প্রস্তুতি পর্ব

by Mashiul Alam

Unknown Binding

About the author

Mashiul Alam was born in northern Bangladesh in 1966. He graduated in journalism from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow in 1993. He works at Prothom Alo, the leading Bengali daily in Bangladesh. He is the author of a dozen books including Second Night with Tanushree (a novel), Ghora Masud (a novella), Mangsher Karbar (The Meat Market, short stories), and Pakistan (short stories).

Reviews

[Shabnam Nadiya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was interesting: the lives of young Bangladeshis gone abroad to study--in Perestroika era Soviet Union. It was fascinating to get a glimpse into the internal hierarchy of the students, depending on who had been granted scholarships from which leftie organization in Bangladesh; the conflicts of Bangladeshi communist politics traveling along with the young men and women; and the internal conflict of the narrator who arrived so primed to adore the nation of his dreams.

The novel was marred because of the constant switching between first and third person. It wasn't occurring in a controlled manner and felt like Alam hadn't decided which one to use. Characters and story lines remained unresolved and undeveloped. This read more like a very rough draft than a completed work of fiction. The copy I read was in an Eid special--so maybe it was a draft?