It would not be far-fetched to note that few Pakistani writers possess as strong a command over transferring the power of the visual into words as Zakaria does. But tragedy aside, the writer’s affection for the city of Karachi is evident in the close attention paid to detailing the historic landscape of the city, as Zakaria moves with almost panoramic grace through describing the aging of Saddar, the importance of Clifton, and the burgeoning middle-class milieu of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The Ojhri camp explosions, the Swat earthquake, and the fatal Bushra Zaidi bus accident are movingly described, for instance. The author is as successful in describing Amina’s wedding, or the upstairs wife’s wretchedness at being constantly reminded by semi-malicious busybodies that she is barren, as she is at giving one glimpses into the more overarching sociopolitical concerns of the country. Zakaria demonstrates particular deftness at portraying society on both a private as well as a more public level. Neither does she need to be, since Amina’s story - even though presented from her niece’s perspective - conveys enough of the natural pathos that a woman feels on being sidelined by a matrimonial rival. Although firmly and sympathetically feminist, she is rarely overbearing in her critiques. Readers will find it difficult to judge Sohail, not least because Zakaria does an admirably thorough job of detailing Pakistan’s religious and sociological stances towards polygamy in Islam. Sohail seeks solace in making a second marriage, but does not relinquish his first wife, who is relegated to occupying the uppermost floor of their multi-level house, while her rival is ensconced on the first floor. Although monetarily far from destitute, both Amina and, to a less obvious extent, Sohail, suffer from varying degrees of depression due to this emptiness in their lives. Part of the couple’s personal tragedy is that they are unable to have children.

The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan is recounted by Amina’s niece, whose blood relative, her uncle Sohail, makes a pleasant and conventional marriage in the early ‘70s with a woman whom he finds attractive, and with whom he may have been compatible.

Interwoven with her story is an elegantly written macrocosmic narrative of the history of Karachi - the complex city that houses countless women who suffer domestic unhappiness. Based on the sad story of her aunt, Amina, the book chronicles the manner in which Amina attempts to cope with her husband Sohail’s second marriage. AS her memoir-cum-history book demonstrates, respected Pakistani columnist Rafia Zakaria possesses a decided gift with words.

The book the wife upstairs