Book Review: Ashwin Sanghi's The Sialkot Saga is like an Ice Cream Cone in Summer

Author: Ashwin Sanghi
Publisher: Westland Books
Year: 2016
ISBN: 9789385724060
Rating:

The Sialkot Saga by Ashwin Sanghi is very much like the Amul ice-cream cone most of us love. We relish the flavoured ice cream on the top. But what we really want is to get to the solid chocolatey bottom. Does The Sialkot Saga deliver? (Find the best prices for the book here.)

What is it about?

The Sialkot Saga is a fictional story stretched across 60 years with the retrospective climax set during Independence. Arbaaz & Arvind take your breath away from the beginning. The two protagonists share cut-throat competition. Their banter, one-upmanship and ideas to best the other keep you hooked. Interspersed are snippets from the past that mystically connect all the dots. It aims to give us some perspective & confuse us at the same time (classic Sanghi!). Ashwin Sanghi’s maze of a book comes to a scintillating finale with all the jigsaw puzzles falling into place, but making you want some more.

What is new and what is missing?

The Sialkot Saga, quite uncharacteristically, veers towards non-fiction more than fiction. This might turn off regular Sanghi readers, but for the experimenting pragmatists, it is a perfect amalgamation.

Conspicuous by its absence though, is the character of a strong female lead! We would love some feminine energy to throw off the sinister schemes played out by Arbaaz and Arvind, but alas, there is no place for a femme fatale in the already elongated story.

Who should read it?

Regular Sanghi reader’s must read the book, because it is definitely a cliff hanger till the end. (Buy The Sialkot Saga at the best price.)But you have been warned: Sanghi’s devoted readers might find The Sialkot Saga tantalising and they will hang on to every word of every page, but the twist at the end that we all love so much is possibly diluted. The chocolatey bit at the bottom of the ice cream cone is missing!

New readers, looking for a more authentic Ashwin Sanghi experience can read The Rozabal Line or The Krishna Key, which are classic Sanghi novels, with twists and turns you would never expect.