Pankaj was kind enough to give me good feedback on my first book, so when I learned that he had just recently published a novel, I was very interested in reading it. There are few kinds of books that sell in India and most of them leave me thinking that the fiction market is just overcrowded and focused on shallow love stories that are easy to read and entertain. But thankfully, Pankaj’s book had a certain depth and vulnerability in the characters that immediately hooked me to the story. Depth is a side-effect of pain and suffering, and that is very well-crafted in both Fiona and Soham’s individual journey. The essence of the book lies in the struggles, emotions, and eccentricities of the main characters.
I know it becomes very easy for most readers to separate the characters from the author, but being a writer myself, I know most writers express themselves through their characters. So, it’s very natural for an author to tell a story by means of characters; a story that he has, in some weird alternate universe, already lived. This book also tells me that Pankaj is true and authentic to his writing. He isn’t trying to corrupt his readers with the use of flashy twists, shiny words, and frivolities. He remains dedicated to telling a story between two people who have experienced the cruelties of life, and at no point does he stray away from the plot.
Pankaj also did a good job of world-building through his descriptive style of writing, down to the nitty-gritty details. A few pages down, I had a fairly good idea of where this story was based and the alternating timelines. However, in spite of the very valid descriptions and backstories, I couldn’t relate with the characters as much as I would have liked, but I did understand them, and that’s all I need to justify why I loved this book. This was an introspective and thought-provoking read! Well recommended!
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Top reviews from other countries
- M.SinghReviewed in India on July 3, 2025
Very good 👍
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Very good 👍M.SinghVery good 👍
Reviewed in India on July 3, 2025
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- P. MortimerReviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2017
A beautifully descriptive and atmospheric character led story about family, love, loss, grief, regret, loneliness and hope.
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - Rohit SharmaReviewed in India on March 16, 2018
Superb story of Love, Pain, Hope and learning.
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - Kindle CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2018
A life lived
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - Anindita BanerjeeReviewed in India on August 16, 2020
Hope has to be the home.
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I have mixed emotions after I finished with this book and I am still searching for composure before I can prepare my mind and order it to direct my fingers to blend out some words for the praise of this book because in every way this book has proved that. This piece of a work has left me jerked and teary eyed and I had every intention of abandoning this book because I had this thought intensifying that why am I reading it which is pricking me thus and haunting me, bringing in me the my suffering past and for it I am still suffering? I was detecting every bad conclusions as I was progressing in this book but then a realisation dawned on me that if Soham and Fiona force themselves to cling on to the fragile thread of hope, why can't I? This book should own a Booker prize for fiction someday but the readers around the world may only see the author's perspective in bringing out the haunting images in this work but if life had only happy moments to offer then would us, the human beings have valued each other? That's why I brought out the positivity from this book, carried on with it thinking that life will give devastations as an exam of Destiny only to mark out that are we beings still holding on to hopes how much fragile may it be compared to the giant tragedies which life offers us? The mastery of this book is so deepening and thought provoking that it cannot be reviewed and this book has to made to send to every household so that in this disstressing time it becomes the weapon of those lonely people who we, the us forget to care about and they have to take shelter on the Biblical motif of As one is born alone, as to die alone. As a reader like mine, who have real difficulties in articulating her thoughts, this book both became a challenge and lesson to carry on with this travesty termed as life. The book is so complete and so fulfilling in it's own depth of chatacterisation that the plot has no loopholes and it ends in a complete circle. The vulnerabilities of the characters has been so deftly carried forward that it has been proved, when in the pits if distress, whether be it a man or a woman, one had cry their hearts out, jerk and has to move ahead, beacause the famous saying Time and Tide wides for none is always at large. I cannot agree with one issue with the author that the culture depicted in the book could have been brought out in a more happy light. This book may become disturbing as it may jeringly leave a being empty from the insides and may force out waters down the cheeks, but quoting the author I will say that this 'bittersweet' journey had to be taken as at last/at the end this will remain as a cherished gift forever to adore till the us breathes. The strength to believe in the Supreme Entity has been Meticulously woven in every word if this Master art and that view has made a reader like the relieved. I have agreed with the author that the belongings of a person cannot justify his/her soul and the materialism has to be given up a day as because memories hold on. Sometimes the thing we admire the most becomes the trajectory of all the glooms, that is nature here at her most wonderous form never stops to lash and smashes millions of love. Some of the modern techniques in this book has been successfully etched out. My mother always says that after every bad, there is a good and this book proves the meaning and I will continue to believe in it. I give my best regards to the author for his future endeavours.Anindita BanerjeeHope has to be the home.
Reviewed in India on August 16, 2020
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