Brick Walls by Saadia Faruqi, features a warm, heartfelt collection of exhilarating short Tales Of Hope and Courage From Pakistan, each story depicting an alluring peek into the lives of struggling ordinary characters striving hard to escape their fate and achieve their position in society.
Luckily, I got a chance to read and review this very interesting book that kept me glued till the end. The stories are varied, based on various plots, each coming out from a different category. Some stories are based on terror and anxiety and abuse related to unemployed civilians and bureaucrats wanting higher positions in society where as some others are based within homes, indicating characters that are bright and self less, determined to achieve their goals and motivated to make a worthy place for themselves in society.
There is Asma, a poor lady who works as a seamstress to meet her needs and and pay for the costs of her ailing child; Faisal, an unemployed young man who feels heavy hearted after being rejected at work interviews; then there is Rabia Nawab, belonging to a rich Nawab family who undergoes mental and physical abuse at the hands of her brother; Javed Gul, a renowned singer whose life is at stake for taking up this career; a 60 years old widow, mother of two, Farzana who is just not willing to leave Pakistan for abroad; a ten years old little Nida who has a passion for street cricket and a young female Lubna who is blackmailed and ends up in jail with her only son.
What did I like about the book Brick Walls?
The author, Saadia Faruqi has done a remarkable job in displaying the qualities of each character and the imagery of the scene as they go through. This has proved to give a life like view of the story with real to life characters where I myself felt as if I was part of the story or know the characters somehow. Actually, she is well aware of the Pakistani environment and the life of people within and she has very successfully woven into her characters and scenes, the traditional aspect of struggling to achieve goals whilst facing major catastrophes at the hands of misfortune, calamities and depression. This type of environment and situations may not be found in the West and hence, this collection of Eastern tales based in this part of the world surely brings a know how of life and struggles of people here.
Read More: Book Review for “Without Shame” by Katherine Russell
Final Comments:
The book Brick Walls (Tales of Hope and Courage From Pakistan) by Saadia Faruqi is a must read and I recommend it to all my readers alike. I will personally give it a rating of 5 stars for its excellent story lines, vivid imagery, real to life characters and the ample lessons of hope and patience, courage and determination, motivation and luck that I received from it. I am sure all of you will benefit from that!
Availability:
This book has been published by FB Publishing House based in UK and is available at Amazon.
Sounds like my type of book, will have to add it to my wish list. My list is getting longer and longer lol
Thanks for dropping by!
Perfect, I always need book recommendations. I love short stories the best too! Thanks for the review. 🙂
I love books and what is better than reading many short stories all within one book – bonus galore. Can’t wait to read insha Allah
I read this book too and must say I also loved it! Would actually love it if some of the stories were full novels.
This sounds like such an interesting read. I can imagine bawling my eyes out from reading these stories – I get soo emotional over stories like these, the littlest of things can set the waterworks! Lol 🙂
I love when a bunch of different stories are mixed up in a book – makes it more memorable and interesting. Do their paths intertwine ever?
Nope. All stories are different and separate. No intermingling at all.
Been seeing positive reviews about this book. Hope it’ll be available in my country soon. In shaa Allah.
Not something I’d normally read but you make it sound really interesting.
Masha Allah. This book sounds interesting and motivating.
When I was in school, we used to be encouraged a lot to read books. Now I feel I am not reading books because the Internet has replaced books. The post has been well-written. Maybe I need to get my hands on this book! 🙂
Fatima http://www.blogsbyfa.com
I’ve been looking for a new genre to read these days and the book sounds really interesting. I would try to find it in Malaysia <3
Sure do! Otherwise its on Amazon, you can buy it from there.
Asalaamu alaykum
I love the short but concise sysnopsis of the book. I have a confession… I usually read the last few pages before I start to read any book, so I know if I will waste my time reading it at all.
That’s really my way, I do the same Razena! Thanks for dropping by my blog, do take out time to try out this one 🙂