Born in rural Bangladesh, Zia Haider Rahman was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and at Cambridge, Munich, and Yale Universities. He has worked as an investment banker on Wall Street and as an international human rights lawyer. "In the Light of What We Know" is his first novel.
"Rahman's novel [is] astonishingly achieved for a first
book...Rahman proves himself a deep and subtle storyteller, with a
very good eye for dramatic detail--the wounding stray comment, the
surge of shame, the livid parable... In the Light of What We Know
is what Salman Rushdie once called an 'everything novel.' It is
wide-armed, hospitable, disputatious, worldly, cerebral. Ideas and
provocations abound on every page." --James Wood, The New Yorker"An
ambitious novel by any measure, In the Light of What We Know is
particularly striking as a first novel. ...[It] is a novel of
ideas, a compendium of epiphanies, paradoxes, and riddles clearly
designed to be read slowly and meditatively... [A] unique work of
fiction bearing witness to much that is unspeakable in human
relationships as in international relations, while it is also
unknowable." --Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books"[A]
strange and brilliant novel . . . I was surprised it didn't explode
in my hands." --Amitava Kumar, The New York Times Book
Review"[B]ristling with ideas about mathematics and politics,
history and religion, Rahman's novel also wrestles with the
intricacies of the 2008 financial crash. It is encyclopedic in its
reach and depth, dazzling in its erudition... In the Light of What
We Know is an extraordinary meditation on the limits and uses of
human knowledge, a heartbreaking love story and a gripping account
of one man's psychological disintegration. This is the novel I'd
hoped Jonathan Franzen's Freedom would be (but wasn't)--an
exploration of the post-9/11 world that is both personal and
political, epic and intensely moving." --Alex Preston, The
Guardian"[A]n ambitious and extraordinary achievement . . .
Pre-eminently a novel of ideas, the book overflows with sparkling
essays on free will, the perception of time, the nature of memory,
maps, flags, etymology and the axioms of mathematics... As a
meditation on the penalties of exile, the need for roots and the
ways in which anger can consume a thoughtful man slighted by
prejudice, this is a dazzling debut." --Sunday Times (UK)"[A]
sweeping and brilliant tale... Rahman's rich and complex debut
novel is like [a] great meal... In the Light of What We Know may be
the best meal you eat this year. [Rahman's] insights--whether
related to Pakistan-India enmity, Ivy-League attitude or
non-governmental organizations' idealism--were right on target,
[his] characters' experiences plausible and compelling, and [his]
grasp of the widely varied subjects in the novel was breathtaking."
--Paul Overby, Pittsburg Post-Gazette"[A] hugely impressive... and
profound debut... The book's depth is utterly absorbing, its
stories as real in their effect as they are illusory." --Alex
Clark, The Guardian"Beautifully written and renewed evidence that
some of the most interesting writing in English is coming from the
edges of old empires." --Kirkus (starred review)"[In The Light of
What We Know] is a splendidly enterprising debut." --The Wall
Street Journal"[Rahman's] fascination with mathematics and the
universe of ideas is contagious, and enriches the complex narrative
about how we know the reality around us... [T]his ambitious debut
novel has considerable depth and scope." --Library Journal (starred
review)"[I]t is immediately apparent that one is dealing with a
work of major ambition...[T]he main reason to get excited over
Rahman's emerging presence as a writer are his sentences, ramifying
and unraveling to bring in more and more ideas between full-stops
in a way that few still alive can command." --Nicholas Muncusi, The
Daily Beast"[In the Light of What We Know is] epic in scale and
reach, and pulsing with life." --The National"[A] a sprawling and
thrillingly ambitious debut novel...A cross between Herman Melville
and David Foster Wallace as refracted through Graham Greene, In the
Light of What We Know offers 500 pages of self-described
"digressions" and "tangents" involving bracing, sometimes
mind-blowing discussions of high math, theoretical physics,
cognitive science, Central Asian politics, the English class
system, the bloody birth of Bangladesh, Bach, literature,
epistemology, collateralized debt obligations and the 2008 collapse
of world markets... Rahman drives home that every story is a lie.
But stories like this one can teach us great truths about the ways
we see--and how much we therefore miss." --Mike Fischer, Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel"[A] standout debut." --Vogue"This formidable and
compelling novel offers the reader pleasures not often found in the
same venue. Its boldness in engaging elements of our contemporary
crisis is bracing. In presenting his cast of characters, Rahman
supplies close readings of class, mores, and manners that are
extraordinary. And throughout, he sustains an almost subliminal
resonance with the conventions, strengths, and tone of certain
classic social novels in the English canon--Conrad's in particular.
