Review: The Fragile Thread of Hope

The Fragile Thread of Hope by Pankaj Giri
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On GR the punchline for this book is "A gripping emotional inspirational fiction about love, loss, and finding hope in the darkest of times". It was not gripping, but it certainly lived up to its punchline - emotional and inspirational fiction. This is a decent book on human emotions of love, loss and a sense of hope. The main characters are Fiona and Soham who go through the lowest points in their life - losing loved ones. How they overcome their loss and find each other forms the main plot. Being fed on a heavy diet of thrillers for a long time, this looked like a breath of fresh air, when the author approached me for a review. And I don't regret it.

The setting is Gangtok and the author has beautifully described the place with its wonderful climate, the heavy rains, narrow roads and alleys, the tea shop, the local bookshop and Kanchenjunga at sunrise. Believe me, when I say that the Kanchenjunga at sunrise is one of the most beautiful sights to behold, it is an understatement. Also one gets a bit of an insight into the Nepali culture, traditions and language which I feel the author should have been more liberal with.

The main grouse is the author has spent too much time going into the details with a heavy dose of wordplay. Somewhere the story drags and the reader tends to lose interest. The author seems to have a very good vocabulary but I couldn't help notice a few grammatical mistakes (syntax errors ?) in some places. The first fifty pages, I was lost in the chronological order in which the author had written the book and couldn't keep up with it, having to turn the pages backwards a couple of times to check what was written earlier. Once you get used to it or maybe ignore it, it becomes easier to read.

Being a debut work, this was a decent one and I wish him all the best for the future.

PS: - Free copy in exchange of a review.

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