FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTIONWINNER OF THE 2023 ASPEN WORDS LITERARY
PRIZE AND THE 2023 O. HENRY PRIZE NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2022An 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
