The Nine Lives of Pakistan cover art

The Nine Lives of Pakistan

Dispatches from a Precarious State

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Nine Lives of Pakistan

By: Declan Walsh
Narrated by: Roger Clark
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times's most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals.

On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis - a chieftain readying for war at his desert fort, a retired spy skulking through the borderlands, and a crusading lawyer risking death for her beliefs, among others. Through these "nine lives" he describes a country on the brink - a place of creeping extremism and political chaos, but also personal bravery and dogged idealism that defy easy stereotypes.

Unbeknownst to Walsh, however, an intelligence agent was tracking him. Written in the aftermath of Walsh's abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan's powerful security state. Intimate and complex, attuned to the centrifugal forces of history, identity, and faith, The Nine Lives of Pakistan offers an unflinching account of life in a precarious, vital country.

©2020 Declan Walsh (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Asia India Journalists, Editors & Publishers Middle East South Asia Southeast Asia Pakistan Emotionally Gripping
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Great Partition cover art
The Bhutto Dynasty cover art
The Shining Path cover art
Arabs cover art
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World cover art
Lost Islamic History cover art
Hunting bin Laden cover art
Brigham Young cover art
Ghost Wars cover art
The Anarchy cover art
Directorate S cover art
Orientalism cover art
The Fate of Abraham cover art
Assad or We Burn the Country cover art
A Passion for Nature cover art
Oracle Bones cover art

What listeners say about The Nine Lives of Pakistan

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb book

Excellent book! Enjoyed it immensely. Will listen to it again.
The narration too was very good.
Thank you, Daclan Walsh

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

An essential read for any visitors to Pakistan

an essential read for anyone who has lived and worked in Pakistan and followed its history. Well written, well presented, filled in many gaps in my knowledge of Pakistan . Does tend to skip back into previous history in a rather random kind of fashion however, but Walsh does know the history well. Fits in well with my own experience of living and working there, reading about the history and meeting several of the senior people mentioned.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating country

With the worlds fifth largest population and a worldwide diaspora, it is remarkable how little understood Pakistan is. This is a series of essays from an Irish journalist. I much preferred the writing when he focused on the historical context or the dealings with ordinary Pakistanis, who are more remarkably varied than outsiders may think. The military and political strong men he encounters often seem remarkably alike.

The stentorian narration of Roger Clark detracted from my enjoyment. It felt as if he barked, rather than spoke, the whole thing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really well balanced

Great audio book. Enjoyed every moment. Really well put together with exceptional detail. I shall keep an eye out for other titles by the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderfully insightful yet bleak expose

The author's years spent in Pakistan provide a unique insight into a nation with a troubled history, but so much promise. A great listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book on Pakistan

An excellent book on the history and politics of Pakistan interweaved with the experiences of the decade that Declan Walsh spent in the country as a journalist. Declan describes his travels through the country and the larger than life characters that he comes across, as well as the reach of the Pakistani intelligence service and Pakistan's fraught relationship with India from Partitian to the present day. A must-read book for those interested in South Asian / Pakistani history and politics, you won't be disappointed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

That book the journalist always writes...

A mix of anecdotes, history and personal experience. Sometimes fascinating, but ultimately a bit of a mess in the way that books by journalists used to writing in a shorter form so often are.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

An overview of sorts

Written nice but gets a bit vague in number of places which are of high importance. But again it’s written mostly on personal experience and perceptions.
One thing I really disliked about this is the narrator. It must be mandatory to have basic understanding how names of people and places is pronounced if you are not a native. Could at least research or learn. And writer after staying in country for nine years accepted it is not a good reflection. Less than one star for me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!