I had reviewed this book last year and came back to this site to buy one for one of my friends. It gave me another chance to read some of the current reviews. I think some of the folks who don't have a good cultural understanding of Pakistan, are reading a lot between lines. So please don't be misguided by the story.
Well, its just a novel. Well written, worth reading, and worth recommending. However, it does not portray what normally goes on in that society so don't get so fascinated/opinionated so easily. It's just like when some of the folks from other side of the ocean, watch Jerry Springer show, and create a distorted image about American society.
I can also understand some reviewers feelings who had lived in Pakistan or have a first hand knowledge of that society. The story does concentrate on one dark aspect of a very small segement of society.
It's a novel, good fiction. Enjoy it with that in mind!!!

"Moth Smoke" is, by far, one of the best novels that I have read in a while -- and I read a lot. The descriptions of Lahore and the societal strata in modern Pakistan are captivating. The author has crafted captivating, multi-dimensional characters, none of which is perfect, but each of which I felt drawn to, in a different way. The story focusses on our "hero," who loses his job, and then makes a series of bad decisions which compound on one another.

This book is marvelously written. Every other chapter is told in a different style, from another character's point of view (the alternating chapters are told from the protagonist's point of view). The changes in tone are extremely realistic, and showcase the author's obivious talent.

I found the first couple of chapters a little confusing, at the outset, but they became clear as the book continued -- in fact, when I finished the book, I immediately turned to and reread the beginning. I have never done this before.

I very highly recommend this book, which is, in reality, a colorful fable.

I'd never heard of this book or this writer when I picked up Moth Smoke. Being from Pakistan myself, I was somewhat apprehensive...the gushing praise on the back jacket seemed a little TOO gushing, the context of this book seemed too easily marketable in a decade which has seen a feeding frenzy upon asian and asian american writers by critics and publishing houses alike. Imagine my surprise. I couldn't have had less to worry about. This is a truly compelling novel. In a time when words like "post-colonial" are tossed around like garbage, let me say that this work stands up and holds its own. As a document testifying to the various minutiae of Pakistani society and as a study in some very economical prose, with a crew of characters as remarkable as any you've ever read about, and as a novel that manages to engage the reader with disturbing yet very real questions, Moth Smoke is a success. Don't bother to compare this work in any way to other novels based around the same geographical region of the world -- your comparisons are pointless. This work offers a stimulating mix of fast, heady, prose that manages to linger -- somewhat like smoke itself. Mohsin Hamid has Arrived and I for one salute him.