A thought provoking novel

Fourteen Days’ is a novel written by Sajjad Malik about COVID-19, Lockdown and Epidemic Terror spreading in various nations. It is a novel in which he wrote what was his most pulsated and sensitive self. One can read it on several levels. This is an allegory of the government and people’s varying resistance to the Coronavirus.

The victims of the virus, finally freed, would never forget the difficult period that made them face the absurdness of their existence and the precariousness of the human condition. It helped men to rise above themselves.

The message of the novel is that we are not responsible for COVID-19 but we can be responsible in the way we respond to it. It’s a story that takes place in real-time in Pakistan’s history. Some instances of fiction involve fictional or semi-fictional stories about actual figures, while others insert wholly original characters into real-life events as this novel does.

This novel narrates individual experiences characters like Mirjan, Hoshiyar Dilruba Khannan, G.M. Shah, Miss Hulchal Chaudhry and Mitho Lahori, creating a multifaceted portrait of these characters and the world they live in exploring their Inner feelings and thoughts, as well as intricate, even conflicting ideas.

It tells a story about specific human experiences over a considerable length. COVID-19 confinement inspired the writer. He writes about the virus and its aftermath, conflicting stances over lockdown, and the accompanying emotions about the reality of life and death.

The novel’s greatest power is in its characters, each crafted with stunning individuality. Each pursuing his/her own agenda, each brilliant and imperfect in their own ways. Individuality lies at the novel’s heart, fed by conflict and competition.

The question of who someone really is, plays out in the plot, challenging the reader to understand the intricate layers of motivation and deception. The novelist handles the characters with skill and sensitivity without disgracing them. These are characters you love and love to hate with a passion. It is an essential part of the novel’s study of confinement.

It deals with a simple question ‘How could human civilization become so broken? How could we fail to save the institutions and social order that define us when we confront something unexpected?

Sajjad Malik seems determined to challenge lies; he believes that when you are a writer you cannot lie. In the silence of fourteen days confinement, the writer’s words have a reverberation. His work speaks for itself. He wrote what he had to say and he did it at the highest level.

I am still a little uncertain about how the author made it so damn appealing. It has been playing on my mind since I put the novel down. There is no overstated foul play here; he simply does what is necessary to move on.