Take a look at the back cover of the book written by Michael Gruber. It tells you the plot line of the book. Dr Sonia Laghari and a group of others are abducted by a group of extremists while there are on the way to a conference to discuss peace in one of the trouble regions of the world. She is an historian whose previous works has shocked and wounded the followers of Islam, not because of what is in the book but how because of how she manged to get the material for her book. As a result there is a death sentence on her. This worries her son Theo a military personnel who uses his contacts to get his mother to safety. While Theo is working to get his mother freed, Sonia is psychologically engaging her captors in dialogues questioning their understanding of the holy book.
I was hooked as soon as I read the back cover. The back cover promises drama in various flavors, political relevance in the form of US policies and religious interpretation in the form of dialogues between Sonia and her captors. That is in fact a lot of things in one tiny small book. How does one manage to cram all these into a book? Luckily, this is not a tough task for Michael Gruber. He manages to put all these ingredients together and also succeeds to keep us glued to the book. In order to build the drama, the story is told from the point of view of the three people; Sonia the abducted, Theo the rescuer and the third a person whose role who is very ambiguous initially. This style helps in building suspense. Sonia's narrative takes precedence as she is help captive and also uses her psychology background not only to stay alive but also to influence the captors. This is where the book gets interesting.
Both Sonia and Theo guards secrets from their respective lives. When the novel opens up, the reader has no clue about their past. When the story unfolds, Michael Gruber carefully reveals their secrets little by little all the while making it clear there are more to come. This is an interesting technique and is used with the sole purpose of keeping us engrossed in the book. If you analyze some of elements of the book further, the facts are very hard to digest for an intelligent mind. This is where I advise the reader suspend their disbelief and enjoy the twists. After all this is fiction. It necessarily do not have reflect the reality!
This is a good read if you are looking for an escapist fare.
I was hooked as soon as I read the back cover. The back cover promises drama in various flavors, political relevance in the form of US policies and religious interpretation in the form of dialogues between Sonia and her captors. That is in fact a lot of things in one tiny small book. How does one manage to cram all these into a book? Luckily, this is not a tough task for Michael Gruber. He manages to put all these ingredients together and also succeeds to keep us glued to the book. In order to build the drama, the story is told from the point of view of the three people; Sonia the abducted, Theo the rescuer and the third a person whose role who is very ambiguous initially. This style helps in building suspense. Sonia's narrative takes precedence as she is help captive and also uses her psychology background not only to stay alive but also to influence the captors. This is where the book gets interesting.
Both Sonia and Theo guards secrets from their respective lives. When the novel opens up, the reader has no clue about their past. When the story unfolds, Michael Gruber carefully reveals their secrets little by little all the while making it clear there are more to come. This is an interesting technique and is used with the sole purpose of keeping us engrossed in the book. If you analyze some of elements of the book further, the facts are very hard to digest for an intelligent mind. This is where I advise the reader suspend their disbelief and enjoy the twists. After all this is fiction. It necessarily do not have reflect the reality!
This is a good read if you are looking for an escapist fare.
Tags: Books,Michael Gruber,Religion
well..a very provoking review ... provoking enough to give this a read !! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. After reading this, let me know about what you think. :)
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