Revolution 2020 : Chetan Bhagat

Revolution 2020: Chetan Bhagat

This is the first Chetan Bhagat book that I’ve read – and from the reviews of the book it looks to be a wrong selection to be his first read.

In my view, the book is a simple, easy, one time read.

The triangle love story, winning the girl’s heart and then letting it go – was all stereotypical and easily imagined. The description of the deeply rooted corruption in the Indian society seemed very peripheral and the solution that he suggested namely a different hue of family politics, again seemed corrupt to me. The readers are let to wonder how the revolution (if any) would be brought about.
The book fails to answer this.

The Kite Runner : Khaled Hosseini

Heart breaking, vivid, emotionally charging, enduring, deeply moving ,devastating- Khaled Hosseini's first novel - The Kite Runner - is about betrayal and redemption from a haunting conscience.

The story revolves around the lives to two childhood friends - Amir the only son of a rich and reputed Afghan father and Hassan - Amir's servant Ali's son. Amir and Hassan shares a unique relationship .Hassan is very loyal and loving to Amir in spite of the taunts that Amir passes diligently on him. Amir longs to be loved by his Baba and feels that winning the Kite running tournament would make him his father's pride. Hassan helps Amir win the game but the cruelty that Hassan faces the same day shatters both of them. Amir is unable to face Hassan since he didnot stand up for his friend while he was abused. He tries to escape his conscience by a plot to oust Ali and Hassan from his family and succeeds in sending them to the Hazaraland - the land for the Hazaras- a low afghan caste.

Amir and his Baba flee to America following a Russian invasion. Amir falls in love with Soraya- the only daughter of an Afghan family in America and marries her. Baba dies in America and Amir and Soraya are childless after fifteen yeras of marriage.

Almost 30 years later Amir returns to Taliban occupied Afghanisthan on receiving a message from Rahim Khan - his father's close friend and comes to know that Hassan and his wife were publicly executed by Talibs charged with occupying their house, and was lived by their son Sohrab. Amir also comes to know from Rahim Khan that Hassan was his half brother .He then goes in search for Sohrab and encountering Talibs - gets Sohrab to America.

Though the encounter with the Talibs leaves him physically shattered , Amir feels relieved and redeemed from a haunting conscience.

Sohrab is emotionally shattered due to the tortures that he undergoes in life and Amir and his wife succeeds in getting the smile back to his face - though a lopsided one.

A devastating and haunting story of a life crippled by an act of childhood - the story speaks of the harrowing truth about life, evil, cowardice, selfishness and redemption.