Book Review: The Fragile Thread of Hope by Pankaj Giri | Finalist of the Amazon Pen to Publish Contest 2017

Book Review

The Fragile Thread of Hope by Pankaj Giri

The Fragile Thread of Hope by Pankaj Giri

Author: Pankaj Giri

ISBN: 978-9389567205

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Length: 320 Pages

Publisher: Fingerprint! Publishing (17 December 2019)

My Ratings: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2tZOptl

About the author: 

Pankaj Giri was born and brought up in Gangtok, Sikkim—a picturesque hill station in India. He began his writing career with a book review blog and after several years of honing his writing skills, he wrote his debut solo novel The Fragile Thread of Hope. The inspirational fiction novel was selected as a “Top 5 Finalist” in the Amazon Pen to Publish Contest 2017 and received critical acclaim worldwide. It also led to him being felicitated by Sikkim Manipal University for his contribution to the literature of Sikkim and being invited by popular website YourStory.com and ABN TV, India’s first Nepali satellite channel, for exclusive interviews. He is currently working in the government sector in Sikkim. He likes to kill time listening to progressive metal music and watching movies and sitcoms. Pankaj loves interacting with his readers via social media and always responds promptly.

Pankaj Giri

Instagram: @pankajgiri.ps
Twitter: @_PankajGiri

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PankajGiriAuthor/

REVIEW

Narration

Finally, I am reviewing the first book I read in 2020. The Fragile Thread of Hope is a poignant and gritty tale of love, loss, death and grief that leaves you empty but the hope to hang from. The book is well-written with multiple third-person POVs which follow characters ─ Fiona, Soham, Sharon. The writing style is flowery and polished, you just keep reading until you choke off mid-sentence, left with moisty eyes. Also, the author Pankaj Giri has structured it brilliantly, providing the right scenes at the right times to make you sympathize with his characters.

Location and Setting

The Fragile Thread of Hope is set in Gangtok, Sikkim. The place so intimidating amidst the overwhelming views of mountains, rivers, streams and forests. Book also explores the megacity Bangalore, the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ where the author has portrayed the lifestyle of an IT worker which also reflected sort of bad workplace culture in this highly competitive corporate world.

Theme

The main theme of this book can be described as coping with the grief that you hold on to just because you fear to let it go. Apart from this, there are a lot of things Pankaj Giri has very successfully conveyed through his venerable characters like Father Francis and a Spiritual Master. All the characters in this book are perfectly written, they are exhaustive and hence sympathetic. Pankaj Giri has strongly put forward the concept of spirituality and a sensitive topic that is rarely discussed ─ religious conversion. Here he has elaborated the faith in Christianity with culture and customs. While talking about the culture, I should not forget about the significance represented here of Pahari Culture, some of which are accumulated from Nepali Culture.

Plot

I would be better off without talking much about the plot. Anyways, the plot will show you around the deep dark places lingering in your life that can strike hard anytime. It confronts you to the reality called Death and much darker feeling of grief which can only be overcome by Love.

Perhaps, this is what defines flawed people like me. Although tragedy moulds us, teaching us bitter lessons, traces of our typical faults linger in our souls, like ugly craters in the moon.

My Opinion

Well, what should I say about this incredible piece of literature? Let me provide you an excuse to read this book ─ there is no drama at all! I would suggest, grab a copy of this book if you want to read something intensively sentimental. It will change your perspectives. You’ll start to love your parents more. You will learn. Author Pankaj Giri has done a commendable job of extracting all the emotions out of readers. I loved this book and I highly recommend this book to anyone reading this right now.

Happy Reading!

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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Author Interview: Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of 23:59:59 | Dhiraj Sindhi (Part-2)

Author Interview

Sadashiv Pradhan

Author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59'

Giving Advice On Pursuing Unconventional Career Options!

Hey readers' fam, welcome back to the author interview with Sadashiv Pradhan, the author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59 The Journey of survival in the B-Schools of India'. I have reviewed the book, check it here, if you haven't yet. And I can't recommend it enough.

FOR MORE SUCH CONTENT, FOLLOW MY BLOG (Click the button here somewhere👉)

Again, let me introduce y'all to Sadashiv.

