Official Review: Far away from you by Zoha Khalid
Posted: 09 Aug 2014, 05:20
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Far away from you" by Zoha Khalid.]
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Far Away From You, by Zoha Khalid, is Khalid's debut novella about obsessive love and love in general in an otherwise modern society still hanging on to traditional gender norms that include arranged marriage and dowries. It paints a novel picture of young love that contrasts in many ways with love and romance in the United States and other Western countries, but this novella also draws interesting similarities, suggesting that men and women repeat the same love stories in all parts of the world, even if those stories are cloaked behind different customs.
I had great hopes for this novella. The author, Zoha Khalid, has studied psychology, and in her introduction she writes that she purposefully worked her knowledge of psychological disorders into her characters and story. I have a psychology degree as well, and I do enjoy books that explore psychological issues. Her subject matter, romance in a culture I have read about but never experienced, seemed promising. In the United States it is not common to read about how women themselves experience life and love in what seem to be horribly restricting societies for women. Here is one such story that could put human faces to the vague information I have about life in one such place.
Khalid's story follows a young woman, Minali, as she falls madly in love with a man older than herself, named Akash. Akash is not interested in dating, let alone marrying Minali, but Minali cannot see or accept that fact and justifies all his rebuffs of her advances in ways that encourage her to continue pursuing him, even after it is clear he is avoiding her. Akash is still getting over his own obsession with his dead girlfriend Amrita, and maintains a facebook profile for Amrita that he maintains and interacts with. Minali remains obsessed with Akash for years, but eventually marries a friend who knows she still 'loves' Akash. The ending to this story is tragic, as might be expected, but the tragedy derives from the fact, mentioned but decidedly not developed, that Minali has epilepsy.
There were problems with this book on several levels. First, this book was written by an author whose first language is not English, and clearly it was also edited by someone whose first language is not English, resulting in a book that on the surface is almost readable, but that makes the plot impossible to follow at times. I do think if working with an editor who is a native English speaker, Khalid's writing could be stunning. As is, I reread the book twice and still could not work out who was doing what and why in some scenes, because the English is too garbled. And, there is a lot I could not understand clearly because of the combination of confusing language and a cultural barrier. For readers unfamiliar with the world of this novella, more information about the location and social context of this story would be nice. What does a normal relationship look like? Are all women in this society expected to stalk and wear down potential mates? How abnormal is Minali, and what is the norm? After reading the book through several times I am still not completely positive that I know where (which country and city) most of the story takes place.
The other major problem I had with this book is with respect to the theme of mental disability Khalid emphasizes from the very beginning of her introduction. If her book was meant to show a woman with epilepsy navigating her way through love and marriage, it seemed odd that epilepsy played such a very minor role that it was only clearly important fairly late in the story. Some of this may again be language barrier issues, but it didn't seem like this character was epileptic at all until she was married, just obsessive and unrealistic. And, as written, Minali's medical issues and her treatment are at odds with my understanding of epilepsy. Maybe there is more cultural information I am missing or some extra details about Minali that never made it into the final draft of this book?
I see a lot of potential in this book, and for all its problems I did enjoy the story enough to give the book 2 out of 4 stars. I am not sure how much the average reader will understand of the story, but the basic obsessive love theme is pretty universal and was easy to follow. For all its problems, Khalid's book does provide an interesting glimpse at a woman's perspective in a very male dominated culture, which many readers will find interesting.
***
Buy "Far away from you" on Amazon
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I had great hopes for this novella. The author, Zoha Khalid, has studied psychology, and in her introduction she writes that she purposefully worked her knowledge of psychological disorders into her characters and story. I have a psychology degree as well, and I do enjoy books that explore psychological issues. Her subject matter, romance in a culture I have read about but never experienced, seemed promising. In the United States it is not common to read about how women themselves experience life and love in what seem to be horribly restricting societies for women. Here is one such story that could put human faces to the vague information I have about life in one such place.
Khalid's story follows a young woman, Minali, as she falls madly in love with a man older than herself, named Akash. Akash is not interested in dating, let alone marrying Minali, but Minali cannot see or accept that fact and justifies all his rebuffs of her advances in ways that encourage her to continue pursuing him, even after it is clear he is avoiding her. Akash is still getting over his own obsession with his dead girlfriend Amrita, and maintains a facebook profile for Amrita that he maintains and interacts with. Minali remains obsessed with Akash for years, but eventually marries a friend who knows she still 'loves' Akash. The ending to this story is tragic, as might be expected, but the tragedy derives from the fact, mentioned but decidedly not developed, that Minali has epilepsy.
There were problems with this book on several levels. First, this book was written by an author whose first language is not English, and clearly it was also edited by someone whose first language is not English, resulting in a book that on the surface is almost readable, but that makes the plot impossible to follow at times. I do think if working with an editor who is a native English speaker, Khalid's writing could be stunning. As is, I reread the book twice and still could not work out who was doing what and why in some scenes, because the English is too garbled. And, there is a lot I could not understand clearly because of the combination of confusing language and a cultural barrier. For readers unfamiliar with the world of this novella, more information about the location and social context of this story would be nice. What does a normal relationship look like? Are all women in this society expected to stalk and wear down potential mates? How abnormal is Minali, and what is the norm? After reading the book through several times I am still not completely positive that I know where (which country and city) most of the story takes place.
The other major problem I had with this book is with respect to the theme of mental disability Khalid emphasizes from the very beginning of her introduction. If her book was meant to show a woman with epilepsy navigating her way through love and marriage, it seemed odd that epilepsy played such a very minor role that it was only clearly important fairly late in the story. Some of this may again be language barrier issues, but it didn't seem like this character was epileptic at all until she was married, just obsessive and unrealistic. And, as written, Minali's medical issues and her treatment are at odds with my understanding of epilepsy. Maybe there is more cultural information I am missing or some extra details about Minali that never made it into the final draft of this book?
I see a lot of potential in this book, and for all its problems I did enjoy the story enough to give the book 2 out of 4 stars. I am not sure how much the average reader will understand of the story, but the basic obsessive love theme is pretty universal and was easy to follow. For all its problems, Khalid's book does provide an interesting glimpse at a woman's perspective in a very male dominated culture, which many readers will find interesting.
***
Buy "Far away from you" on Amazon