3 Review(s)

Curfewed Night, by Basharat Peer, is a poignant memoir of life, love, and war in Kashmir. Summary of the Book This valiant piece of literary reporting reveals the most affecting personal stories that depict the aftermath of conflict in Kashmir. It depicts the tale of a man’s love for his homeland, the agony of leaving and the joy of returning. It paints vivid pictures of the Separatist Movement that has consumed Kashmir since 1989, leading to the killings of thousands of people in the battle between India and Pakistan over the region. The author recounts stories from his youth and chronicles the heartrending tales of the many Kashmiris he met years later when he became a reporter. The stories include a mother who had no choice but to watch her son hold an exploding bomb by Indian troops, a young man who joined a Pakistani training group and a poet who found solace in religion after his whole family was viciously massacred. The book describes how a place once considered a paradise on Earth, has been reduced to a despondent and wretched war zone today. About Basharat Peer Basharat Peer is an Indian journalist, social commentator and author of Kashmiri ethnicity. He was born in Seer, Anantnag, in Jammu and Kashmir. He completed his initial schooling in Kashmir and continued his higher education in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He studied Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University and Journalism at Columbia University. For this book, he won the Crossword Prize for Non-Fiction and was chosen among the Books of the Year by The Economist and The New Yorker. He currently runs the India Ink blog on the digital edition of The New York Times.