Wuhan 2020 - Vacation Gone Wrong in China by Murtaza Akbar (Book Review: 3.25*/5) !!!

1855th BLOG POST

22nd Book of 2020!

So, almost in every book review that I have written post March 2020, I have somewhere mentioned about lockdown or isolation phase. But I never knew that within this phase itself, I shall get an opportunity to read a book that’s written completely based on Corona pandemics outbreak in China. The title of the book is “Wuhan 2020 - Vacation Gone Wrong in China” and it’s written by Murtaza Akbar in around 150-pages. The author has cleverly created a plot which talks about how a family whose life was very much sorted ended up being in the Wuhan city and got trapped in the outbreak of the pandemic which affected their mental state for the period when they were kept in isolation in a foreign city.

The book is short and I must say that’s a good decision considering that people might not want to read largely about the pandemic as they have already been suffering the same since last 6 months. The book starts like a Travel log where the author describes how the family is going through from one place of China to another based on their itinerary and provides vast description of each and every spot that they are traveling. Later on, in the book, the topic of Coronavirus enters and for some time, the book gets devoted in spreading the information about the disease and the situation in China. So basically, the first half speaks majorly on these two events hence frankly saying, I couldn’t enjoy the story till then.

But then starts the 2^nd half of the book and author takes us into a lot of backstories and flashbacks. It is then that the magic happens and you start liking the story and reading it fast and turning pages to know what happened next. Author here discusses how the couple met and got married. Author also talks about how they landed up in China and how important this visit was for them. Even their personal family backdrops are given which is quite interesting. Finally, comes the climax which I believe could have been more unpredictable or dramatic but still, story ends on a good note.

Talking about the characterizations, the characters of Adnan and Angelina is so beautifully crafted and the way they are described makes you imagine them somewhere around you. The intimate scenes between them are also beautifully written without any vulgarity imposed for the sake of selling the book. Similarly, the other supporting characters such as Rizwan are nicely crafted. Author has shared few poetic lines in start and end of the chapter which are thought-provoking many a times. Similarly, the conversation that takes place between the couple in the flashbacks are very beautifully written. The love story part of the book is what majorly impressed me more than the pandemic part.

Now talking about the drawbacks of the book- I must say that author has given too much detailing in the traveling part which actually irks you after a time as it seems you are going through the Wikipedia page of each location. Secondly, there are grammatical and typo errors which I believe author should try avoiding as much as possible as reading on a Kindle device, it is found out immediately. Thirdly, when the story is being sold out as being based on Coronavirus pandemic, I believe there could have been more thriller occurrences which could have made the readers jump out of their couch while reading. Lastly, as the sweet moments of the book is majorly in the flashbacks which takes entry in the 2^nd half of the book, it could have been great if author could have brought them in between since start of the book as it could have then made readers go through the traveling description interestingly too.

Overall, the book is a light-read and it is apt for new and early readers to begin their reading journey with or the people who love reading love and romantic stories. I give the book 3.25* out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA