From Lucy F., a published writer of creative nonfiction and a film and literature enthusiast, who's been living in San Francisco since 2010:
Moazzam Sheikh's novella, A Footbridge to Hell Called Love, is a rich read. The first part of the book describes a glorious time in San Francisco in the 1990s, when someone looking for cultural edification and lively conversation could wander the inner city and easily find like-minded souls looking for same – along with a side of sexual adventure.
That first section of the book was a moment-by-moment recounting of a boisterous house party. The writing was similar to watching a hand-held camera following characters in and around a scene. The dialog part was colorful – to say the least! For me, it credibly reflected the quick banter of a very particular social set.
For someone like me who didn't live in San Francisco during that era, I relished a glimpse of what I might have missed. Some pages in, though, I was relieved to be released from that opening party and move on.
The second and third parts of the novella made more of an emotional impact on this reader. Once the action slowed down a bit, I could ease into the psychology of the protagonist, Aslam, and the other characters who made the cut. The changes in their lives that took place rather surprised me, which is a good thing.
Thanks for letting us know about the novella, Moazzam, and good luck completing the rest of the series!
From a loving friend, retired librarian Bill Lynch, an avid reader:
I just finished your novella A Footbridge…
I loved it. I was delayed a bit before I could start it (another library book with an earlier due date), but once I got into it, I basically couldn’t put it down.
The entire book from the energy and confusion of the initial 20-30 somethings party scene, and onto his temporary almost accidental relationship with Amelie, then to the Stephen Daedalus trek through SF with Shirin Ghobadi (a Persian Holly Golightly?) through making peace without ever forgetting Debbie and finally arriving at Aslam’s deeper, mature connection with Barbara that literally bears fruit both in their writing and their progeny. A portrait of the artist, indeed.
Your compelling story that resonates with me as I see myself in many of the scenes and situations. You subtitled it “San Francisco Quartet, Novella I”. I excited to see what comes next.
From a loving friend, Spanish artist Maria Alvarez, and my roommate from the time the novella draws its inspiration:
I haven't told you how much I enjoyed reading your book. Sometimes [it] was even painful to confront such a lively and intense sense of recovery/memory from a shared past there in San Francisco. Thank you so much for bringing it back. I love your writing. I love you!!!
From historian and anthropologist Karen Leonard:I got it and have read it. A shift in South Asian American writing? To
multicultural American writing? It’s about a young man’s shift from a
preoccupation with sex to a preoccupation with love, and in San Francisco’s
youngish literary set, which I can only assume is realistically portrayed.
Not sure what is South Asian about it, and maybe that’s the shift, to a
broader entangled identity.
From a true San Franciscan, poet Lynne Barnes, the author of Falling into Flowers the author:
congrats again on the new book . . . so steeped in SF . . . such fascinating characters… glad there is more ahead . . . 
disclaimer: Lynne Barnes and I met for coffee where I answered several questions she had about the book and the process behind writing the novella. Most satisfying conversation with a fellow writer !
From the brilliant author of Bright Parallel and Kala Pani, poet Monica Mody:
Sharing some quick thoughts:
First of all there is some lovely language here.
"their mouths turning into tropical caves"!
"voice splintered into tufts of dust"!
I wasn't initially sure what to make of the insight we are given into guy-mind, but then Aslam's character deepened into a sensitivity, self-awareness, and awareness of others beyond melancholic filters. Good for him! I am curious how he will continue to grow, and curious about the narrative development as we move through the series.
What an amazing sketch of SF in three movements. I have to say the party in the first movement reminded me a lot of parties in Delhi in the early 2000s. How interesting that young artists everywhere have the same patterns when they come together.
So glad Barb and Aslam refused to turn middle class. Finally, a beautiful ending. That last line!
From librarian, branch manager Doreen Horstin:
A short exchange -
I really enjoyed reading it! The book captured so well the San Francisco social scene, the parties, the coffee dates, and the chance meetings that can lead to so many things. The party scene was almost cringe-inducing, and yet so familiar! The various characters were spot on! And I loved the air of romantic possibility that was lurking throughout.
I send a big round of applause to you both, for the writing, the proofing, the editing, and the fantastic cover art. Well done, and I look forward to the next one!
-Doreen
Thank you for taking the time to read the book so thoughtfully. It was a risky endeavor to write such a book where almost every character is a composite of so many people I have known for the last 35+ years of my life in SF. One wrong move and I could've upset someone. I had to tread where angels wouldn't dare, so to speak. This book would not have been what it is now without Amna's help, with language and tone and other errors of judgement I'm prone to make.
With your permission, may I share your comments with others on my blog?
p.s. we're working on the second volume currently.
-Moazzam
Yes, you can share my comments. Even though I don't know your friends (or maybe I do, SF is a small town), I also had moments of recognition! You really captured the characters in this town. Bravo!
