Scan barcode
A review by mansimudgal
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
2.0
The Far Field is the story of Shalini, her family and one Bashir Ahmed who used to come visit her and her mother years ago.
Bashir Ahmed belonged to a small village near Kishtwar in Jammu.
After the death of her mother Shalini decided to try to track him down, the reason is complicated and an important element of the story. The writer goes back and forth in time, talking of the afternoons spent with her mother and Bashir Ahmed, listening to his stories... her trips with her parents among other things.
.
The book should have been brilliant, it has all the markings of one; a complicated family dynamic, mental health issues, a successful father who is lost when it comes to his wife and daughter, a mother daughter relationship strife with equal parts love and hate. Add to this a volatile situation in Kashmir, the tussle between militants, army and the civilians... missing men and women, politics, religion and frustration should have made it great but what we get is all of it but watered down.
.
Shalini as a narrator is unlikable; her naivety is frustrating, unbelievable and frankly stupid. She repeatedly tells you how observant and aloof she is but repeatedly tries to assert herself in places she has no reason to and distances herself in a jiffy.
Her journey to Kashmir and back is essentially a whim of the rich and is devastating for others. Her relationship with her parents especially her mother is intriguing but we never really understand the what and why of it.
.
The turmoil in Kashmir and the issues of common folk is touched but so much of it is eaten up by pointless meandering of the narrator that it puts a damper on the whole exercise. A single boy carrying around a photo of his missing brother shows more depth than our narrator in the whole book.
At the heart of it all, the book is about cowardice, about class difference and family ties which are both blood bound and those that are formed.
.
There are better books out there on themes that the author wishes to discuss like The Tree with a Thousand Apples, Ghachar Ghochar, Girl in White Cotton, My Father’s Garden to name a few. ⭐️⭐️.5/5
Bashir Ahmed belonged to a small village near Kishtwar in Jammu.
After the death of her mother Shalini decided to try to track him down, the reason is complicated and an important element of the story. The writer goes back and forth in time, talking of the afternoons spent with her mother and Bashir Ahmed, listening to his stories... her trips with her parents among other things.
.
The book should have been brilliant, it has all the markings of one; a complicated family dynamic, mental health issues, a successful father who is lost when it comes to his wife and daughter, a mother daughter relationship strife with equal parts love and hate. Add to this a volatile situation in Kashmir, the tussle between militants, army and the civilians... missing men and women, politics, religion and frustration should have made it great but what we get is all of it but watered down.
.
Shalini as a narrator is unlikable; her naivety is frustrating, unbelievable and frankly stupid. She repeatedly tells you how observant and aloof she is but repeatedly tries to assert herself in places she has no reason to and distances herself in a jiffy.
Her journey to Kashmir and back is essentially a whim of the rich and is devastating for others. Her relationship with her parents especially her mother is intriguing but we never really understand the what and why of it.
.
The turmoil in Kashmir and the issues of common folk is touched but so much of it is eaten up by pointless meandering of the narrator that it puts a damper on the whole exercise. A single boy carrying around a photo of his missing brother shows more depth than our narrator in the whole book.
At the heart of it all, the book is about cowardice, about class difference and family ties which are both blood bound and those that are formed.
.
There are better books out there on themes that the author wishes to discuss like The Tree with a Thousand Apples, Ghachar Ghochar, Girl in White Cotton, My Father’s Garden to name a few. ⭐️⭐️.5/5