Book Review

#BookReview: "War Within"

Elif Mustafa is a 50-year-old woman who lives alone in her big mansion. She is a victim of depression and she has turned it into a fearsome imaginary character named Lahb. Lahb lives with her in that lonely mansion terrorizing her constantly. A maid named Shazma works in her house but she keeps to herself in the beginning, just doing house chores and then leaving. Elif tells us the story of her past and starts from the time at which she was twenty years old and how it all started, the very first instance which caused the state in which she resides today. The story of 20-year-old Elif and 50 year old Elif move side by side. 50-year-old Elif, being the narrator, continuously introduces us to unique and deep descriptions of depression. As she is narrating instances of her past, she provides her own thoughts comprised of 50 years of wisdom and experience, to counter the thoughts she had when she was twenty years old. The character of Elif transforms through multiple tragedies which occur in her life and it all starts with the foolish idea of “Love at first sight”.

I have tried my best to not spoil any suspense in the above synopsis. The novel “War Within” is based on a Pakistani cultural environment with the main genres of Tragedy, Romance, and Family.

The novel is written by Eman Fayyaz Butt who is a young aspiring writer from Sialkot, and she is just 17 years old. This is her first novel, and speaking honestly, it doesn’t seem to be her first. It is intriguing that how a young Pakistani girl who is not even 18 yet, knows and describes depression and pessimism in such unique and detailed expressions. I personally felt some minute sparks of Tess of D’Urbervilles in this novel. The story promotes Pakistani culture. There is family humor which one enjoys, events of childhood and home environment a Pakistani could easily relate to, traditions and cultures, and much more from Pakistan. The novel begins with an idea and fantasy-like story in which a girl is living, she marries the person she loves, she has the best parents, she has good relations with her father-in-law, and they are not poor and have no other problem. The tragic effect which the writer created seems to be classical in which she has given everything to the character which one could wish for and then take all of them away one by one, one after another to create a constant yet increasing tragic effect. The narration constantly shifts between two different time planes, which is a much-observed phenomenon in modern novels. The novel is extremely pessimistic as it moves forward and the writer has created some truly remarkable moments which are enough to cause catharsis of emotions in the readers and make them cry, a true effect of tragedy. I loved the way, the writer used Quranic Verses as an optimistic tool to fight Pessimism and Depression. The novel also shares important social messages on women empowerment and facing and fighting the extreme of depression. Several metaphors and expressions which are used by the writer have truly touched my heart. On the downside, the novel has some back points, which I personally felt. The time jump between the two narrations is ambiguous at several stages which creates confusion in the mind of the reader. There are some spelling mistakes as well which I think will be corrected in a revised edition. I observed some specks of Electra-Complex, but the way the writer has mixed them with traditional relation it seems appropriate, but still there are specks, instances where it is a bit apparent. The writer has been much successful in creating the realistic effect but maybe due to some traditional perspective, I believe she hasn’t been much open. In that aspect, the novel has much of fantasy as well in the beginning which removes the realistic effect allowing the escape of the character into fantasy world. The writer should have been a bit more open to the intimacy between the couple. This novel being the first one from the writer, mistakes become inevitable. There will always be room for improvement and what I share is my perspective purely, not something universal. I want to recommend this novel to all girls of Pakistan as many girls of this modern world fall victim to depression at a very early stage and I think this novel might help them a bit. I would also recommend it to boys, as they can go through the emotions of girls and know how their actions affect them. This novel is much needed to be read by the young generation of today. I would also recommend it to some of my foreign cousins and ask them to suggest it to their friends as this novel promotes Pakistani Culture as well as gives a nice and positive message about Islam. I enjoyed reading it a lot. Based upon my little experience of reading I would give it an 8 out of 10. Thank You.