Sadashiv Pradhan has completed his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is currently working in Star India Pvt. Ltd. He is a passionate writer and prolific storyteller. He started writing 23:59:59 when he was in XLRI, where he believed that there is a story to be told- the story behind the curtains of otherwise glamorous B-school culture, which every graduate goes through but hardly anyone speaks about. The story of survival in the B-schools of India.

Follow him on Instagram: @storytellersada

Check out his Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sadashiv-Pradhan

Twitter Handle: @storytellersada

Order your copy of 23:59:59 here: https://amzn.to/2WuH6GE

Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of Amazon Bestseller 23:59:59

"If you want something then have the courage to do anything in your power to earn it. There is no right or wrong in this world! Grab it before someone else snatches it from you"

Today, Sadashiv will answer the most important questions we face in our lives. Again, which I think, will be helpful to all readers, students, parents and budding authors. I hope this interview will be resourceful to writers and readers.

Q: What do you enjoy the most apart from writing?

A: I do enjoy investing and trading in the share market. I have been an investor since last three years, recently I have started trading as well. I enjoy the process of research-analysis of stock & learning various strategies to maximize returns. I do believe money is an important part of life and you should try to create multiple income sources – if worked out diligently, Indian share market can become an excellent income source.

Q: Your answer to the ultimate question ‘Money vs. Passion?’ and message to your readers and their parents.

A: My position on this debate is simple – ‘Life me passion ka boz mat banane do!’ Many people from our generation mistakenly assume that for ‘following passion’ you need to leave the job (money), then and then only you can be successful – it has become fashionable to do so! Although it might have given success to a few, I would always recommend against it.

Money brings stability in life, and financial security gives you a cushion to try different things while following your passion. If you have a good amount of bank balance then success while following passion doesn’t become a necessity and failure becomes a learning experience.

Yes, juggling both things is difficult, it wasn’t easier for me either, it took me 3 years to write a book, and I hardly get time to promote my book, but my well-paying job ensures that I am not dependent on the success of 23:59:59. Hence, my advice to everyone who feels that they are stuck in their job and want to ‘follow passion’ is to start doing what you love the most without quitting the job – a point might come in the future when passion will give you sufficient money but before that, it would be too risky to quit job.

Q: What would be your advice to aspirants who may want to pursue unconventional career options?

A: Be selfish! Be selfish to yourself, to your passion, and to your dreams! Our generation is spending or rather wasting too much time on toxic relationships and on worthless jobs/corporations that would not think twice before replacing us. I don’t understand when someone says ‘I am crazily in love with him’ or ‘I can do anything for her’; that craziness, that ‘deewanapan’ should be reserved for your dreams; the person for whom you are willing to do anything should be YOU! Love is a choice, and in today’s world, that choice is just one right swipe away. Those, for whom you are willing to do anything will not hesitate to leave you, but your dream and your passion – that is something no one can take away from you. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in love, it’s a wonderful feeling, we need someone in life to grow old with or to share everything with but that person should not be bigger than our dreams. if you want to pursue an unconventional career then first you need to be crazily in love with that dream, rest of the things will take care of themselves.

Q: Any upcoming project you’re working on? Tell us a brief about it.

A: Absolutely! There are a couple of projects I am working on, but if I tell you about them then it would be nothing less than a joke. As I said earlier, one should never hesitate to dream bigger, if your dream doesn’t sound like a joke then you are not aiming higher – if ten years ago, a boy who did his schooling from a Marathi medium, who could barely speak in English would have announced that he is going to be a bestselling author then everyone around him would have laughed but again, here we are! So, yes, there are a couple of things on my mind, let’s see how that turns out to be, maybe after ten years, will again refer to this question, until then…

Again, Thank you so much, Sadashiv for being with us and for giving advice on pursuing dreams and discussing unconventional career options, that would definitely help readers with quality decisions and great content.

So, that was the Author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59' The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India.

My audience and I, wish you the best for the journey to come.

