Book Review: Border Post 99 by Kedar Patankar
Today, I will be reviewing Border Post 99 by Kedar Patankar, which was an OnlineBookClub.org Book of the Day for July 1st!
About the Book
March, 2011 - In the pine forest that marks the No Man's Land along the volatile India-Pakistan border, leopards roam freely across enemy lines, instigating fear in a pair of rival soldiers who are each guarding an illegal post and trying desperately to follow the strict orders they've been given: Don't shoot.
Lt. Sharma is a 25-year-old Indian rookie, fresh out of military training school and longing to return home. Captain Khan is a war-weary Pakistani veteran whose only desire is to be left alone with his thoughts. When the men are suddenly forced to acknowledge one another's presence, their nerves begin to fray and their tempers fly high. Sharma and Khan launch into a fierce duel of wits and egos that can only end when one of them dies.
I'll give this book a solid 5-star rating because of the content of the book. It was a little bit slow for me, and I felt like certain sections could have been chopped out to keep it moving along easier, but the sheer power of the messages that were being conveyed more than made up for that fact.
I liked Lt. Sharma and the way he was introduced to the new world he is inhabiting, and it also served to introduce the readers to something they might not be used to. I found a lot of powerful moments in this story, and even though it wasn't written for kids I can see the value of younger generations reading it and finding some inspirational messages about unity and overcoming.
Very entertaining and inspiring, I would recommend this one to anyone who is interested in a great cultural book about India and Pakistan!
About the AuthorKedar Patankar spent the first half of his life in Mumbai and the second half between Minnesota and California. He now lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay area, where he is an engineer by day and a writer by night. He has worked as a storyboard artist, an assistant director, and an executive producer on short films and a feature film shot in Minnesota and India; he writes short stories, screenplays, and a blog, and has recently completed a draft of a thousand-page novel.
Kedar was brought up among stories and wonderful storytellers, and he fell in love with books early on. His maternal and paternal grandfathers, an uncle, and some cousins all fought in the Indian Army, and the tales they told of World War II and the border wars over Kashmir enthralled Kedar when he was a child. Even now, when he can't fall asleep, he concocts a story for himself, and Border Post 99 is one of them.
