Beyond silver linings

Told through alternating voices, ‘The Satanist’ leaves one feeling uneasy

KARACHI: The Satanist revolves around a Pakistani couple — Hyder and Maryam — who moves to Lagos soon after their marriage, where Hyder secures a job at a state university to teach anthropology. Set in Nigeria, the book is based on Maryam’s ordeal. She suffers physical and verbal abuse and disloyalty from her husband.

Amid the turbulence of their shared lives, the couple is blessed with a baby. He is named Harris who means the world to his mother. However, his father is divided between his family and his new love — the Satanist — Victoria, in short Vikki.

Hyder has always been unkind to Maryam and physically abuses her. But it remains unclear why he mistreats her until the readers trace his roots in a small village where he lived in the early years of his life. He is a classic example of an Oedipus complex and comes across as exceedingly egotistical.

Hyder struggles to understand the idea of Satanism — either to accept it or reject it. Vikki introduces him to Baphomet but the satanic statue intimidates him.

Overall, the novel does not propagate the idea of satanism in the novel. On the contrary, it appears as though the writer is trying to show how satanism is practiced in every society irrespective of race, creed and geography.

The story is told in the alternating voices of Hyder, Maryam, Harris, Malam Yakubu, Vikki, Binta and Garba. Sana Munir’s debut novel is fun to read but makes one feel uneasy at the end. It seems spiritual corruption does not really need a tag. Hyder’s characters clearly depict that we as human beings can do everything to fulfil our desires.

Title: The Satanist: A novel

Author: Sana Munir

Publisher: Partridge India

ISBN: 1482847205

Pages: 322

Price: $12.99

The writer works on the Karachi desk at The Express Tribune

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2016.

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