[Review] Naqiah Khalida by Diya Nordin book review

I have not been reading much Malay book, okay I have not read much Malay novels, so I really have no idea on how should I review this book. Partly because my grasp on Malay language is not very strong and even though I am a Malay and I speak Malay language every day, but artistically and grammatically are totally different. Therefore, the only thing I can comment on is the content and the plot.

Truth is at first glance, I had no intention on reading it. I was buying it because it was on sale at an Islamic fair in my college and I have a problem with impulse buying. Then again I did read the synopsis on the cover leaf, and the word death and mystery illness had caught my eyes. Yes, my reading preference is usually about mystery illness and about someone dying or dies.

Compared to the normal genre that I usually read, this book does focus a little more on love than I would prefer. Though, it also does have an Islamic touch or influence in it. The advice and the message are mostly excerpt from the Qur’an and Hadith (though I could be wrong since I read this book a while ago and I don’t have it with me now to refer back to it). This was the first of its kind that I have ever read though.

The beginning was a little slow for me though. The first few pages were hard to get through, but once I got into the pace, it was a fine novel. The twisted road called life and the winding and surprises were somewhat expected but was a good read.

The important thing was it thought something valuable. It sort of thought me that life is never as we planned as well as in everything we do, there will be challenges but the challenges are what mold us as human, as who we are.

Her words were simple enough to be understood for any level of readers, but her contents is mostly aimed for teenagers and young adult readers. The novel carries quite a heavy theme, not to mention there is character death and mind you this is a love story (from my opinion).

Although the first thing that put me off the first time reading it was the English dialogue. I do understand that as a person with a Malay mother tongue, it’s a little hard to express your thought in English, but that is the use of an editor. The editor should double check every sentence, sentence structure as well as spelling. There were a few spelling mistakes and a few slips here and there also there were a few put off scene (this is just to my opinion). It does seem like there were one or two chapters that are there as a filler. It serves no purpose to neither the main plot nor the sub plot.

I’m writing this review entirely based on the little notes that I keep when I read or watch a movie or whenever I feel like giving a critique. I don’t have the book with me right now and I have read this book only twice. I do tend to have different thoughts about a book every time I read them, so this is based on both times.

Ms. Diya has written a few e-novels that are published on her site, and this is being the first book she had on print. A good choice, nonetheless I do think a better editor is needed for her later books. I’d give this book a fair three out of five (3/5), for the plot progression and for the reason that it does touch me. Yet there is always more room to improve. Though I’m not saying I could do a better job, it’s just an opinion.

That’s all from me this time around…

以上、

～iejaーちゃんでした。