Desi Distancing by Sarah Fawad

Book Title: Desi Distancing

Book Author: Sarah Fawad

Genre: Humor, Indo Pak sub continent, Contemporary, 

Series: Stand alone 

No. of books in the series: 1 

Book No. in the series: 1 

Desi Distancing

Synopsis: 

Book has no synopsis. 

My Thoughts: 

I am in quite a few digital social media groups that author, Sarah is a part of. I read her posts on frequent basis and I admire her thought process and writing skills. Her choice of words to express her thoughts eloquently and with ease is undoubtedly a skill she possesses. This book however is not for me. Why? Read my review to know more about this book. 

Desi distancing, as the name suggests, is a baby born out of COVID-19. Although the book mentions that the idea popped two years back but thats how long it took to finalize this book. I am sure the COVID peak had a lot to contribute towards the book, take the title for example. The book cover is very appealing to a person like me who loves colorful, artistic covers. It has a very groovy and artistic design. But lets dive into the book itself. My understanding is, the book is a compilation of a lot of her social media posts, which is fine. But the problem is, the book is missing a flow. There is a serious lack of connection. So what exactly gets a reader going? Its the STORY! I feel there is just no story, no connection and no flow whatsoever. Its a compilation of author's thoughts on various daily life happenings forced together. 

First 20 pages pass by in trying to explain what I may find in this book and what to expect out of this book. Complete book is of 100 pages length and its one of the longest intro I have ever read. It felt if the author is trying too hard to not build up her reader's expectation and deliberately making an effort to keep them low. I got bored reading the long intro where she tells the readers what she is going to write in the remaining book and I simply wanted to get to the actual content. 

The book is about our desi society, its norms and culture. I agree to a lot of points presented by Sarah, in fact I agree to most of them. She has shared the naked truth of our society. The book talks about text book issues of a Pakistani society, be it the newly married couple problems, lack of privacy in a typical desi household, in laws, pre and post marriage life, child birth, new mommy problems and every other daily routine thing which happens in a typical desi household and screams how distant we have become from our actual values. We get some valuable lessons and key learnings presented in a simple manner. Yet the book failed to grip my interest. For most part of the book, I felt as if the author has tried to copy Moni Mohsin and Twinkle Khanna but in a lame way. The humor felt forced most of the times and mostly it was sarcasm than humor. The book contains mixed language - English and Urdu which is what the author intended as some punch line would have lost their effect had they been written in English. 

What made the book a total bore for me was the absence of a story and connectivity in the whole book. It felt like a series of different social media posts combined in the form of a book. There was no chapter division or start or an end. There was just topics, one after another. I am just thankful to the author that she kept it short. I am all game, reading her social media posts but to read them in the form of a book. it was an over kill and loss of charm in her writing. 

Rating: 

2/5 

1 for the groovy cover and 1 for her observation and writing skills. 

Availability: 

I bought mine from Readings book store. 

Price: 

Rs. 850

Waste of money.