The Zahir - My Review

The basic premise of the book is pretty simple: the wife has left without any explanation and the husband is trying to figure out why.

The quest for the reasons forces him to reflect on their marriage and his past, which in turn leads him to ask questions such as what is “love” or true meaning of “happiness”. At some point in their long marriage, the husband and the wife became “conveniences” for each other without realizing what they got married for at the first place has slowly faded away. People chase their “dreams” all through their lives. For some it is better career and beautiful girlfriends/wife, for some other it is better home and children or money. But what do you do when you have everything you ever wanted? Is that all there is to a life?

Some may be inclined to discard it as a mid-life crisis or psychological or philosophical blabber and that’s perfectly okay but then did they really appreciate the questions? You have to wonder!

The high points for me, were flashbacks of discussions between husband and his female counterparts (yes, that’s plural), husband’s lecture on his own book at Geneva and the passage when a beggar asks him if he really knew what “poverty” is? The parts on cult and clairvoyant were bit weird but seem quite plausible. I guess they gel with the flow of the book.

All in all reading it was a time well spent. A John Grisham novel may thrill your senses but stimulating your intellect is an entirely different matter. This book may do it to you. Think the buzz of a strong black coffee if you know what I mean. Except at a deeper level.

I have to confess the author has intrigued me enough and I will have to read more of his work some time in the future. Can't take too much "black coffee" at once :-)

Thanks Darshan!