Zeneefa Zaneer's 'In the Land of Strangers' - Mommy's Next Step Motherhood in faith of Islamic Religion

"Sometimes I wished if I was your mobile phone or the television, so you would feel better watching me."

Those words really stole my heart. I know some people out there feel the same, got lost in their own life, marriage life. Some of them struggled and got through it, but, some didn't. Including Hamid, a man with two kids.

Just like any other man, husband in this case, Hamid spent his time for work. His responsibility for his family drove him to work hard and paid attention to clients. Poor Hamid, he forgot he had got a wife who needed to be showered with love. He neglected her too often, burdended her life with domestic works. He even had sudden deaf ears everytime his wife tried to talk to him.

Hamid then found himself alone. His wife left him forever. Not for finding other man, but, to her God.

Taking care of two children made him overwhelmed. Remarry was one of the solutions. Even his mom had given him sign to find another woman to fill him life.

As a woman I often see this kind of situation when a man becomes a widower, no need too long you will see him remarry. And we will say, "Oh, man!"

Ah, forget it.

Anyway, would Hamid do the same, remarry?

You can find what's Hamid choice on the last pages of Passing Cloud II. Yes, Hamid is a fiction character created by Zeneefa Zaneer. Zeneefa wrote about him and other stories in her newest short story compilation called 'In the Land of Strangers'. There are 10 short stories in the book: Lost, Passing Cloud, Not without Her (Passing Cloud part 2), Devil's Gift, Nine to Five, The Journal, Dear Diary, Hope, A Bud of Love, Whisperer.

The book talks about relationship between husband and wife, mom and children, wife and in-laws.

Some strories really captured my heart like Passing Cloud and The Journal. A drop of tears accompanied me while reading Passing Cloud. I could feel the pain, the loneliness feeling, the hurt and the hope at once.

Lost, the first short story in the book talks about an ungrateful wife who left his husband for another man. A bad wife, wasn't she? But, wait, let's look out the reason. The wife, Fida, left Imran because he didn't look gorgeous anymore. Well, he was 'gorgeous' with his Islamic appearance. Beard, stop listening to music, stop smoking.

Hey, that's cool, Fida!

Perhaps Fida just needed some time to understand his husband. Perhaps Imran needed to be more careful to his wife. Perhaps it was their life test.

Alright, I'm adding my emotions to the review.

Zeneefa said that these stories discuss different relationship in our life and how we become strangers to our beloved ones. We only started realizing it once we lose someone dearer to our life.

Oh, God. No...

You can purchase the book at Amazon and you can take a look at Goodreads.

Other book review you can read from this blog:
Purity and Prayer
Nanni's Hijab
Bedtime Sunnahs

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoy it.