From the author of After, a multi-faceted (re)telling of Ramayana, poet Vivek Narayanan:
In its ambition to provide a smoky, ineffable but thoroughly authentic taste of an era, of a scene (San Francisco in the 90s) with all its complications, self-importance, ironies and little delights, in the midst of gently encountering difference and other beings, its prose a delightfully heady cocktail of lightness and depth, Moazzam Sheikh's new novel instantly recalls other such serious and sublime trifles: Isherwood's Berlin and Pinckney's Berlin, Linklater's Austin in Slacker, Bolano's Mexico City. And Sheikh's prose, moreover, is also shot through with the melancholic, longing notes of a certain mode of South Asian poetics, and of fiction writers like Naiyer Masud and Nirmal Verma, making him a truly hybrid original American writer unlike any I know of. Mischievous, political, brimming with minutiae and the transitory, A Footbridge to Hell Called Love ultimately gathers up a true time-haunted power in its short one hundred pages, a novel as much about friendship and our undying obligations to each other as it is about love.
love
vivek
From future historian based at Princeton Meher Ali:
Dear Moazzam mus,
Greetings from Bombay! It's hot and muggy here but I'm eating delicious food and having the best time.
I wanted to write as I finally had the chance to read your novella this last weekend. I devoured it in one sitting on the flight from Kolkata to Mumbai and felt a stab of panic when I reached the end — I was totally hooked and unprepared to leave the story so suddenly. But then I remembered this is only the first of a quartet (is that correct?) and felt relieved. When will we get to read the next one?
I just think the character of Aslam was so finely drawn — he was infuriating and exasperating but I found myself strangely attached to him. I felt all his loneliness and his joy (and when he starts secretly meeting Debbie behind Barbara's back, I wanted to jump inside the pages and yell at him). You created a whole world inside his head — and amidst all the insecurities and anxieties and uncomfortable fixations that existed there (around women, sex, intellectual posturing, class difference, etc etc), there was this wonderful core of perceptiveness and vulnerability and humor. It kind of snuck up on me how genuinely funny Aslam is — and how he's kind of laughing at the world even as it bewilders and overwhelms him. I laughed out loud more than once on the plane. There were so many lines I loved — noted down a few favorites, which I'm just copying below.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved the book and am really looking forward to reading more.
With love,
- Mehru
--
"Eddie's eyes narrowed as if they were protecting a pleasurable memory."
"he suspected it could have been a man she followed only to either lose him to the fog or let go once she found her own footing on a rare bright day."
"If they had a conversation, its memory, he was sure, would flap its wings through the forest of their private thoughts for a long time as they'd just touched the wings of a dream."
"..it was not healthy to carry another person's grave in the heart. The heart was not a tomb."
"Suffocating thoughts swirled around in his head...revealing to him how the monster of unpredictability hovered so close to ones world..."
"But what if the ending didn't give a fuck?"
From a lover of literature and cineaste friend Francis Downing:
Moazzam,
Just finished your novel and much enjoyed it. Path dependency, private inner life and the unpredictability agency of others. Some nice turns of phrase and observations. Reminded me of Kierkegaard’s “life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
From San Francisco based playwritght Mira Pasikov:
It was great to be able to read your fine complex novel. Please let Amna know how much I like her cover.
From poet Joseph Mihelarakis:
I was able to pick up your book the other day and read it for a second time, a bit at home and the rest on a plane trip to Boston.
So l guess you could say it’s so good l read it twice! And l am glad l did. Aslam is quite the character and l found myself thinking about him when not reading the book. I think that’s good.
There is a time in most of our lives when we live almost exclusively for our lovers and friends. This is depicted beautifully as Aslam progresses along the path of love with Amelie, Barbara, Debbie. Along with a memorable interlude with Shirin. Other characters in his shifting friend group also held my interest. I wonder if l will ever find out whatever really happened to the bath-fearing David?
But ultimately it was Aslam who held my attention. Socially principled yet sometimes a literary snob, self-aware yet impulsive, calculating yet ultimately simple in his desire to love and be loved. And funny! He made me laugh a lot.
I look forward to the second novella!
From novelist John Goins:
I finished your novella, and enjoyed it very much! I'm looking forward to discussing it with you when we meet, and might email you a few thoughts that I have about it before then, if you don't mind. I'm also looking forward to book two of the quartet, which I hope will be coming soon.
Very, very good writing, old friend!
From novelist Elizabeth McKenzie:
I really enjoyed it, and was impressed.
From librarian Marina Bacchetti:
Just finished reading A Footbridge to Hell Called Love. Very SF bohemian. Humorous and thought-provoking. It took me a bit to get into it at first but then it quickly drew in me wanting to find out how it all was going turn out for Aslam, Barbara and Debbie. Now the burning question is: when will novella #2 be published?
