The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

De: Jamil Jan Kochai

Narrado por: Peter Ganim, Suehyla El-Attar Young, Fajer Al-Kaisi

FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

WINNER OF THE 2023 ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE, AND THE 2023 O. HENRY PRIZE

NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2022

"An endlessly inventive and moving collection from a thrilling and capacious young talent."—Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins.

A luminous new collection of stories from a young writer who “has brought his culture’s rich history, mythology, and lyricism to American letters.”—Sandra Cisneros

Pen/Hemingway finalist Jamil Jan Kochai ​breathes life into his contemporary Afghan characters, moving between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora in America. In these arresting stories verging on both comedy and tragedy, often starring young characters whose bravado is matched by their tenderness, Kochai once again captures “a singular, resonant voice, an American teenager raised by Old World Afghan storytellers.”*

In “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain," a young man's video game experience turns into a surreal exploration on his own father's memories of war and occupation. Set in Kabul, "Return to Sender" follows two married doctors driven by guilt to leave the US and care for their fellow Afghans, even when their own son disappears. A college student in the US in "Hungry Ricky Daddy" starves himself in protest of Israeli violence against Palestine. And in the title story, "The Haunting of Hajji Hotak," we learn the story of a man codenamed Hajji, from the perspective of a government surveillance worker, who becomes entrenched in the immigrant family's life.

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories is a moving exploration of characters grappling with the ghosts of war and displacement—and one that speaks to the immediate political landscape we reckon with today.

*The New York Times Book Review

©2022 Jamil Jan Kochai (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE

"The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories is an endlessly inventive and moving collection, the work of a thrilling and capacious young talent. These stories surprise and charm and haunt in equal measure, while challenging the world as we think we know it. Jamil Jan Kochai is the real deal."—Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins

“Jamil Jan Kochai is a once-in-a-generation talent.”—Karan Mahajan, author of The Association of Small Bombs

"The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories is beyond brilliant. These stories build and amass, individually and collectively, open then close as if the fingers and palm of some great power making a fist... There is so much range and breadth and depth in this collection. Here we have humor and rage and style in spades, with storytelling as inventive as it is enthralling. One of the best books I’ve read in a long time."—Tommy Orange, author of There, There

Amazing the best book I’ve read in years

This book was one of the best books I’ve read in years
Well, worth the effort the author does a beautiful job, weaving in the trauma of war, the history of the Afghan people, longing for what was and mystic magical thinking.
It is an amazing work.

Great entrance into a new world

I really enjoyed this book. Thought it was great to enter Jamil’s world. Readers were fantastic.