As a new member of the Pakistani diaspora, parts of What Remains After a Fire felt like opening my journal and reading over some of my most personal thoughts on some of the toughest days. A lot of Kanza Javed’s writing is deeply introspective; she handles difficult topics with grace, smoothening ragged edges without ever shying away from heavy realities. The stories in this collection center Pakistani women in all our various forms. She embraces so many female realities that it is easy to find yourself reflected in her work. Javed’s work is fantastic because she faces the darker sides of womanhood without any sensationalism – a delicate and important balance.

Given my current reality, I was most drawn to Javed’s writing on the diaspora, finding it both validating, and cutting. She does a brilliant job portraying the immediate alienation of moving abroad. In ‘It Will Follow You Home’, in a line that speaks to the heart of the concept, Javed writes, “Jeffery does not think you should speak of skin color so much. You tell him you never did before coming here.” Her writing on the diaspora experience tends to explore the search for identity that arriving in a foreign land can cause. Reading through other stories in a similar vein – ‘My Bones Hold a Stillness’ and ‘Worry Doll’ – feels like a reflective exercise, often almost prompting the reader to wonder why leaving Pakistan is a desirable idea at all. Javed writes of school shootings, the redirection and loss of career mobility, and the thirst to find people who understand the familiar patterns of your life without the need to explain them. Her writing here is honest and direct and feels almost lived-in; the perspectives are not imagined, but rather authentic. In one such true-life depiction in ‘Worry Doll’, Nitu says to her friend, “The answer to everything, Zara, is to remain busy. Always remain busy…Always stay busy so the chaos never enters. Fill your calendar. Cook over the bad apartment smell. Otherwise, you won’t survive the snow spells, the holidays, the unforgiving hours. You won’t survive the hours.” Maybe this is questionable advice, but for most people who move abroad, this is true in the beginning. The noise of Pakistan has to be replicated somehow if people are to survive.

Another factor that makes this collection a strong one is that at no point does it feel as if the author has preconceived or biased views on the characters she presents. Javed’s stories are laid out with a matter-of-factness that provides everyone the opportunity to be seen. This is best exemplified in ‘Rani’, ‘The Last Days of Bilquees Begum’, and ‘Stray Things Do Not Carry a Soul’. These are complex stories centered around complex humans, but Javed’s writing remains simple, allowing the narratives to shine. ‘Rani’ is a story I particularly appreciate in this regard. The people that this tale revolves around are each uniquely positioned in a volatile position within Pakistani society – a divorcee, a widower, and a pregnant maid who experienced sexual assault. Somehow, Javed offers each individual grace, writing a story that is deeply and essentially human. This is true for ‘The Last Days of Bilquees Begum’ and ‘Stray Things Do Not Carry a Soul’ as well. The choice to center all the individuals in each story makes for very rich and balanced writing.

My favorite storytelling in this entire collection is found in ‘Ruby’ and ‘Carry it All’. Perhaps this is because these are the two narratives that truly ask the question, what does remain after a fire? This collection repeatedly asks that without providing an answer. Moreover, sometimes, rather than asking this question, it feels as though the collection pushes us to reflect on the conditions that lead to those fires, to question whether they could have been handled before the blaze occurred. Incredibly, when we look at the fires in Karachi – in Gul Plaza, in Millenium and RJ Malls – there are parallels with Javed’s writing. Repeatedly, it appears that when establishments, relationships, and social structures are built without fire escapes, destructive blazes are inevitable.

‘Ruby’ and ‘Carry it All’ are both devastating tales for entirely different reasons. One details the experience of being a religious minority in Pakistan, and the other a woman’s journey handling multiple miscarriages. Both stories end in enormous, life-altering fires – one cathartic, the other sickening. In both of these, Javed reveals unsettling aspects of womanhood in a matter-of-fact manner.

What Remains After a Fire is a deeply honest, unpretentious, and important book where Kanza Javed has made room for her women to experience grace and respect, in a series of stories in which every character is fully seen.