Book Review — “As I Prepare for Landing!” ‘A Basket of Stories and a Casket of Poems!

As I Prepare for Landing by Ms. Gulnar Raheem Khan, can be seen through a spectrum of two lenses: poems and short stories.The book is a compact, crisp and concise book of ten short stories and twenty poems, having in all thirty creative pieces of literature. The mixed format is its uniqueness, and the book takes its readers on an emotional journey, acquainting them a gamut of feelings associated with the prism of life, and its allied idiosyncrasies: marital, familial, social, political, legal, ecological, and religious!

Most literature grows from the seed of the personal into a tree of the universal! This book is no exception. Many of the pieces in this book are reflective of the author’s experiences in various phases, situations and circumstances; ecstasies of love, to pain of indifferences, to pangs of bereavements, nonchalance for old age, to compassion for the helpless, to name a few!

The poems in this book demonstrate the author’s ability to overcome challenges and meet life’s obstacles head-on with strong tenacity, faith, bravery, and hope, while exploring the deep chasms of relationships that affect people’s lives forever. Each seemingly simple piece of writing proves in the end to be a power house of feelings and emotions that tug at your heart.

In entirety, As I Prepare for Landing is a poignant book that highlights the virtues of forbearance, empathy, and despondency, and much more as it chugs ahead. Gulnar Raheem Khan is a post graduate in English literature, and her grip and brilliance over the language, filled with vivid descriptions, takes readers to many settings and situations. The book is certain to speak to you with its charming influence that it weaves around you. Long after you finish reading a piece, you are left cogitating about it.

The illustrations accompanying each story and poem, enhance the beauty of the book.

No wonder the book was awarded the Best Debut Fiction book prize, by the Asian Literary Society.

The book was published by BlueRose Publishers, and it is available online on BlueRose Stores, Amazon and Flipkart.