BOOK TITLE: The
Forbidden One
ISBN: 9789384226954
AUTHOR: Zaara
Khader
GENRE: Fiction/
Short stories
NUMBER OF PAGES: 188
FORMAT: Paperback
SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone
REVIEW BY: Dhivya
Balaji
HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: I
thank the author who sent me this review copy in exchange for a honest review.
SUMMARY:
Desire enchants! Irrespective of what
that desire is for and no matter how correct or blatantly wrong it seems to the
world around us - it leaves us stirred. The more we try to resist it, the more
irresistible it becomes till there comes a moment when we actually have to take
a call whether to draw lines or to cross those intimidating boundaries. The
Forbidden One is for all those who believe that one can feel to be alive only
when one takes that leap of faith to cross the barriers to your moment of truth.
The Forbidden One is also for those who haven’t fulfilled their forbidden dream
as yet and are on that cusp of time to take their chances.
The Forbidden One is a compilation of short stories - the chronicle of characters who, in some way or the other, are either excluded or restrained or tattooed ‘promiscuous’ by the society. Malicious and primitive in its ways, pushing such people on the periphery is bourgeois. Yet such people have a life of their own and as we go delve deeper into the lives of these characters we discover strengths, self-belief and even a sense of ease with which these characters go about their daily chores. Each of the ten tales here is set in the deep ocean of human emotions. Except that some of these emotions find their expressions in forms that are supposed to be suppressed as per the norms and inherited wisdom of the society.
The Forbidden One is a compilation of short stories - the chronicle of characters who, in some way or the other, are either excluded or restrained or tattooed ‘promiscuous’ by the society. Malicious and primitive in its ways, pushing such people on the periphery is bourgeois. Yet such people have a life of their own and as we go delve deeper into the lives of these characters we discover strengths, self-belief and even a sense of ease with which these characters go about their daily chores. Each of the ten tales here is set in the deep ocean of human emotions. Except that some of these emotions find their expressions in forms that are supposed to be suppressed as per the norms and inherited wisdom of the society.
REVIEW:
The first thing that you notice
about ‘The Forbidden One’ is its cover. Some would call it controversial, some
would call it provocative, most would call it enticing. But one thing cannot be
denied – the cover gives you an idea of what to expect in the ten stories that
this book contains. No, it is not about physical intimacy, it has nothing
raunchy. (A gentle chuckling reminder for those of you whose minds wandered
into ‘those pastures’ the moment you read this line and went up to the cover to
recheck it – or probably got interested in reading this review because of the
cover image that was prominently displayed here; Come to the stories, folks!)
The book is a collection of TEN
stories. Yes, 188 pages for ten stories which try to portray the basest of
human emotions or a nagging social issue. Each story is unique in one way and
similar in one way. They all talk about desire in one way, or maybe something
you would have heard of everyday or relate with in some remotest corner of your
mind, but dare not speak of it out loud. Not every story is a burst of passion –
but every story manages to talk about the rawest of human emotions.
The words of the stories flow in
complex sentence structures and any casual reader who is not used to reading many
books would have to read through some parts more than twice to actually understand
what it means. The stories are woven over a canvas that is desire and if you
like to patiently read your books that have a lot of words interwoven as
passages that give you a detailed visualisation of the story itself much as a profile
analysis of the supporting cast would do for the film instead of how the main
characters would be the elements you have to concentrate upon to finish each
one in half the time it was intended to be done – this book is your cup of tea.
The plots of individual stories are
simple enough. It is the actual stories themselves, written in elaborate words
that give this book the substance it requires. The characters are expressed in
detail and are written as a complex quagmire of emotions that you might relate
with. The summary gives you an idea of what the stories are going to be, and
the book adheres to the concept pretty well.
On the whole, a very good attempt by
Zaarra.
WHAT I LIKED:
The concept of desire is a sure fire
way to relate with readers, and the book gives you fodder to think about. You
won’t finish the whole thing in a day, but you will surely read the stories one
by one, trying to find the one that should obviously relate with your situation.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER:
Extremely long unbroken sentences
and paragraphs not only make the text difficult to read, they also hamper the
speed of the reader. Short stories need crisp short sentences that drive the
point home instead of long drawling sentences that make the reader forget how
the paragraph started.
VERDICT:
If you had always wanted to read a
book that portrayed the rawness of emotions and if talking about the forbidden
gives you a sense of thrill – this book is for you!
RATING: 3.7/5
(Rating
points have been awarded for the apt cover design, page quality, and nice
stories and taken away for complex wording structure and lack of paragraph
breaks. It is not unpleasant – it hampers the reading speed.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Zaarra is a media professional who got
enticed into the profession of expressions at an early age even though she
studied to be an engineer. From hosting radio shows, producing TV shows and
conceptualizing events and engagement platforms she has been in the business of
entertainment, communication and sponsorships for almost a decade now. Crafty
with words and sensitive to emotions to the core she discovered an urge to
reach out to the world and cage their imagination with a few characters and
tales which seemed familiar yet unknown. Writing comes to her naturally as does
creating characters that are so real that you can almost touch and feel them.
Having written some impressive jingles for the advertising world followed her
lyrical venture on contemporary Sufism, her compilation of stories here is more
about characters who display exemplary resilience in their pursuits to follow
their heart without a bother of what the society thinks of them or defines them
as. I hope this book strikes an emotional chord with you and that you come
across some extract which reminds you of your own forbidden experiences... I
hope the book makes a warm and cosy place for itself right within you!
EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback,
Digital
PRICE: Rs.
105 for Kindle Edition
BOOK LINKS:
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