The Sky At Our Feet by Nadia Hashimi

 

*Wiping the sweat off my brow*

Phew! I am done! Finished this with difficulty and some cheating.

Lil Shah aka Jason D was born American. His mother is Afghan and had come away to live in the US. Jason's father is long dead and his mother is always in fear that she will get sent back to Afghanistan if the authorities come to know of her existence in the US without proper documentation.

And as life may have it, one day the cops do come to Jason's doorstep. The cops pick up Madar jaan at the laundromat where she works. Jason is watching this from afar and goes into hiding. He travels all the way from New Jersey to New York in search of a family friend, Auntie Seema. Only she could help work things out and have his mother released from the clutches of cops.

On his way to New York, he has a minor accident and lands himself in hospital alongside a young girl called Max. Max has been admitted to the hospital to be operated upon as she has epilepsy.

To cut a long and winded like a jalebi story short, these two kids become friends. Max wants to escape the hospital to see Central Zoo before she goes into surgery where she feels she will lose memory of her life. Jason wants to get out because he wants to meet Auntie Seema. They hatch a plan and escape. Running through the streets and traveling in the tube etc are paragraphs that you can skim through and speed read.

By the time I got to last leg of the book, I could predict what would happen. It was quite Bollywood-y kind of ending. Jason realizes that people he was searching for, were in turn searching for him. All's well that ends well with Madar jaan actually working up to seek asylum. Max and Jason meet often to relieve their memories of the time they ran away and experienced life first hand.

I just could not finish this book. Many times I have even misquoted the title! You can imagine how thoroughly bored and disconnected I was. Chapters 20-34, I just speed read and jumped unnecessary blah. Maybe I just got fed up. Maybe I'm too practical for me to think Jason could simply pack his bag and go to New York with a small address tucked into his pocket. If I were him I would have spoken to other elders in my vicinity and actually found a way to call Auntie Seema. It seemed illogical for me for this little boy to just pack off and leave. Stupidity! Maybe my heart pounds to think what kids can be upto and what they can get into with half baked knowledge.

Nadia Hashimi could have done better. When the moon is low is a much much better book. Anyways, this is an okay read for age 12/13. I doubt my 15 year old will be able to hold his interest.

PS: I didn't want to waste my Scribd subscription being stuck on this book. If you are reading on Scribd and not liking it, please move on. Not worth your money.