Rate this book

The Story Of A Widow (2008)

by Musharraf Ali Farooqi(Favorite Author)

3.26 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0307397181 (ISBN13: 9780307397188)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Knopf Canada

review 1: I had really high hopes for this book, another Pakistani origin author (yayyy, one with favorable reviews on his work as a translator (double yayyy) and to top it all, a story based in present day Karachi (triple yayyy). Needless to say all my hopes came crashing down!!! I’m just glad I borrowed it from my online library and didn’t waste my money on buying it (and I never consider buying books as a waste of money!).The main story of a window opting to get married again in current day Pakistan, (a country with a through mix of conservative and modern values), was a good lure to pick up the book. Sigh! A good lure but the fish never landed.!! The Story of a Widow progressively became unrealistic, as well as boring, I had a very hard time trying to finish it, and fel... moret like getting into a major fight with the book, not to mention the main character Mona! (Mona, Mona, Mona what am I to do with you??) The characters were shallow and undeveloped (who 'are' these people?), the relationships were trivial (they hardly 'knew' each other, no bonding no connection) the life they lead is not reflective of life in Karachi. (Where does Farooqi, actually live? It’s not in Karachi, I tell you, nah! At least not in the Karachi I live in!) It seems as if Farooqui had just translated a story from Pakeeza or Khawateen Digest! (Readers from Pakistan will know what I'm referring to, but for others, these two are total Chick Lit monthly rag magazines in Urdu, focusing on romance in all its fantastical archaic soap opera forms.Initially, I thought I was being too harsh in thinking this book was a total waste of time and I avoid writing negative reviews but this book deserves it! Usually, if I don't like a book it’s a case of “I just didn’t get it” and I move on. After all different people have different tastes, and there have been many well rated and well reviewed books that I have had no taste for. But seven of my friends were reading the Widows Story at the same time, (our emerging Book Club), ages ranging from 28 to 58, diverse interests in genres, career oriented as well as home bodies, and we have never had a unanimous verdict on any book , to date! This time it was unanimous. It’s a dud.Farooqui, you really need to do better.
review 2: The story itself, I liked. But I do feel much more could have been done with the story. The plot and the way the author laid it out was fine by me, but there was something missing - some soul, you might say.Things happened too easily, for one thing; rich or poor, marriages and divorces don't happen that easy. This was about a fairly well to do widow; maybe that's what's missing. Had a poor woman been placed in the same situation, it would have been harder for her. And that, in itself, would have made the story more interesting - it would have given it more guts.As it stands, it's one long soap opera - and an unbelievable one, at that. less

Download links for: The Story of a Widow

Advertising