The Chapter Black: Scandalous Secret of the Scars by Bushra Rahmani (Book Review: 4*/5) !!!

 Not the experience of reading every book is delightful and entertaining, some are boring whereas some are thought-provoking whereas some keep hitting you for being negligence towards people who need your attention and concern. The book I have just finished belonged to the latter category written by Ms. Bushra Rahmani namely “The Chapter Black: Scandalous Secret of the Scars”. The book is currently available only in its Kindle edition and I wish it released in paperback version too as it is something you would want to gift few people who have no sympathy with the victims of the society who are dying to make you hear their pain. The cover page of the book is itself very dark portraying a girl sitting with her head bent down speaking about the plight she has been suffering for some while and the story is written in the same tone itself.

I had believed the book would have two different shades of happiness and then the sadness but since the first page of the book, the author has maintained a serious and sincere effort of keeping the victim’s story as much focused as possible so that readers could feel the pain a person who has suffered molestation, rape, kidnapping and acid attack goes through. And the good part is that even when the book is not written in the first person’s voice, it is able to make you feel what is in the mind of the fearful and helpless character who is scarred of every moment of her life. The protagonist’s character is so well built up that even after hours of completing the book, you would keep thinking about her sufferings and pain.

The book is written in a very good English language and as a debutante, I am very much impressed in the way the language has been used in a narration so strong and powerful. The story does not have much happenings, twists and turns but is still able to make you excited to know what happens with the character in the end is commendable. The research the authoress has gone through to understand the circumstances and feelings of an acid attack survivor is evident in every sentence which is applaudable. The way the book ends giving hope to any such survivor reading this book is how the climax of this book should have been rather than keeping everything dark till end.

Talking about the drawbacks of the book, I must say that the book is quite stretched in some parts where the authoress has gone into the same kind of detailing for the same condition of the character rather than trimming down few sentences from those segments where it kept getting repetitive. Secondly, except protagonist, her sister and Zafar, all the other characters are not given due importance. They keep disappearing from the story time and again which does not let the reader connect with the story at times. Overall, the book is a great effort and I rate it 4 out of 5. This is recommended for the people who can bear reading tough violent descriptions suffered by a female character.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA