping to hear another word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zaman zooms in on the lives and humanity of those often oppressed in his birthplace of Dhaka, Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5020,"template":"","categories":[9,139],"tags":[6,1397,1398,1399,1400],"class_list":["post-5017","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-book-review","tag-aquifer-the-florida-review-online","tag-bangladesh","tag-kyle-kubik","tag-nadeem-zaman","tag-up-in-the-main-house"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Voices That Listen Behind Closed Doors - The Florida Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/floridareview\/article\/the-voices-that-listen-behind-closed-doors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Voices That Listen Behind Closed Doors - 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