Official Review: Almost Tomorrow by Sean Martin McQuade
Posted: 23 Dec 2019, 04:18
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Almost Tomorrow" by Sean Martin McQuade.]
Almost Tomorrow by Sean Martin McQuade requires some knowledge about the partition of India to be understood completely. After colonizing for decades, the British left India in August 1947, and the region was divided into two independent states: India (the Hindu-majority state) and Pakistan (the Muslim-majority state). Most of the Muslims migrated to Pakistan, and thousands of the Hindus migrated to India. The extremists in both countries massacred millions of people in the name of religion.
Parveen (an Anglo-Indian girl) and her sister, Bulbul, narrowly escaped a massacre happening in their hometown in 1947 and ran off to Lahore where they were sold to a brick-kiln master by a deceitful friend. Trapped in bonded labour, Parveen now lives in Thar (Sindh, Pakistan) along with her extended family. Her grandson Imran is supposedly kidnapped by human smugglers and is sent to UAE to work as a camel jockey with another kidnapped boy named Tariq. Shortly afterwards, both of them are helped to escape back to Pakistan. On their way back home, they are taken away by Afghan nomads to supply ammunition for Soviet-Afghan war. What fortune has in store for Imran and Tariq? What became of Bulbul?
The only thing I liked about this book was the description of the arrival of trains at the railway stations in Pakistan. The author described that scene so vividly that I could create a clear picture of the station in my mind.
The most displeasing thing about this book was that it was not only poorly researched but also misleading. For example, the author stated that the GT Road in the Indian subcontinent was built by the British, while it was built by Sher Shah Suri back in the 16th century. In another paragraph, the author claimed that there was "surprisingly less" violence on the Indian side of the border during the partition, which meant that the Muslim causalities were very low. But the facts are totally different. In a letter to Gandhi (Indian independence leader), Nehru (the first prime minister of India) wrote that the Muslim casualties were twice as high in East Punjab than the Hindu and Sikh casualties collectively in West Punjab. According to the British high commissioner in Karachi, approximately 800,000 Muslims were killed trying to enter West Punjab. According to Gyanendra Pandey (a Hindu historian), 20,000 to 25,000 Muslims were massacred in Delhi. A genocide was launched against the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, and countless Muslims were killed in the name of religion.
The author also claims that the Muslims (especially Arabs) are forbidden to eat camel meat, and the one who eats it is considered unclean. But in reality, they are not forbidden at all to eat camel meat. Muslim countries like Sudan and Saudi Arabia are the top consumers of camel meat in the world.
The characters of this book didn't seem realistic. Back in the 1980s, the rural people of Pakistan didn't even know much about the urban areas, and in this book, they seemed to know a lot about the politics and geography of the European countries, which was strange. The writing style of the author also wasn't tempting at all. The dialogues were bland and tedious which dragged the conversations unnecessarily. And on top of that, there were a lot of errors which interrupted the flow of the story.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. There are three reasons for this rating: the plenty of errors, the misleading statements, and the author's subtle support for colonialism. According to the author, the colonial government was ideal, and the people of India loved being subjugated, which is ridiculous. If it was so, why did the Indians run the independence movement? The author needs to know that the world is done with colonialism. In this century, we don't subjugate people; rather, we respect their freedom. I won't recommend this book to anyone, but if you have an imperialist mindset, you can give it a try.
******
Almost Tomorrow
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Almost Tomorrow by Sean Martin McQuade requires some knowledge about the partition of India to be understood completely. After colonizing for decades, the British left India in August 1947, and the region was divided into two independent states: India (the Hindu-majority state) and Pakistan (the Muslim-majority state). Most of the Muslims migrated to Pakistan, and thousands of the Hindus migrated to India. The extremists in both countries massacred millions of people in the name of religion.
Parveen (an Anglo-Indian girl) and her sister, Bulbul, narrowly escaped a massacre happening in their hometown in 1947 and ran off to Lahore where they were sold to a brick-kiln master by a deceitful friend. Trapped in bonded labour, Parveen now lives in Thar (Sindh, Pakistan) along with her extended family. Her grandson Imran is supposedly kidnapped by human smugglers and is sent to UAE to work as a camel jockey with another kidnapped boy named Tariq. Shortly afterwards, both of them are helped to escape back to Pakistan. On their way back home, they are taken away by Afghan nomads to supply ammunition for Soviet-Afghan war. What fortune has in store for Imran and Tariq? What became of Bulbul?
The only thing I liked about this book was the description of the arrival of trains at the railway stations in Pakistan. The author described that scene so vividly that I could create a clear picture of the station in my mind.
The most displeasing thing about this book was that it was not only poorly researched but also misleading. For example, the author stated that the GT Road in the Indian subcontinent was built by the British, while it was built by Sher Shah Suri back in the 16th century. In another paragraph, the author claimed that there was "surprisingly less" violence on the Indian side of the border during the partition, which meant that the Muslim causalities were very low. But the facts are totally different. In a letter to Gandhi (Indian independence leader), Nehru (the first prime minister of India) wrote that the Muslim casualties were twice as high in East Punjab than the Hindu and Sikh casualties collectively in West Punjab. According to the British high commissioner in Karachi, approximately 800,000 Muslims were killed trying to enter West Punjab. According to Gyanendra Pandey (a Hindu historian), 20,000 to 25,000 Muslims were massacred in Delhi. A genocide was launched against the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, and countless Muslims were killed in the name of religion.
The author also claims that the Muslims (especially Arabs) are forbidden to eat camel meat, and the one who eats it is considered unclean. But in reality, they are not forbidden at all to eat camel meat. Muslim countries like Sudan and Saudi Arabia are the top consumers of camel meat in the world.
The characters of this book didn't seem realistic. Back in the 1980s, the rural people of Pakistan didn't even know much about the urban areas, and in this book, they seemed to know a lot about the politics and geography of the European countries, which was strange. The writing style of the author also wasn't tempting at all. The dialogues were bland and tedious which dragged the conversations unnecessarily. And on top of that, there were a lot of errors which interrupted the flow of the story.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. There are three reasons for this rating: the plenty of errors, the misleading statements, and the author's subtle support for colonialism. According to the author, the colonial government was ideal, and the people of India loved being subjugated, which is ridiculous. If it was so, why did the Indians run the independence movement? The author needs to know that the world is done with colonialism. In this century, we don't subjugate people; rather, we respect their freedom. I won't recommend this book to anyone, but if you have an imperialist mindset, you can give it a try.
******
Almost Tomorrow
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
