Review: Noon

I recently read Aatish Taseer’s latest book called Noon. Let me be upfront and honest here and say that I haven’t read his previous works (yes I know you just went hawww!). 

After having heard a lot of good things about his books I was sure this would be a great read too. Well it just barely made it to my list of good books to read. That’s the review in a nutshell.

So Noon started off rather well but just mid way through the book I was left wondering what was it that the book set out to say in the first place? But then in the end it got better, but just slight. The book though written in the fiction genre is inspired heavily from some incidents from author’s own life.

The book is stark at some places and at places it is saddening too.  The protagonist of the book Rehan Tabassum  is brought up by single handedly by his lawyer mum and his grandmother. As he grows up with questions in his mind about his father he discovers that his dad is a big man across the border. He goes to spend some time with his father and his extended family.

Rehan comes across as an extremely astute and sensitive human being. But then Rehan’s story is very disjointed, jumping from one place to another and you can see Rehan is a very confused person who is oddly looking at everything from an outsider’s perspective, totally disconnected.

That is exactly my problem with the book. If Rehan was trying to make a point about his life, or the changes around him in India or Pakistan, I as a reader definitely missed the point.

So all in all if someone gifts this book to you do read it, if not you can skip.