25 March, 2014

#BookReview :: Nazaqat by Sasha H. Singhal

Naazani, a shy girl with a lonely childhood, was born and brought up in Dehradun. She moves to a metropolitan for further education and gets absorbed. In a series of events, she decides to adopt prostitution and becomes one of the most successful high profile escorts of the city with the help of her manager Sharat.
In a quest to be successful, she leaves her friends behind and dedicates more time to her profession. Nazaqat witnesses a police raid at a nearby place and the real scenario of prostitution terrifies her.She decides to take a stand and do something about it. However, Sharat convinces her that she is not powerful enough to make a difference.
Nazaqat retires and pool all her money and starts a restaurant – Joy
foods in partnership with Sharat. The business grows and soon enough they have numerous outlets in various cities and Naazani Singh Shekhawat emerges as a significant entrepreneur of nation.
To cherish the old memories, she organizes a group together and calls all her old friends. Next morning, it is found that something drastic happened the night before.
Meanwhile, she invites an author – Matthews, who is an old acquaintance to pen down her own biography. He visits her each night and in a series of ten nights, her story finds its crescendo.


Will prostitution be legalized? What’s her intention with the biography she is planning? What shall be the fate of Naazani Singh Shekhawat aka Nazaqat?


This is one of the best books that I have read among the recent IWE releases. I was closed to accepting review requests when I received a mail from the author. The blurb made me curious and I decided to make an exception and accept this book. And man, I am glad that I did because I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

Nazaqat is the story of a modern day girl who steps into the dark world of prostitution and later moves on to open a restaurant. Her story is narrated to us mostly through flashbacks as she narrates it to the author she has hired to write a book about her. From her days as a prostitute to her days as a restaurant owner, she has had her share of ups and downs and a bunch of people who influenced her life. Then there is a murder mystery thrown in to make things even more interesting for the readers.

Naazani, our protagonist is smart, outgoing and independent. She makes her own decisions and while they are often unorthodox and frowned upon by the society, she goes ahead and does it anyway. I liked her character a lot. She is a kick-ass lady in her own way and dominates the story in a way that all protagonists should. There are a few supporting characters like Sharat, and Biplab, who influences the story by influencing Nazaani’s life. The side characters are also well developed.

The cast duly compliments the smashing storyline and pretty good narration style. I particularly enjoyed the poetry paragraphs scattered throughout the novel that added a certain flavour to the novel. The best part about the book is how plot seamlessly weaves in the social issues like prostitution, homosexuality and in a way the status of women in our country. There is enough drama and thrills without overdoing any one particular aspect.

I absolutely enjoyed it and would recommend everyone to leave those campus stories and best seller author who writes more of bollywood script than anything else alone. Give this one a try and it will be worth your while.





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