Train to Pakistan - by Khushwant Singh published in 1956 - Fiction
Although I have read a lot of books since I was 10, this is my first book review. Thanks to Rahul who inspired (read as forced) me into this one ;)
Train to Pakistan is a book based on the partition of India Pakistan right after India's independence. It takes us to the summer of 1947 to Mano Majra, a tiny village in Punjab. The partition means almost nothing to the local villagers and all is well between the sikh farmers and muslim tenants of the village until the local money lender Ram Lal is murdered. Jugga and the England returned social activist become the prey of Punjab police. The heavy drama shifts drastically when an east-bound train makes an unplanned stop at Mano Majra, coaches full of corpses. The flabbergasted villagers have not yet accepted the truth when reality slaps them once again when Sutlej floods from neighboring village. Action paces on as the magistrate, Jugga, Iqbal (the social activist) and village heads try to tackle the revolting violence. Also, the attitude of local police and niggling government officials is very nicely portrayed. The end however leaves a lot of open threads. Once I was about 4 - 5 pages away from the end, I was keen to know how will he end the series of misfortunes in the village. Frankly I was a bit disappointed since I was expecting something out of Mr. Iqbal as well. But to sum it up, Mr. Singh's eye to detail makes it a total page turner. Train to Pakistan gets a "Must Read" tag.
8 comments:
Deadly! What next? ;)
Quality work, timely completion of the project! Suppa-cool!
Very nice and terse review. I think even I should give it a go....may be after Miku's gone home :P.
So ya which one's next?
Would have to try and catch up with it ... The looong bus journeys to office is giving me ample time :P
Heya, I like this review...I also wanted a bit more action from Mr. Iqbal, since e kept harping about how India should change.
You could also mention the writing style, what you liked about the book in the review rather than just giving a summary(though it is necessary)
Arthi,
Rahul gifted similar titled book to me also and as usual, I am tempted to write book-review of the same book.
More than 90 book-reviews on the said book are present on internet.
I liked your presentation on the subject and blog in general. Congratulations.
Do read my way of presentation on the same subject.
Dr Bharat Desai, Bilimora
Arthi,
Rahul gifted similar titled book to me also and as usual, I am tempted to write book-review of the same book.
More than 90 book-reviews on the said book are present on internet.
I liked your presentation on the subject and blog in general. Congratulations.
Do read my way of presentation on the same subject.
Dr Bharat Desai, Bilimora
Why this blog is silent? TIME TO REVIVE?
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