| Published on 27-09-2006 In General |
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Written by
T. S. V. Hari |
I decided to buy "The Afghan" by Frederick Forsyth more out of loyalty to the author whose books I have never missed.
Come to think of it, all the books penned by Frederick, deal with an impossible situation which are rendered perfectly possible as the plots unfold and in the denouement chapter come to a very acceptably plausible end.
In that manner, "The Afghan" is no different.
The good guys (most of the time the British and the American establishment – according to Frederick) have a tough time and in the end defeat the villains in all bestsellers and emerge smelling like a rose, unscathed.
In the book under review, there are two Afghans – one of them being a Taliban commander who has a reasonable enough cause to be a Taliban commander – and the other one being an impostor.
The book is all about the adventures of the impostor – though the real Afghan manages to escape from a high security prison – to create the appropriate tension towards the climax of the novel.
If I reveal more, I would give away at least the operative portion of the secret of the book away, so I wouldn't do that.
I began this review by saying I am loyal to Frederick. There is a reason for that. I had interviewed him ages ago in his Hertfordshire home in England and found him to be a down to earth, simple soul – totally in contrast to the complex characters he has created. My appointment was to last just one hour, but I ended up having a conversation with him that lasted over 4 hours which included a vegetarian lunch. Among other things, Frederick showed me his huge collection books which also had three books "allegedly" written by him.
Allegedly?
That is what some Indian publishers had done – declaring some other authors' works as those done by him because of the USP of Forsyth.
Talking to Frederick was pure pleasure because of the depth of his knowledge about almost everything on earth. The existence of a man called Rangarajan (more famous under his pseudonym "Sujata" which is his wife's name) in the Tamil literary world was known to Frederick and he went on to say, "I hear he writes good fiction."
Of course I am an admirer of Sujata too – nor just his fiction but his regular weekly column in a Tamil magazine – but I have to admit that when I had tried to strike a conversation with the Indian author – he dismissed me off in two sentences.
Rangarajan seemed to be oblivious about Forsyth during our very brief interaction and vaguely remembered that he had "The Day of The Jackal." That still hasn't changed my opinion of Rangarajan – and that is another matter altogether.
Coming back to Frederick, he lives in a huge estate (East End Green Farm) a shade north of London. The residence sits at the edge of a 55 acre farm where he breeds horses for fun. It has about 12 rooms besides the huge hall and a well equipped kitchen. I had noticed at least half a dozen vintage cars besides a Rolls and a Peugeot (which he made use of when seeing me off at the nearby railway station after the interview).
"I write strictly for pleasure because my books have already given me enough to live on," Frederick said during the interview which took place over a decade and a half ago. He had just completed "The Deceiver" which he autographed for me.
When the interview was published in an English periodical published from Chennai, its editor wanted me to ask Frederick about the belt bomb (a vital part of the novel "The Negotiator") and his reaction to the fact that he had given the idea to a Sri Lankan assassin to kill Rajiv Gandhi.
Frederick patiently sent his reply by fax (by then I was back in India) in which he said that the concept had already been put to use by Arabs long ago. He even suggested to me that a movie that had used the concept showed how an assassin uses the same trick to kill a politician.
For those amongst you who are interested in trivia – The Day of The Jackal – Forsyth's first book was written in 35 days but it took him nearly 2 years to sell the book to a publisher through an agent.
Incidentally, the whole plot of The Afghan takes place within a period of a few weeks. And there are enough thrills in this book to keep a serious reader interested from start to finish.
There is a brief reference about India in The Afghan which is more of a backhanded compliment about the rage of Islamic fundamentalists exported from our southern most state of Kerala. The indication has no real relevance to the whole plot and is just an aside. I finished the book in two sittings – the second lasting a whole night. To me it was "unputdownable." Priced at Rs.261.50 in India (the book is available only as a hardback edition abroad) the edition is published by Random House. It is certainly worth every paisa. Happy reading. |
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