Book Review: The Contract by Zeenat Mahal


 
Title: The Contract
Author: Zeenat Mahal
Genre: Romance
Source: A copy provided by author for review

Synopsis: Shahira, a 30 year old single mom to an eight year old boy, and a school teacher by profession, gets a rather unusual marriage proposal from Hussain. That of a contract marriage -where she would be responsible for raising his 11 year old daughter and taking care of his mother, while him -the so called husband -will be globetrotting on his business. Concerned of her son's future and securing financial security for herself, she chose to accept it. Little did she realize that this is going to change her life for good!

Discovery: I first happened to read the preview of the book when it was one of the nominations for “Book of the Month” in July 2014 on Indusladies.com. It was a promotional event by “Indireads” where they were giving away 5 free copies to the winners participating in the giveaway. Recently received a copy of the book, thanks to the author for being generous enough to provide one for review.

My View: A handsome rich man with a heart of gold, a beautiful intelligent strong woman with a loving and generous heart- feels like a fairy tale - except that both had a bad past -of a distasteful first marriage .The story starts slow and picks up speed with the arrival of Hussain on scene and gets interesting with his attempts to woo Shahira. You get to see two extremes through the life of Shahira- a life that no girl would ever want for herself and the other with the kind of romance that every girl dreams of. The author has very cleverly managed to sneak-in serious issues like marital rape and physical and emotional abuse and yet keep the story light.  Being brought up in a similar kind of male dominated society, I can very well relate when she mentions how a man preparing tea for his wife raises eyebrows. With the use of few words, she has been able to give a feel of the fear and insecurities of a single woman who has lost her parents and has a little kid’s responsibility on her shoulders. Also, the scar that an abusive marriage leaves in the victim’s soul, the trust issues that they face in their life afterwards is well portrayed. Aunt Salma's antics to force them to spend time together is really cute, her character feels to be the most adorable. Actually she also seems to be a fairytale MIL contrasted with Shahira's first MIL who seems to be an actual (belonging to this earth) kind of MIL :).I could not understand the need for the character of Nudrat- may be to show the grey shade of Hussain's character -not sure though. The one thing that left me intrigued and wondering for a long time was 'marriage over the phone'-are you kidding…really...does this kind of a thing really happens?

I would have loved to see Shahira in a traditional outfit on the cover page of the book rather than in a gown. I liked the ‘*Terms and conditions apply’ tagline though.

Recommendation: Recommend reading on a lazy drizzling weekend evening (romantic weather) with a cup of piping hot coffee.

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks for this Pallavi! So glad you liked The Contract:)
April 5, 2015 at 12:43 AM
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