Saturday, 22 August 2015

Zulekha- Novel Review by Shoby

Kashaaf Iqbal- I have come to know about him a few month ago. I tweeted about some novel and he replied me. So, that was the start of our online know how. Then I came to know about his very first novel, which was to be published in a digest soon. Obviously, I was a bit excited as always get whenever I read new writers.

Coming towards Zulekha- the first published story of Kashaaf. First thing first, we have to give a bit of the leverage to the writer, as this is his very first attempt in front of her. Zulekha is a story of pure love, a relationship that needs to be cherished by the society- Love between husband and wife.

With the progress of story, you will find it a very simple and relatable tale, with a strong social and religious message embedded within the plot. If we take it symbolically, everyone in this world is gathered by sin driven resources. And it at times, it becomes almost impossible to get rid of this phenomenon. Story depicts how our protagonist Aariz is fair and honest to his wife (although there Rukhsati is not taken place after Nikah) and avoids a sin by considering two things: 1) Fear of ALLAH 2) His love for his Wife Eeman.

Now some glitches of the story (I hope Kashaaf my friend will not mind). As a reader, it looked a bit clumsy and was giving a feel of pacing up quite high. May be a couple of more incidents were required to make it look more believable. Kashaaf has used a bit of the story of Hazrat Yousaf (asws) when He (asws) clarified that this was not His fault by showing the torn clothes from the back. Looking more realistically, Aariz could have said, you can verify from video recordings of CCTV cams (as presence of 24/7 CCTV cams is mandatory in a 7 star hotel). But again, its totally writer's choice, how to take the proceedings further.


Overall, it was a good read and I urge all of you to please read and buck up this new talent, as our modern literature needs fresh blood. Kashaaf, you have made me feel happy, as I enjoyed reading your Story and reviewing it.

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