THE TREE WITH A THOUSAND APPLES
AUTHOR: SANCHIT GUPTA
PUBLISHER: NIYOGI BOOKS
GENRE: FICTION, SOCIO-POLITICAL THRILLER
PUBLICATION DATE: 15TH NOVEMBER, 2016
FORMAT: HARDCOVER
PAGES COUNT: 284
GOODREADS RATING: 4.55/5
MY RATING: 4.5/5
"What do you know about truth, sir? It's a poor thing, no one to call its own, no one to vouch for, no one to live for. It's too lonely. People want to talk about it, hold its hand high in parties thrown in its honour and embrace it delightfully in social gatherings, but once the lights in those rooms are switched off, they don't want to bring it home, give it their name, serve it a cup of kahwa. And sir, forgive me, but no matter how much you try, you won't find the truth among marinated pieces of zafrani kokur."
PLOTLINE:
The novel is set in the valley of Kashmir, and revolves around the lives of three friends- Deewan Bhat, Bilal Ahanagar, Safeena Malik. Deewan is a Kashmiri Pandit, whereas Bilal and Safeena are Muslims. The three friends shares a very strong bond of friendship, irrespective of their different religions and can do anything for each other.
Their innocent lives gets shattered on the dreadful night of 20th January, 1990, when a political insurgency in Kashmir changed their course of life. Deewan's elder brother Ravi, a soldier, gets killed in a Army tent by a group of militants. Safeena's mother is killed in front of her eyes. Deewan and his family is forced to flee their hometown in order to save their lives.
The land of paradise turned out to be a battleground overnight. Crackdowns became a common phenomenon. In one such crackdown, Bilal and his sister Rehana is called for interrogation, where Rehana is molested by a group of officers and mercilessly killed thereafter. Unable to bear all this, Bilal decides to take revenge and joined the terrorist group.
20 years later, destiny brings them to crossroads again, when they no longer know what is right or wrong. While both compassion and injustice have the power to transform lives, will the three friends now choose to become sinful criminals or pacifist saints?
Read the book to find it out.
MY REVIEW:
The tree with a thousand apples is one of the best books I've read this year. The author has penned down a beautiful fictional story which is also based on true events. All the characters has its own depth and has been brilliantly sketched by the author.
I loved the way the author has described the beauty of Kashmir as well as the lifestyle of 'Kashmirians'. I have never been to Kashmir, but the way the place has been described in the book, I could feel I am standing right there and experiencing everything in front of me with my bare eyes. The author has used many traditional Kashmiri words along with their meanings in the form of footnotes below every page for better understanding of the terms.
The narrative style is smooth, intriguing and moves in a fast pace which makes it unputdownable. However, there were some scene transitions which made me confused at times that is, in some chapters, one scene jumps to another, making the former scene incomplete. But, the rest of the book is so beautiful, that, this small fact can as well as be overlooked. While reading the book, I went with the flow and kept on turning pages, until I finished with it. And even after finishing, I could not stop thinking about the book.
The author has penned down many poems in between chapters which is heart-wrenching as well as alluring. The ending definitely made me sad, with Bilal's words still ringing in my ears, " For us, Deewan bhai, whatever it takes."
Overall, I would say this is a must read book, and I would recommend it to everyone. I won't be surprised at all if, this book is made into a movie, and I can even picture Alia Bhatt in the lead role of Safeena Malik!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born and brought up in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, Sanchit Gupta began his career as a part-time copywriter with an advertising agency in Mumbai. He went on to co-found his own theatre group, worked as a freelance film screenwriter and as executive producer-fiction for a leading television network. His short stories have been published in several esteemed publications and literary journals, and have won acclaim in leading literary festivals and online forums. One of his film scripts (fiction) has been long-listed in a globally reputed screenwriter's lab. This is his debut novel.
Apart from being a writer, he is a brand management professional with a bright range of brand building and communication development experience across FMCG, automobile and media industries.
