The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

"At a moment when Afghanistan’s tragedy is relegated to background noise for many Americans, Jamil Jan Kochai’s bravura collection of short stories arrives with a pulsating self-assurance that reminded me of Junot Díaz’s debut, Drown. They center, for example, on a female pediatrician in Kabul receiving mysterious, gory packages; a U.S. surveillance operative falling under the quotidian spell of the suburban immigrant family he’s spying on; and the surreal nightmare experience of playing a Call of Duty-style video game from an Afghan perspective."