Book Review: Snakes in the Meadows by Ayaz Kohli

Title- Snakes in the Meadows

Author- Ayaz Kohli

Publisher- Rupa Publications

Genre- Fiction

Length- 278 pages

Year- 2019

Rating- 4/5 stars

Ayaz Kohli's debut work "Snakes in the Meadows" presents a realistic picture of the condition of Kashmir and its people, their aspirations and fears, beliefs and sorrows through a  amazingly beautiful and well-written story, weaved with love and care.

The first thing that attracts us towards this book is it's beautiful cover photo. This beautiful painting by Munner Ali Khan as well as the title of the novel speaks a lot and perfectly represents the theme of the narrative.

Set in 1987 at the village of "Pathri Aali", the novel is very well-researched and the author has covered almost all the aspects in it.From the uniqueness of their local language, to their beliefs and festivals and local sports, everything is portrayed in great detail. The story is also rich in natural description and it provides an amazing reading experience.

Another aspect which I absolutely loved is the unbiased attitude of the author in presenting the real picture of Kashmir. He has shown how the innocent villagers of Kashmir are torn between the militants and the army jawans.

It was an amazing experience going through the novel and I reccomend this book to everyone who wants a glimpse of the real condition of the Kashmiri people. I also recoomend this book to those literature students who are planning to do their PhD on Kashmir.

Happy Reading