Association of Small Bombs (Mahajan)

Book Reviews
The Association of Small Bombs, is wonderful...is smart, devastating, unpredictable and enviably adept in its handling of tragedy and its fallout. If you enjoy novels that happily disrupt traditional narratives — about grief, death, violence, politics — I suggest you go out and buy this one. Post haste.
Fiona Maazel - New York Times Book Review


Brilliant.... Mr. Mahajan’s writing is acrid and bracing, tightly packed with dissonant imagery.... The Association of Small Bombs is not the first novel about the aftermath of a terrorist attack, but it is the finest I’ve read at capturing the seduction and force of the murderous, annihilating illogic that increasingly consumes the globe.
Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal


[A] beautifully written novel.... Ambitious.... Carries us deep into the human side of a tragedy.
Washington Post


Karan Mahajan’s The Association of Small Bombs urgently depicts the toll of terrorism on victims and perpetrators.
Vanity Fair


Besides having one of the most instantly memorable titles for a novel in recent memory, Karan Mahajan’s new novel explores the life of a young man in the aftermath of a horrific event that takes the life of two of his friends. With a story that crosses continents and addresses questions of nationalism, terrorism, and the effects of violence, this novel seems ready to engage with some of our era’s looming issues.
Vol. 1 Brooklyn


Mahajan’s talent is in conveying the sense that the world is gray, not black-and-white, and he accomplishes this by weaving together the evolving motives and passions of his characters so intricately that in the end we see each as culpable, and human.... [S]earing. (Mar.)
Publishers Weekly


[A] broad array of story lines connected to a 1996 detonation of a small but potent bomb in a humble Delhi marketplace.... The anchoring characters are Mansoor and Shockie, a Kashmiri bomb maker who...worries about his victims and his ill mother. Mahajan’s terrorists and social activists are never content to settle into one venue or mindset.
Booklist


Mahajan's effort to make a thriller out of the story...can feel pat.... But he's strong at exploring the very long shockwaves of small-scale violence:... a devastating cruelty for upending lives to no useful political purpose.... An engaging if plot-thick novel that's alert to the intersection of the emotional and political.
Kirkus Reviews