REVIEW: The Book of Everlasting Things

"That day, two hearts broke, like the fragments of a newly divided land."

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"The paper boat of your memory has drowned in the river of this heart."

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"Like the stories in the book, this perfume struck the precise chords of history, legend, mythology, magic, poetry and delight."

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"Lahore feels at a standstill, like we have paused on the plateau of some uncertain hope."

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Samir's family are Hindu perfumers. Firdaus's family are Muslim calligraphers. Both families are living in Lahore in the late 1930s. Samir has been learning the art of perfuming under his uncle's direction. Firdaus's father is a bit progressive and is teaching his daughter calligraphy amongst other things. The two cross paths when Firdaus's mother wants a perfume and they offer custom labels. Samir's father thinks, better yet, let's have Samir learn this skill. He spends his time learning both arts and the two children fall for one another. They spend years exchanging secret letters and hope to be married despite their religious differences. Unfortunately, they are coming of age as India is gaining independence from Britain and their home city is partitioned into Pakistan. Firdaus's mother uses this to press her liberal husband to bring Firdaus back home and marry one of her Muslim cousins. At the same time, Samir's family's livelihood is destroyed and he must flee. He ends up in France where his uncle learned the art of perfumery in the war and spends years tracing his uncle's life.

I learned a ton about a piece of history that I had minimal previous knowledge about. This story balances the equal joy of independence and a true homeland balanced with the horror of not being able to live in a place you have always known due to an arbitrary line. You feel awful for Firdaus and Samir who bridged the gap of their differences and in another place or time may have lived happily ever after. There is lots of knowledge and emotion here for sure. The writing is beautiful, hence all the pull quotes. That said, this book was probably 100 pages too long. The beginning gives you far too much detail on perfuming and calligraphy. Those passages are beautiful but too much for the average person. If that were trimmed as well as some tightening of the uncle's journals and this would have been a much better reading experience.

Thanks to Flatiron books via Netgalley for the gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

🥀BOOK REVIEW🥀

Thank you @aanch_m and @flatiron_books for the gifted copy of THE BOOK OF EVERLASTING THINGS!
📅: December 27!

“Only humans must conform to borders. Even in freedom, they are never really free”

Thoughts 💭: This is oral historian Aanchal Malhotra’s debut novel and begins in the early 1930s in Pre-Partition Lahore. Being a scholar of the Partition, this past year I have been reading Malhotra’s non fiction books and started reading this novel early December. In this visceral and deeply moving novel, we meet two families - one Muslim and one Hindu. The Hindu family, known as the Vij, are perfume makers, while the Khan family specialize in calligraphy. Before the Partition, the family introduces Samir and Firdaus to each other. The young couple begins to develop feelings for each other as the socio-political and cultural tensions begin to seep into their lives.

Malthora’s sharpness in history becomes evident as she explores the story of Samir’s uncle, who joined and fought for the British, and is plagued by PTSD, while at the same time, magnifies how the nationalist fervor transforms Firdaus’s father who initially accepts their relationship, but then begins to question and doubt his values due to the sentiments and rising violence and riots that begin to shape their lives. Then, things turn as both are led to make unthinkable, unimaginable decisions.


The novel is divided into five parts and spans over time tracing the lives of Firdaus and Samir as they forge and adjust to their new lives in the aftermath of the Partition. As readers, we encounter their pain, their love, and their effort to make sense of what has passed, and how sentiments of nationalism has changed then humanity that existed in pre-Partition India. Ultimately, the metaphor of the perfume and the intensity of its smell remains a constant that connects the two of them as years pass.

The topic of Partition was recently explored in Ms Marvel, and it’s so refreshing to see new authors exploring the subject that I wasn’t aware of growing up.

A Hindu perfumer and a Muslim calligrapher are torn apart by Partition, but cannot forget each other.

Featured in the Winter 2023 issue of Fine Books & Collections, on the Editor's Shelf: Aanchal Malhotra’s "The Book of Everlasting Things" is a meditative tome about a Hindu perfumer and a Muslim calligrapher whose love is forbidden when their homeland is partitioned during the struggle for Indian independence at mid-century.

I really liked this book and I'm so glad I received an arc I couldn't put it down I loved the writing and all the characters so much I was hooked from page one

I thought this book was beautifully written but was somewhat hard for me to get through because it was almost too descriptive. Honestly just might not be for me.

A sweeping family saga centered around Partition and the arts of perfumery and calligraphy. Samir and Firdaus are separated by religion, their families, and time and yet their love had lasting effects on their lives. This book is very dense and covers a lot of difficult topics from World War I to the Partition to family strife. Very interesting, moreso for the historical aspects than the perfumery, but very relevant even today. "At the end, everyone was Punjabi with little obvious difference. It didn't matter so much, actually...until it did, and it did quite suddenly."

