The novel starts on the 40th birthday of Lovely, the eldest daughter of Farida Khanam and Mukhles Shaheb. Lovely is out on the market, all alone, and we soon find out, this is the most unexpected thing Farida Khanam could allow, to break a rule, to any of her daughters – Lovely, and Beauty. Filled with both excitement and joy, Lovely visits the market to buy a shawl, however a terror is lurking in her psyche, just like the voice in her head. She has to return home at a particular time, but she doesn't make it. There is a world of shame, guilt, terror, and lovelessness inside Lovely. At home, Farida Khanam is eagerly waiting for her daughter to arrive on time, and when she doesn't, the dark secrets, failures and guilt all unravel themselves inside her – she looks like a captain of ship that is about to sink. Beauty has her own distorted life. Mukhles Shaheb, whose health is not in a good state, is like a shadow living in the house, with no voice, no authority, but only the presence.
As the novel progress, a dark story of the family comes to full view. If we think to be a part of it, a terror runs through our bodies. Of course, people are taking care of each other, but freedom of the daughters is at stake. The family has become a living prison with its own set of rules. Farida Khanam, the mother, who believes has kept the family alive has already destroyed it, but she is not ruthless by heart; she just can't change; she cannot be weak; she has tried her best not to harm her daughters and but something else has been concocted in all this long years… until she makes up her mind to reveal a secret to their daughters, however something dreadful happens in the story, and we don't want to know what happens next; the complexity and darkness of the drama is hard to live on, we just want to run away from the characters. The mental burden they all have been living with, and the torture each of them have been inflicting on each other – this engulfs us. This is the power of the story – to make you feel what characters feel and live. I think HellFire has achieved it. This is one of the best Family Thriller I've read in years.
No comments:
Post a Comment