Book Review: A Tight Rope By Sahar Abdulaziz

I have read a thriller after a long time and it came out to be the right one , to be more precise it is a political thriller. The chapters in book are well divided based on main Characters in book. The plot is well developed , detailed enough and keeps you hooked till the end. The story gives you an inside view into lives of American Muslims post Trump Era , effects of Iraq and Afghanistan war and the rampant racial profiling and growing Islamophobia. It also highlights the flaws within the muslim society and the division which from the outside world seems so homogenous.

The main Protagonist of story is Nour Ibrahim who is a young African American Muslim woman. Nour is honest, dedicated to her work, have a vision in life and is a good speaker . Recently she has been given a task to organise a rally to mobilize public on growing racism, hatred and islamophobia. Nour finds herself juggling between work , her declining health and being stalked and threatened by a crazy bigot! How and what happens next unwinds in the book. I am not going to kill the suspense here.

My Rating for the Book: A straight 4 stars.

I am definitely going to read more of her work.

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Book Review: Unveiled by Rumki Chowdhury

I am back guys , this time with a Book Review 🙂 , Thanks to Sister Papatia for introducing me to this book which I have enjoyed thoroughly . It is a collection of short poems and an essay . I would say a very poetic expression of what Hijab means to the author, breaking some stereotypes through her power packed poetry. The images used in the book adds so much more to her words . The name of book is Unveiled , though it is all about the Islamic Veil -Hijab , I was wondering why she chose this name and smiled then thinking why not , the Author has unveiled her heart writing this book. The book is well divided into 3 sections ( Body , Mind and Soul) which gives an overview of Hijab inclusivity to all aspects of person’s life who is wearing it . I loved how the contrast is shown about Hijab as people conceive it as symbol of oppression while the person who wears it sees it as symbol of liberation from all peer pressures of conformities. There is also her Hijab story at end of the poems which reminds me so much of my Hijab story . Every time I read someone’s Hijab journey, I walk down the memory lane again . The book is simple, well written and heart touching. An inspiring book for all Hijabis and women in general. A small book but impactful !

My Rating for the Book: 4/5

The book is anyone who is a Poetry lover and also for people who are curious to read Hijab stories.

You can find her book on links below :

Amazon link : https://www.amazon.com/Unveiled-Rumki-Chowdhury/dp/1947148966

DKP Links : https://www.djarabikitabs.com/bookstore/unveiled-ebook-format (FREE)

and https://www.djarabikitabs.com/bookstore/unveiled

Book Review: Bedouin Bedtime

This is the first time I am reviewing a children’s book  from an amazing blogger and friend Um A’yube , from  the blog  Desert Chameleon , Do check out her blog , I am sure you will love it too and that is where we had met . Bedouin Bedtime is her first book MashaAllah and I love it.

It is the cutest little book I have read. It makes up a good read for little ones who likes bed time stories or you can even read out to them and show them pictures to inculcates good reading habits since beginning. The book has interesting pictures with text  liners to relate to the pictures and trigger the imagination of children. There is also a introduction from the Author and her first hand experiences of Bedouin life. The book consists of 12 pages,  not enough for an adult’s perspective I wanted to read more so  I went through it again 😀 , jokes apart,  for kids I think  it is good enough and the sense of finishing the book will be great for them. Um A’yube is a mother herself so the book is well written keeping in mind the needs of children and what they like. We definitely need to know more of such Bedouin stories, I wish her all the best for her future books.

Book Description : A picture book for children 0-6 yrs celebrating diversity and a now fading, nomadic way of life. A boldly illustrated story about the simple, natural, bedtime routine of Bedouin nomads. Included after the story is a short section about Bedouin people, the word “Bismillah” and a note from the author.

My Ratings :  4 stars 

Book Review: A Case of Exploding Mangoes

 

My rating for the book: 3 stars

The Book starts with a great opening, the storyline is superb, It has the advantage of historical fiction where the readers know some of the characters and start imagining them in real life as they are described by the author.The humor is good and fresh in first half but I felt  it started to get boring and monotonous in the second half and I dragged at few places to finish the book, The story is set on the scenes when Zia ul Haq was the ruling President of Pakistan, it throws light on corruption of Army , his dictatorship, The Hypocrisy of American intervention in Afghan War and how the Islamization of country started at his hands. The book is about the possibles conspiracies that could have been in place which killed the then Military Dictator of Pakistan in airplane crash of 1988. There are so many interesting pieces in the book which highlights the the plight of country like case of blind Zainab where the failure of judiciary is shown, She was convicted to being stoned when she was a victim of rape, the overpowers of ISI chief who were killing people mysteriously to their advantages, The mystified death of Colonel Shigri around whom the story revolves as the male protagonist of the story is his son trying to avenge his father’s death . Overall it makes a good read ! An altogether different book I must say.

