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rinjudes's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
novelestic's review
3.0
╰┈➤ rating: 4★
'The Sun, The Moon and The Love in Between' is a very unique portray of love, friendship and betrayal, narrated beautifully. Better yet, it's a short book. A quick and easy read.
trigger warnings: tr@nsph0bia, gore
Lately, I have been reading and exploring books by Indian authors, and this one was a great journey.
This heartwarming yet riveting story revolves around Azhar, Zahra and Ishaan.
Azhar is considered to be an average 'not-so-good-looking' guy. Call it a bad luck, but Azhar's experience with making a good impression on women hasn't been pleasant either.
After his best friend, Ishaan, breaks his trust, Azhar comes face to face with his deepest darkest demons of depression and loneliness. Until he meets Zahra through social media. The girl he has never met, the girl with lots of secrets. But they hit it off like it's the most natural thing to do. What will happen when Azhar gets to know about Zahra's secret that has impacted lives of those around her?
This is NOT 'just another love story'. It gets a little dark and heavy as you dive in, but every minute is worth it.
This book sheds light on challenges faced by transgender. The discrimination against them made my heart heavy, especially knowing the fact this happens in real life. So please do not forget to check TWs.
It was an emotional rollercoaster, I was overwhelmed at times, but I won't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. It was a fun read.
The ending felt kind of 'rushed', but maybe its because I am used to reading long books with detailed plotting of events. Overall, it was a great read.
'The Sun, The Moon and The Love in Between' is a very unique portray of love, friendship and betrayal, narrated beautifully. Better yet, it's a short book. A quick and easy read.
trigger warnings: tr@nsph0bia, gore
Lately, I have been reading and exploring books by Indian authors, and this one was a great journey.
This heartwarming yet riveting story revolves around Azhar, Zahra and Ishaan.
Azhar is considered to be an average 'not-so-good-looking' guy. Call it a bad luck, but Azhar's experience with making a good impression on women hasn't been pleasant either.
After his best friend, Ishaan, breaks his trust, Azhar comes face to face with his deepest darkest demons of depression and loneliness. Until he meets Zahra through social media. The girl he has never met, the girl with lots of secrets. But they hit it off like it's the most natural thing to do. What will happen when Azhar gets to know about Zahra's secret that has impacted lives of those around her?
This is NOT 'just another love story'. It gets a little dark and heavy as you dive in, but every minute is worth it.
This book sheds light on challenges faced by transgender. The discrimination against them made my heart heavy, especially knowing the fact this happens in real life. So please do not forget to check TWs.
It was an emotional rollercoaster, I was overwhelmed at times, but I won't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. It was a fun read.
The ending felt kind of 'rushed', but maybe its because I am used to reading long books with detailed plotting of events. Overall, it was a great read.
prettypaperback1's review
3.0
The Sun, The moon, and the love in between by Faraan Kazi & Sahar Quaze is one such book that you take home not only for the synopsis but also for the cover, this beautiful black cover with golden outlining is just so pretty to look at.
Azhar Siddiqui is a mediocre guy but has a heart of pure gold, he thinks that there is someone out there who is going to love him but after inevitable heartbreaks from the women he wanted to woo and betrayal by his best friend Ishan, he fell into a mundane existence. this loneliness and depression pulled him towards Social Media where he found beautiful Zahra, but she has a secret, a secret that can change everything, a secret that describes her as well as affected people around her.
The author took a bold move in writing about the LGBTQ community and did a good job, their portrayal & the way society sees and treats them is perfectly penned down. "The Sun, The moon & the love in between" is definitely a fable with a powerful narrative where the character development of Azhar was a chef's kiss.
The second half of the book was better as compared to the first half, for me, the first half of the book was a bit monotonous and the second half of the book was a little better until the foul language & derogatory terms for LGBTQ were penned down on an actual sheet of paper in front of me.
