Good effort by the author to piece together her father's life but the writing was a bit chronologically messy. She is also obviously biased towards her father so may have to read the book with a pinch of salt. ( )

It is often said that reality is stranger than fiction. Fatima Bhutto’s new book Songs of Blood and Sword proves that adage and does it one better: in this new memoir, reality is more compelling and more dramatic than fiction could ever hope to be.

Fatima Bhutto promised her father, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, that she would write this memoir after his death–he was assassinated in 1996. In Songs of Blood and Sword, Bhutto boldly describes the parallel destinies of her family and their country Pakistan; from the time of her grandfather Zulfikar Ali, Pakistan’s first elected Prime Minister, to the present day.

Ultimately, Bhutto gives us a highly convincing and extremely compelling memoir, the force of which is only slightly diminished by a few retroactive attempts to trace the childhood rifts between her father and Benazir, and some petty name-calling.

This book is not the simple nostalgic exercise that it may seem at first: the 29-year-old Bhutto has been a strong voice of dissent against the regimes of her aunt, Benazir, and her aunt’s husband, Pakistan’s current president Asif Zardari. She lives up to her reputation in the book, putting forth damning evidence about the couple’s involvement in the deaths of Fatima’s uncle, Shahnawaz, her father, and the couple’s rampant corruption that has cost Pakistan a reported US$3 billion.

Despite the revelations provided by Bhutto’s meticulous research, the book is not about pointing fingers; instead, it’s an outstanding memoir linking the personal to the political and the national. Fatima clearly shows how Pakistan’s modern history is tied up in the ups and downs of the Bhutto family.

The book is also exemplary in its thoroughness: Bhutto travelled all over the world, interviewing hundreds of people in Pakistan and abroad to piece together the events of her family’s life. She provides the reader with a nuanced and relevant look at contemporary Pakistani politics, putting events and names into context for the oblivious reader.

Bhutto traces the family’s journey from her grandfather’s first foray into political activism to her father's untimely death. She describes her father Murtaza’s exile in Afghanistan and Syria, his ups and downs as a politician and the leader of an armed resistance group, and his eventual failure to convince Benazir to return to the family legacy, for which he paid with his life.

Bhutto intertwines difficult and emotional political material with sincere and heartbreaking descriptions of her relationship with her father, his boisterous personality, and his love for his family and country.

For the most part, the author's accusations are timely, relevant and too important not to be put out in the open. The obvious question now is: has Bhutto gone too far? Only time can reveal the next drama in the Bhutto legacy; for now, the author has given anyone interested in the dynamics of political power in Pakistan a lot to think about.

By Nour Motawa - Writer for http://www.Cairo360.com