Little America

"Little America is by Zain Saeed. It’s about a young man who wants to create a little America in Pakistan because he feels that there isn’t enough freedom in Pakistan to do whatever you want. Whatever you wear, whomever you love, there are too many restrictions, so he decides to build something up with a friend of his. Initially, he lends people a car—it’s like a hidden date because they can’t be seen in a restaurant. Then he meets this other rich guy and he builds up a Pentagon-style area near the beach and calls it Little America. I just liked the concept of how Saeed deals with freedom of choice. Even though we’re meant to be a democratic country, there are a lot of things that we don’t do because society and culture don’t allow us to. The young people here think that you can escape to the US or to the UK—or, now, to Canada or Australia—and have the life of your dreams, so this man tries to build something like that, in a compound here in Pakistan. Yes, it did. I don’t want to spoil it, in case you ever want to read it, [SPOILER ALERT] but in the end he calls it a hoax. You think that the idea of freedom solves everything, but it has its own issues. Also, containing it all in a compound is not complete freedom because you’re restricted within the compound. I’d say there’s almost a political debate within the book: What kind of freedom are we looking for? The book begins: ‘They say that America is the best country in the world. I’d say that it’s merely the loudest.’ I found it really quirky, the way he began the novel. I really enjoyed it."