 

Book Review: Sinan and Leyla

Sinan and Leyla is a love story of two different people falling in love through arranged Marriage.  When Destiny has decided for them ,who are they to deny it !

Each chapter is interesting than the rest, it is funny and emotional at the same time. You might end up crying in few pages and later find yourself smiling in next pages.The people of SouthEast Asian origin and Indian Subcontinent can relate to it quite much because arranged marriages are quite a normal thing there. In Fact the life of people rotates around weddings only, from finding a guy/groom for their children, fixing their marriage, then making the arrangements of weddings and later the look after of the newly wed couple and then worrying them to start a family asap. It is all very normal in our families and which is why reading this book becomes our stories too.It highlights very well the problem of single mothers and kids raised without father, and the hypocrisy of male domination in our society. Towards the end Sinan and Leyla becomes so known to you that parting from them at end of book makes you sad.

This is the debut Novel of the Author and I wish him much success ! The story is much gripping and definitely deserves a reading.

MY rating for the book: 5 stars

You can check out the book at Amazon here  -> Sinan and Leyla

The author is a blogger too at wordpress  and

you can  follow  her amazing blog here  -> https://tamtam01blog.wordpress.com/

Book Review – Us By David Nicholls

David Nicholls is without a doubt a great writer , his narrative style is easy , funny and full of wit.The whole book is moving to and forth between flashback and current time and how the author switches  smoothly without getting his readers lost  is worth appreciating . I really like how the titles of each chapter were selected and explained  in course of the chapter. The protagonist of the story is Douglas Petersen, a middle aged English Biochemist who is on verge of a divorce and is doing his best to save his marriage  on a family trip to Europe probably the last one together .Douglas is a simple introvert guy whose main aim is to provide a comfortable life to his wife and son for which  he works really hard . The pressures of life and work  has left him  a dull and boring person  who soon gets disconnected  from his  family. Mr Peterson is also not on very good terms with his teenage son Albie and  wants to reconnect with him . There are so many hopes and so much to do on this trip .

I  will not kill the suspense of the book by telling you much of the story , you really should read to find out what happened; if he was able to save his marriage or not  🙂 but whatever will happen , you will definitely enjoy the reading. It is emotional, sensitive and a lot funny. I think people who work in technical stuff could relate to his humor and personality while the artistic guys can easily see themselves in his family members, the story of about two opposites falling in love and then falling apart .There is so much for the travel geeks as well  in this book since author has done quite justice in describing well the cities visited on their tour to Europe, you won’t be left disappointed.

My ratings for the book- 4 Stars ( * * * * )

Book Review – The Ducktrinors by Papatia Feauxzar

So I am here with my first book review on WordPress.

Recently finished reading the book ‘The Ductrinors ’ from Papatia Feauxzar,  if you remember I did a post about her book launch few weeks back.

Papatia is a published author of many novels, You can also find her on wordpress (https://papatia.wordpress.com/) .

Recently she started with her novel series,The Ductrinors ,  Book 1  Hanifa  is the first in this series.

The novel revolved around a  young female protagonist Hanifa, a day dreamer who wants to save the world from evil people. She is strong and determined woman who proves herself a great leader as the novel advances. The opening of the novel was interesting and holds the reader’s curiosity about characters and their history as each of them get introduced slowly in the book. The story is set in future era with use of technology at its maximum, can be perceived as magical for today. The imagination of writer is good and has done quite well in describing the scene for your mind to imagine well. Reading some chapters will remind you of Harry Potter book.

I feel the novel is for teenagers and younger audience but I still loved reading it to the child inside my heart.

I really liked the novel Papatia . Wish you good luck for the success of this novel and entire Ductrinor’s series.

Find it on goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28187991-the-ducktrinors)

P.S: Waiting for the next novel :Book 2 Malik