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Soar
Bholanath and Khudabaksh are two soldiers in the British Indian Army, sent off to Europe to fight in World War I. One happens to be Hindu and the other happens to be Muslim, but that doesn't keep them from being the best of friends.
When a mission in a surveillance balloon goes awry, these two gentle soldiers - along with an exceptionally ill-tempered squirrel - are set adrift high above the Western Front. What follows is a grand tragicomic adventure, taking them into the heavens and across a continent gone mad with war. Together, they learn about the worst humankind can do . . . and how true friends, however unalike their identities may be, can soar above it all.
When a mission in a surveillance balloon goes awry, these two gentle soldiers - along with an exceptionally ill-tempered squirrel - are set adrift high above the Western Front. What follows is a grand tragicomic adventure, taking them into the heavens and across a continent gone mad with war. Together, they learn about the worst humankind can do . . . and how true friends, however unalike their identities may be, can soar above it all.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 21, 2020
About the author
Amit Majmudar
27 books97 followersAmit Majmudar is the author of The Abundance, Partitions, chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best debut novels of 2011 and by Booklist as one of the year’s ten best works of historical fiction. His poetry has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Best American Poetry 2011. A radiologist, he lives in Columbus, Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 1, 2020
Soar is a heart-warming tale of two soldiers, one Hindu, one Muslim, who fly in a surveillance balloon. Amit Majmudar will charm you with his knack for creating amazing moments and wry humor. This book, while a historical fiction novel, is a book of friendship and love, and is completely necessary to our modern world.
July 26, 2020
Makes you laugh out loud one moment, and brings you to tears in the next. The characters are unforgettable, as is the conflict they soar over!
September 10, 2022
I immediately thought of Disney's "Ice Age" movies due to the antics of the squirrel here.
In contrast to his The Abundance and Partitions, Majmudar uses a different writing style; he employs his skills to craft a humorous story. This quirky book doesn't have an obviously dramatic story and, somehow relatedly, poetic passages. Instead, the writing is more straightforward and functions as a foundation from which the tongue-in-cheek approach can shine.
Two bumbling characters, a Hindu and a Mussulman (Muslim), are colonial soldiers from India and serve the British Empire during World War I. They don't try to bumble but circumstances seem to bumble onto them (think Pink Panther). While sent up in a hot air balloon to survey the enemy/(mies?), the basket unexpectedly becomes unmoored.
The two men are good friends from the same part of India and share many values and experiences. Their differences are explored or revealed but in an affectionate or respectful way. They learn about the other's culture and religion with a curiosity that encapsulates and uplifts their friendship. The approach to their friendship is at once hopeful and open.
As they aimlessly travel the airstreams of Europe during a war, Majmudar's characters make earnest observations and profound insights. They are, in fact, critiquing empire and various Europeans (e.g., French, German, British). Their many observations have a certain innocence but cut as deeply and cleanly as a surgical tool.
"The nawab of Junagadh (one of the Raj's 'Independent Princes', which meant he had to agree of his own will to whatever he was told) had promised fifty troops" (to the British)...
"Fortunately, book and buch sound much alike in English and German (after all, the monarchs of the two countries were cousins)."
While mistaking Native Americans for "Indians," the two talk about how the British conduct themselves in America. "Why do they content themselves ruling us in India but kill us in America?"
Reading this book when the UK's queen died had me thinking about how so much destruction and human misery took place or continued during her reign. The long-lasting negative effects of the British enterprise in empire cannot be minimized or forgotten.
I note that Majmudar's Sitayana has a squirrel too. I'm curious about that title and I'll likely need to order it from India as I had to for this one.
In contrast to his The Abundance and Partitions, Majmudar uses a different writing style; he employs his skills to craft a humorous story. This quirky book doesn't have an obviously dramatic story and, somehow relatedly, poetic passages. Instead, the writing is more straightforward and functions as a foundation from which the tongue-in-cheek approach can shine.
Two bumbling characters, a Hindu and a Mussulman (Muslim), are colonial soldiers from India and serve the British Empire during World War I. They don't try to bumble but circumstances seem to bumble onto them (think Pink Panther). While sent up in a hot air balloon to survey the enemy/(mies?), the basket unexpectedly becomes unmoored.
The two men are good friends from the same part of India and share many values and experiences. Their differences are explored or revealed but in an affectionate or respectful way. They learn about the other's culture and religion with a curiosity that encapsulates and uplifts their friendship. The approach to their friendship is at once hopeful and open.
As they aimlessly travel the airstreams of Europe during a war, Majmudar's characters make earnest observations and profound insights. They are, in fact, critiquing empire and various Europeans (e.g., French, German, British). Their many observations have a certain innocence but cut as deeply and cleanly as a surgical tool.
"The nawab of Junagadh (one of the Raj's 'Independent Princes', which meant he had to agree of his own will to whatever he was told) had promised fifty troops" (to the British)...
"Fortunately, book and buch sound much alike in English and German (after all, the monarchs of the two countries were cousins)."
While mistaking Native Americans for "Indians," the two talk about how the British conduct themselves in America. "Why do they content themselves ruling us in India but kill us in America?"
Reading this book when the UK's queen died had me thinking about how so much destruction and human misery took place or continued during her reign. The long-lasting negative effects of the British enterprise in empire cannot be minimized or forgotten.
I note that Majmudar's Sitayana has a squirrel too. I'm curious about that title and I'll likely need to order it from India as I had to for this one.
August 2, 2020
At the intersection of magic realism and Beckettian slapstick, you will find this beautiful novel. I loved its imperfect, warm-souled protagonists, and I loved how it tugged a little bit of the past toward comic tenderness.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews