Review
“Freedom at Midnight is an excellent bitter-sweet recounting of India’s tryst with freedom and destiny..”
I still remember the day I started "Freedom at Midnight" for the very first time around six years back. Actually I got the idea of reading it when I was reading Gunvant Shah's Sardar Patel biography, which was having many references from "Freedom at midnight". I was searching for the book from around three months and finally got it from my college library. (Of course it was readily available at crossword in around 500INR which I was hesitating to spend at that time.) It was the first time that I was about to begin a book with more than 400 pages.
The moment I opened this book and read the first few pages, I felt that tingling sensation in the back of my neck that usually alerts me of something great about to happen, and I knew, just knew that I had come across something truly rare. And the more of it I read, the more I knew I was right—this was the most perfect piece of writing I had read , and quite possibly ever. By the end of it, I felt like my mind had been stretched so far, I needed a map to navigate back to the mundanities of regular life.
For anyone who wants to a peep into the history of India, with all its conspiracies and politics, "Freedom at Midnight" is the first book I would recommend, written by the dynamic duo authors Lapierre and Collins.
So far as I remember, the book initiates with a scene of big body of Winston Churchill going from the ten downing street. The book begins with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as the last viceroy of British India, and ends with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi. We may not know many things which are explained with too many confidential records. It characterizes the problems of the Maharajas and their eccentricities extremely well. The problem of the princely states, mainly Kashmir is written in great detail. The main portion of the book is of course, the partition and how India and Pakistan were created from the erstwhile British Empire. And if partitions are mentioned, how can one forget the horrendous riots? The book gives a full, often gruesome account of the Punjab riots, the religious fanaticism and tells us how Gandhi single-handedly ensured peace in Bengal. The riots and immigration of the Hindus and Muslims is explained in truly emotional way. I still remember my journey from Ahmedabad to Surat when I was reading the riots part of the book and was literally too much emotional reading it. What a narration.! The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi is explained in truly an amazing way. The book bravely explains the efficiency of Sardar Patel and failure of Jawaharlal Nehru at many points. If you really want to know the entire plan of the killing of Mr. Gandhi by the disciple of Vir Sawarkar, go for the book.
The duo writers have undertaken vast amounts of research. And this is reflected clearly in the book. They represent facts, quite biased at points, I must admit and in the process, strip down each legendary freedom leader that we have seen as gods to mere mortals. The accounts of Gandhi are completely different from anything you would have read in school and you see the Mahatma in new lights, some good, some bad. The book brings out the details behind every little event in India. Even you may feel at some point of time that India had diplomatically got Kashmir, which was still truly needed at that point of time.
All in all the book is a masterpiece which will propel you through the pages of history. Every part of this unique story is sheer genius, every facet of it truly unexpected and utterly mind-blowing. I would say just one thing.. Go For It.
The duo writers have undertaken vast amounts of research. And this is reflected clearly in the book. They represent facts, quite biased at points, I must admit and in the process, strip down each legendary freedom leader that we have seen as gods to mere mortals. The accounts of Gandhi are completely different from anything you would have read in school and you see the Mahatma in new lights, some good, some bad. The book brings out the details behind every little event in India. Even you may feel at some point of time that India had diplomatically got Kashmir, which was still truly needed at that point of time.
All in all the book is a masterpiece which will propel you through the pages of history. Every part of this unique story is sheer genius, every facet of it truly unexpected and utterly mind-blowing. I would say just one thing.. Go For It.