*I received a copy of this book from Vinfluencers in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.* The author information has been taken from Amazon.in
To buy a copy of the book, click on the link here
For more bookish updates, follow me on Instagram
To request for book reviews, write to me at abhibasu.1997@gmail.com.
AUTHOR: SANCHIT GUPTA
PUBLISHER: NIYOGI BOOKS
GENRE: FICTION, SOCIO-POLITICAL THRILLER
PUBLICATION DATE: 15TH NOVEMBER, 2016
FORMAT: HARDCOVER
PAGES COUNT: 284
GOODREADS RATING: 4.55/5
MY RATING: 4.5/5
"What do you know about truth, sir? It's a poor thing, no one to call its own, no one to vouch for, no one to live for. It's too lonely. People want to talk about it, hold its hand high in parties thrown in its honour and embrace it delightfully in social gatherings, but once the lights in those rooms are switched off, they don't want to bring it home, give it their name, serve it a cup of kahwa. And sir, forgive me, but no matter how much you try, you won't find the truth among marinated pieces of zafrani kokur."
PLOTLINE:
Their innocent lives gets shattered on the dreadful night of 20th January, 1990, when a political insurgency in Kashmir changed their course of life. Deewan's elder brother Ravi, a soldier, gets killed in a Army tent by a group of militants. Safeena's mother is killed in front of her eyes. Deewan and his family is forced to flee their hometown in order to save their lives.
The land of paradise turned out to be a battleground overnight. Crackdowns became a common phenomenon. In one such crackdown, Bilal and his sister Rehana is called for interrogation, where Rehana is molested by a group of officers and mercilessly killed thereafter. Unable to bear all this, Bilal decides to take revenge and joined the terrorist group.
20 years later, destiny brings them to crossroads again, when they no longer know what is right or wrong. While both compassion and injustice have the power to transform lives, will the three friends now choose to become sinful criminals or pacifist saints?
Read the book to find it out.
MY REVIEW:
The tree with a thousand apples is one of the best books I've read this year. The author has penned down a beautiful fictional story which is also based on true events. All the characters has its own depth and has been brilliantly sketched by the author.
I loved the way the author has described the beauty of Kashmir as well as the lifestyle of 'Kashmirians'. I have never been to Kashmir, but the way the place has been described in the book, I could feel I am standing right there and experiencing everything in front of me with my bare eyes. The author has used many traditional Kashmiri words along with their meanings in the form of footnotes below every page for better understanding of the terms.
The narrative style is smooth, intriguing and moves in a fast pace which makes it unputdownable. However, there were some scene transitions which made me confused at times that is, in some chapters, one scene jumps to another, making the former scene incomplete. But, the rest of the book is so beautiful, that, this small fact can as well as be overlooked. While reading the book, I went with the flow and kept on turning pages, until I finished with it. And even after finishing, I could not stop thinking about the book.
The author has penned down many poems in between chapters which is heart-wrenching as well as alluring. The ending definitely made me sad, with Bilal's words still ringing in my ears, " For us, Deewan bhai, whatever it takes."
Overall, I would say this is a must read book, and I would recommend it to everyone. I won't be surprised at all if, this book is made into a movie, and I can even picture Alia Bhatt in the lead role of Safeena Malik!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born and brought up in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, Sanchit Gupta began his career as a part-time copywriter with an advertising agency in Mumbai. He went on to co-found his own theatre group, worked as a freelance film screenwriter and as executive producer-fiction for a leading television network. His short stories have been published in several esteemed publications and literary journals, and have won acclaim in leading literary festivals and online forums. One of his film scripts (fiction) has been long-listed in a globally reputed screenwriter's lab. This is his debut novel.
Apart from being a writer, he is a brand management professional with a bright range of brand building and communication development experience across FMCG, automobile and media industries.
*I received a copy of this book from Vinfluencers in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.* The author information has been taken from Amazon.in
To buy a copy of the book, click on the link here
For more bookish updates, follow me on Instagram
To request for book reviews, write to me at abhibasu.1997@gmail.com.
Awesome abhi ..meep it up girl 😘
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