The other thing is I was not able to connect with the main character of this book, at all. I do want to understand his point of view and his feelings but reading this book was like watching the entire film from a third point of view, connecting with Ahzar at one point seemed impossible, only if I knew what is going on inside his head I might have connected to this story more.
I recommend this book to all the beginner-friendly readers out there who want to explore more books by Indian Authors
Azhar Siddiqui is a mediocre guy but has a heart of pure gold, he thinks that there is someone out there who is going to love him but after inevitable heartbreaks from the women he wanted to woo and betrayal by his best friend Ishan, he fell into a mundane existence. this loneliness and depression pulled him towards Social Media where he found beautiful Zahra, but she has a secret, a secret that can change everything, a secret that describes her as well as affected people around her.
The author took a bold move in writing about the LGBTQ community and did a good job, their portrayal & the way society sees and treats them is perfectly penned down. "The Sun, The moon & the love in between" is definitely a fable with a powerful narrative where the character development of Azhar was a chef's kiss.
The second half of the book was better as compared to the first half, for me, the first half of the book was a bit monotonous and the second half of the book was a little better until the foul language & derogatory terms for LGBTQ were penned down on an actual sheet of paper in front of me.
The other thing is I was not able to connect with the main character of this book, at all. I do want to understand his point of view and his feelings but reading this book was like watching the entire film from a third point of view, connecting with Ahzar at one point seemed impossible, only if I knew what is going on inside his head I might have connected to this story more.
I recommend this book to all the beginner-friendly readers out there who want to explore more books by Indian Authors
ankitakhataniar's review
3.0
I picked up this book expecting a story of love where two people declare their neverending love, pass hurdles and live happily ever after. The story is as dark and twisted as tree roots in a dark forest. You will be caught unawares, let me assure you. You won't figure it out from the way the book starts, where Ishaan is recalling a story from the past and regaling it to Anjali. Azhar and Zahra's story was gut-wrenching. It will tug at your string and will lead you down a depressing rabbit hole once you manage to finish the book. But God's honest truth is whatever is depicted in the book is happening right now, right as I am writing this review and right as you are reading these lines.
The book sadly has accurately highlighted the difficulties that come with being a transgender, or kinnars, whose sacred community has been around in India for ages. And yes, the discrimination they face on a daily basis is astounding. Read between the lines of the dialogues and the descriptions, and you will find in retrospect that it is true. Everyone has flinched from them at one time or the other. It is just that with age, understanding dawns. But for some, that hate is deep-rooted, not just because they dare to be different but also because they represent freedom of expression, that freedom that the bullies long for but can't admit to themselves.
Now you might wonder, why the three stars, then? Well, no matter how important the represented matter is, for a book, the first and foremost criterion will always be the story structure. Here, it came off a bit weak, especially while transitioning from the normal to violent parts and then back to the normal parts again. It starts incredibly slow and abruptly escalates and deescalates. Also, a trigger warning at the start of the book would have been a welcome addition. But the book itself deserves to be read by the public. Very much recommended.
The book sadly has accurately highlighted the difficulties that come with being a transgender, or kinnars, whose sacred community has been around in India for ages. And yes, the discrimination they face on a daily basis is astounding. Read between the lines of the dialogues and the descriptions, and you will find in retrospect that it is true. Everyone has flinched from them at one time or the other. It is just that with age, understanding dawns. But for some, that hate is deep-rooted, not just because they dare to be different but also because they represent freedom of expression, that freedom that the bullies long for but can't admit to themselves.
Now you might wonder, why the three stars, then? Well, no matter how important the represented matter is, for a book, the first and foremost criterion will always be the story structure. Here, it came off a bit weak, especially while transitioning from the normal to violent parts and then back to the normal parts again. It starts incredibly slow and abruptly escalates and deescalates. Also, a trigger warning at the start of the book would have been a welcome addition. But the book itself deserves to be read by the public. Very much recommended.
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