This is a debut to celebrate." --Norman Rush, author of Mating and
Subtle Bodies"Here it is, the vast and brilliant debut novel of our
time for which readers have been waiting. Set against the backdrop
of economic crises and the war in Afghanistan, Zia Haider Rahman's
novel about a troubled friendship between two men--one born in the
United States to well-placed parents from Pakistan, and the other
born in Bangladesh--is deeply penetrating and profoundly intimate,
as if made by a muralist whose heart belongs to the details. In the
Light of What We Know is a novel of startling vision, written in a
prose that's as strong and bold as it is impeccable. Who's the true
heir to such greats as George Orwell and V.S. Naipaul? It's Zia
Haider Rahman." --Richard McCann, author of Mother of
Sorrows"Brilliant and heartbreaking, In the Light of What We Know
is the first truly great book of the new century." --Ceridwen
Dovey, author of Blood Kin
-Rahman's novel [is] astonishingly achieved for a first
book...Rahman proves himself a deep and subtle storyteller, with a
very good eye for dramatic detail--the wounding stray comment, the
surge of shame, the livid parable... In the Light of What We Know
is what Salman Rushdie once called an 'everything novel.' It is
wide-armed, hospitable, disputatious, worldly, cerebral. Ideas and
provocations abound on every page.- --James Wood, The New Yorker-An
ambitious novel by any measure, In the Light of What We Know is
particularly striking as a first novel. ...[It] is a novel of
ideas, a compendium of epiphanies, paradoxes, and riddles clearly
designed to be read slowly and meditatively... [A] unique work of
fiction bearing witness to much that is unspeakable in human
relationships as in international relations, while it is also
unknowable.- --Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books-[A]
strange and brilliant novel . . . I was surprised it didn't explode
in my hands.- --Amitava Kumar, The New York Times Book
Review-[B]ristling with ideas about mathematics and politics,
history and religion, Rahman's novel also wrestles with the
intricacies of the 2008 financial crash. It is encyclopedic in its
reach and depth, dazzling in its erudition... In the Light of What
We Know is an extraordinary meditation on the limits and uses of
human knowledge, a heartbreaking love story and a gripping account
of one man's psychological disintegration. This is the novel I'd
hoped Jonathan Franzen's Freedom would be (but wasn't)--an
exploration of the post-9/11 world that is both personal and
political, epic and intensely moving.- --Alex Preston, The
Guardian-[A]n ambitious and extraordinary achievement . . .
Pre-eminently a novel of ideas, the book overflows with sparkling
essays on free will, the perception of time, the nature of memory,
maps, flags, etymology and the axioms of mathematics... As a
meditation on the penalties of exile, the need for roots and the
ways in which anger can consume a thoughtful man slighted by
prejudice, this is a dazzling debut.- --Sunday Times (UK)-[A]
sweeping and brilliant tale... Rahman's rich and complex debut
novel is like [a] great meal... In the Light of What We Know may be
the best meal you eat this year. [Rahman's] insights--whether
related to Pakistan-India enmity, Ivy-League attitude or
non-governmental organizations' idealism--were right on target,
[his] characters' experiences plausible and compelling, and [his]
grasp of the widely varied subjects in the novel was breathtaking.-
--Paul Overby, Pittsburg Post-Gazette-[A] hugely impressive... and
profound debut... The book's depth is utterly absorbing, its
stories as real in their effect as they are illusory.- --Alex
Clark, The Guardian-Beautifully written and renewed evidence that
some of the most interesting writing in English is coming from the
edges of old empires.- --Kirkus (starred review)-[In The Light of
What We Know] is a splendidly enterprising debut.- --The Wall
Street Journal-[Rahman's] fascination with mathematics and the
universe of ideas is contagious, and enriches the complex narrative
about how we know the reality around us... [T]his ambitious debut
novel has considerable depth and scope.- --Library Journal (starred
review)-[I]t is immediately apparent that one is dealing with a
work of major ambition...[T]he main reason to get excited over
Rahman's emerging presence as a writer are his sentences, ramifying
and unraveling to bring in more and more ideas between full-stops
in a way that few still alive can command.- --Nicholas Muncusi, The
Daily Beast-[In the Light of What We Know is] epic in scale and
reach, and pulsing with life.- --The National-[A] a sprawling and
thrillingly ambitious debut novel...A cross between Herman Melville
and David Foster Wallace as refracted through Graham Greene, In the
Light of What We Know offers 500 pages of self-described
-digressions- and -tangents- involving bracing, sometimes
mind-blowing discussions of high math, theoretical physics,
cognitive science, Central Asian politics, the English class
system, the bloody birth of Bangladesh, Bach, literature,
epistemology, collateralized debt obligations and the 2008 collapse
of world markets... Rahman drives home that every story is a lie.
But stories like this one can teach us great truths about the ways
we see--and how much we therefore miss.- --Mike Fischer, Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel-[A] standout debut.- --Vogue-This formidable and
compelling novel offers the reader pleasures not often found in the
same venue. Its boldness in engaging elements of our contemporary
crisis is bracing. In presenting his cast of characters, Rahman
supplies close readings of class, mores, and manners that are
extraordinary. And throughout, he sustains an almost subliminal
resonance with the conventions, strengths, and tone of certain
classic social novels in the English canon--Conrad's in particular.
This is a debut to celebrate.- --Norman Rush, author of Mating and
Subtle Bodies-Here it is, the vast and brilliant debut novel of our
time for which readers have been waiting. Set against the backdrop
of economic crises and the war in Afghanistan, Zia Haider Rahman's
novel about a troubled friendship between two men--one born in the
United States to well-placed parents from Pakistan, and the other
born in Bangladesh--is deeply penetrating and profoundly intimate,
as if made by a muralist whose heart belongs to the details. In the
Light of What We Know is a novel of startling vision, written in a
prose that's as strong and bold as it is impeccable. Who's the true
heir to such greats as George Orwell and V.S. Naipaul? It's Zia
Haider Rahman.- --Richard McCann, author of Mother of
Sorrows-Brilliant and heartbreaking, In the Light of What We Know
is the first truly great book of the new century.- --Ceridwen
Dovey, author of Blood Kin
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