Ayesha Muzaffar

I used to follow Abu’s Jinns on Instagram. I don’t know when I stopped or why, but I do know is that it was nice to see an Instgram story of Jinnistan get published. When I walked into Saeed Book Bank a few days ago and saw it stocked there, I knew I had to try it even though I’ve avoided jinn stories in all forms; after all, if you tell them, they’ll also come to listen in.

If you aren’t from Pakistan, this may not have significance to you. Abu’s Jinns was an Instagram page, which is now private, which posted jinn stories in its captions. You weren’t there for any picture. Ayesha Muzaffar (the owner of the page) made the stories feel real. You weren’t there for some beautifully edited caption that made your heart, you were there for a story that sounded like something a friend would tell you.

This is not a book of happy endings; most stories are gruesome; people disappear and die in terrible ways. But some are ordinary; sometimes you just need to apologize, and sometimes you just need to say hello. A lot of this is centered on human greed and cruelty; where people missed out on being gentle. Some are scary for the sake of it.

I wanted to love Jinnistan the way I loved Abu’s Jinns. I couldn’t. While the author is a good storyteller, and I don’t want to be on a campsite next to her, as a book, this could have been much better. When you’re writing a book and making extensive use of roman Urdu it’s already a bit of a challenge. The author was mostly able to overcome this by making sure her stories stayed conversational, even though there were lapses in that which felt forced.

I think the author could have avoided a lot of these problems had she re-read her book out loud a month or so after writing it and before publishing it. Things just needed to be cleaned up. In one story, that I read out loud to my cousin, I realized that the paragraphs were completely messed up, and it wasn’t a printing issue.

Long story short, I think Abu’s Jinns was a great thing to have on Instagram. I don’t think that it needed to be turned into a book. Stories work on different mediums and platforms, and Abu’s Jinns worked. If you loved Abu’s Jinns, I would recommend that you stay away from this book. If you haven’t had any experience with that, the book is a 3-star read.… (altro)