Book Review: Butterfly Season


Title: Butterfly Season

Grab a copy here: http://www.indireads.com/books/butterfly-season/

Author: Natasha Ahmed

Rating: 4/5

About the Author (From Indireads):

Natasha Ahmed is a pen name. In real life, Natasha is a graphic designer, a businesswoman and occasionally writes art and book reviews for publications within Pakistan. She created the pen name to avoid awkward questions of morality and religion (since her book advocates sexual freedom for women) from her close but extremely large family.

She works in a small office at home, not far from Sea View, Karachi. From a tiny window, she can see the Arabian Sea sparkling in the distance, and small fishing boats trawl up and down the water throughout the day. When she’s not writing books, she’s dreaming of setting sail towards the horizon and never looking back. Great adventure, she believes, starts with great daring.

Butterfly Season is her first novella, though not, she hopes, her last.

You can find more about Natasha on her website, Facebook page, or by following her on Twitter.

Publisher:

Indireads was started with the aim to revolutionizing the popular fiction genre in South Asia. With edgy, contemporary and compelling fiction by new writers and its digital-only publishing model, Indireads is breaking new ground in terms of the reading experience and giving voice to new writing talent.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/indireadsbooks

Twitter: @indireads

Indireads Official Blog: www.indireads.com/indiwords

Book Blurb (From Indireads):

On her first holiday in six years, Rumi is expecting to relax and unwind. But when she is set up by her long-time friend, she doesn’t shy away from the possibilities. Ahad, a charming, independent, self-made man, captures her imagination, drawing her away from her disapproving sister, Juveria.

Faced with sizzling chemistry and a meeting of the minds, Ahad and Rumi find themselves deep in a relationship that moves forward with growing intensity. But as her desire for the self-assured Ahad grows, Rumi struggles with a decision that will impact the rest of her life.

Confronted by her scandalized sister, a forbidding uncle and a society that frowns on pre-marital intimacy, Rumi has to decide whether to shed her middle-class sensibilities, turning her back on her family, or return to her secluded existence as an unmarried woman in Pakistan.

We follow Rumi from rainy London to a sweltering Karachi, as she tries to take control of her own destiny.

Now for my view:

3 novellas in 3 days. You can’t believe how much happier I feel thinking just about that. Reading gives me a sort of pleasure that very few other things do. In fact, it is actually a lot more than that. And I’m so glad that I’m able to finally take out time for it.

So today I’m here to tell you about ‘Butterfly Season’ by Natasha Ahmed. This novella is about a woman’s journey of rediscovering freedom. And trust me it is a journey that you’ll enjoy. In fact you’ll even find yourself rooting for her during the course of the tale. It’s a story of growth. It’s about spreading ones wings to soar high with one’s own beliefs. It’s a story about a woman who discovers there’s nothing to be apologetic about when leaving behind archaic beliefs. It’s a journey of a woman into freedom, away from the fears of acceptance by the society and family. It is a wonderful tale of empowerment in a mental and emotional form.

The book is about Rumi and her journey from meeting Ahad to discovering a new form of independence from age old dogmas which aren't her own. And perhaps that’s what I liked about ‘Butterfly Season’. Rumi metamorphoses into a butterfly and this transformation is why the book is impactful and interesting.

Not only Rumi and Ahad but all the characters in the book are well sketched. There is nothing one dimensional in this novella and trust me that makes a read even more enjoyable.

I like Natasha Ahmed’s hold on the flow and the flair with which she executed the plot. I’m already looking forward to reading more from her.

So yes ‘Butterfly Season’ is definitely something you should pick up. The book appealed to me and I’m sure it’ll appeal to you as well.

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