Comment down below and let us know if it helped you in any way.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Author Interview: Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of 23:59:59 | Dhiraj Sindhi (Part-1)

Author Interview

Sadashiv Pradhan

Author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59'

Sharing His Invaluable Experiences With Us!

Hey readers' fam, we are back with another, yet precious blog post. So, without wasting further time, welcome to the author interview with Sadashiv Pradhan, the author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59 The Journey of survival in the B-Schools of India'. I have reviewed the book in the previous post, check it here, if you haven't yet.

FOR MORE SUCH CONTENT, FOLLOW MY BLOG (Click the button here somewhere👉)

First, let me introduce y'all to Sadashiv.

Sadashiv Pradhan has completed his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is currently working in Star India Pvt. Ltd. He is a passionate writer and prolific storyteller. He started writing 23:59:59 when he was in XLRI, where he believed that there is a story to be told- the story behind the curtains of otherwise glamorous B-school culture, which every graduate goes through but hardly anyone speaks about. The story of survival in the B-schools of India.

Follow him on Instagram: @storytellersada

Check out his Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sadashiv-Pradhan

Twitter Handle: @storytellersada

Order your copy of 23:59:59 here: https://amzn.to/2WuH6GE

Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of Amazon Bestseller 23:59:59

"If you want something then have the courage to do anything in your power to earn it. There is no right or wrong in this world! Grab it before someone else snatches it from you"

Now, we will get to know more about Sadashiv and how he managed to write and published his debut novel. And also we will discuss career and passion. Which, I think, will be helpful to all readers, students, parents and budding authors. I hope this interview will be resourceful to writers and readers.

Q: Who is your favorite author and why do you adore him/her?

A: It has to be Agatha Christie! I always had a fascination towards crime – mystery genre. The most difficult part as an author is to keep a reader enticing till the very last word, especially in the mystery genre.

Q:  What was the inception point of 23:59:59?

A: The moment I walked inside the gate of XLRI, I knew there is a story to be told! A life that we expect while aspiring to be a part of elite B-schools is completely different from the one we get to experience. The euphoria of getting admission dies down or rather reality hits within a week, and you realize that beating two lac candidates in a rat race was the easiest part and the worst possible rat race of your life has just begun! Throughout my XL journey, I met various ‘characters’, followed their journeys, and started penning down those stories which eventually turned into 23:59:59!

Q: How long was the procedure, writing 23:59:59? How was the entire experience?

A: It took me 3 years to complete 23:59:59. I started writing it when I was a student at XLRI. Post XLRI, I got a job in Star India. Taking time out to write a novel while working a full-time job that too in travel-intense sales job was the most difficult part of the process. However, in a weird way it was peaceful, during my loneliest and most hectic days of work in a small town of Latur where I spent a year as an area sales manager, writing 23:59:59 gave a purpose!

Q: Which was the most difficult part of the writing process, in the entire course from drafting to publishing 23:59:59?

A: Selling! Hahaha! Honestly, getting a word out and convince people to buy your work is the most difficult part of the process. Being the first time author, I was inexperienced about the industry and unknown of the nitty-gritty of the sales and marketing part of the book publishing process. I must admit, I have committed many mistakes along the way, starting from printing an incorrect version of the book (that’s why you will see few grammatical errors in the book) but it has been a wonderful learning experience, and hopefully 23:59:59 will achieve greater success in days to come.

Q: What was your best XLRI experience ever?

A: Graduation Day! To be honest with you, academically, I wasn’t the best student at XLRI, I wasn’t even in the top half of the batch. For me, the entire XLRI journey was the journey of survival – day in day out! At top B-schools of India, we have daily competition, quizzes, & assignments – that rat race became even more intense, and sometimes, it did get excruciatingly taxing. But the moment I saw happiness and pride in the eyes of my parents on the graduation day, I knew, it was all worth it! My parents worked extremely hard to give me a wonderful life, my graduation was the reward of all their hard work, hence, yes, XLRI graduation day was the best day of my life.


Thank you so much, Sadashiv for being with us and for narrating us your writing journey and sharing your experiences.

There are few more questions to come in the Part-2 of this interview with Sadashiv Pradhan. So, stay tuned.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will catch you all in the next part!