The Book of Everlasting Things is a phenomenal immersion into a heart-wrenchingly beautiful, literary pool of amazing writing, pure, unconditional love, and heartache. Definitely a MUST read!

I received this from Netgalley.com.

This book was not for me, I found it densely packed with info which made it tedious and long winded.

2☆

(Written for NPR's Books We Love series; please see the link.)

Aanchal Malhotra’s groundbreaking oral histories of the India-Pakistan Partition have already filled two door-stopper nonfiction books and won her much acclaim. With this first novel, she shapes some of her monumental research material into a far-reaching love story about two people who practice the ancient arts of Indian perfumery and Urdu calligraphy. Malhotra’s detailed world-building gives the narrative sensory layers and textured depths. Moving from the early 1900s to the present day, she explores how Partition continues to be a living, breathing catastrophe and how the violence and trauma have been inherited by later generations, no matter where they live now.

This is an extremely well-written book, full of lovely prose and vivid detail. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me. The descriptions of smells over and over again got to be too much for me, and it was all I could focus on. I understand that it’s a central part of Samir’s passion and experience, but it overwhelmed me. I stopped this story around the 35% mark. Maybe I’ll pick it up again, because I did find other parts of it beautiful!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for my honest review.

The book for me was difficult to read. Perhaps it at times became redundant with the smells. The book does have an interesting divide in the story. There are two cultures, one a Hindu perfumer and one a Muslim calligrapher. That information becomes difficult because the children of the two cultures fall In love.
In addition, there was a partition historically happening dividing india and Pakistan..

I am glad for one thing that the book left me with is that smells, including perfume is an escaping sanctuary which can lead to stories remembered and emotions to evolve.

It is an intensely written story which is not a quick read so just be prepared. In fact write down the names and who they are as you go, it helped me.

Having requested this book so long ago, I expected fantasy based on the cover but discovered a beautifully written work of historical fiction. I love Malhotra's writing. She certainly enjoys putting her characters through traumatic circumstances and tells it incredibly well. I almost discovered a new favorite but then Malhotra had her primary characters indulge in self-flagelation for over 15% of the end of the book which left a taste of frustration in my mouth.

This book was a captivating one, a sprawling, multi-generational tale of obsession and history, of the stories we hide and the ones we dare to tell. I know almost nothing about partition (the division of India which resulted in Pakistan) and reading “The Book of Everlasting Things” was an eye-opening experience as I followed Samir and Firsaud, a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl who fall in love over bottles of perfume and pages of calligraphy. I longed for them to defy the odds of their heritages but instinctively knew this would be a tale of suffering. But this book is a beautiful and necessary exploration of history and artistic passion, and I would encourage others to engage with this fascinating tale of everlasting things.

Beautifully written, with fully realized characters in a multigenerational tale of cultures, destinies, love and tragedy.

While I appreciated the immense talent of this incredible author, I failed to become immersed in the story. The heavy detail, while masterfully written, weighed the narrative down and made for a long read.

There's a lot to like here and for another reader I could see this being a beloved gem. Worth giving it a try to see if you enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Firdaus and Samir meet when their parents begin a joint business venture. Living in Lahore, Hindustan, both families have prosperous businesses. Firdaus's father runs a calligraphy business, teaches calligraphy, and has his daughter as a student. Samir's family runs a perfumery where custom scents are created. Samir is an apprentice in the family business and has an acute sense of smell - the "nose". Samir begins attending calligraphy classes and begins falling in love. As time goes by, Lahore becomes the site for much of the rebellion separating India and Pakistan. At the peak of the rebellion, Samir leaves Lahore and Firdaus behind.

This is an epic story of love, loss, and rebellion set against the backdrop of a troubled country. We follow Firdaus and Samir through their lives watching each life event. The author does not shy away from death and explores the relationship death has to the trajectory of life. Samir's journey through life is mirrored by his perfume experiences. The author has done a tremendous amount of research and the steps of creating oils and perfumes are described in deep detail. Firdaus and Samir both share their experiences and leave a lasting legacy.

This is historical fiction that touches on WWI and WWII while illuminating the huge cultural impact the partition of India had on its citizens.

So a lot happens in this book we see the stories of different generations as they try to explain their history and find their own way while still trying to make their parents proud. I definitely learned a lot and am super curious about perfume making it is a fun career choice to explore and I loved it. The family dynamic of both our heroine and hero are super complex and interesting. The book explores a super troubling, interesting, and difficult time in Asia. It was definitely interesting to see the separation of Hindustan into India and Pakistan and how quickly the divide came I still don't really understand what prompted the split other than that the British have a lot of apologizing to do. It is truly insane to see how quickly hate can spread and how politics and so horrible affect the least suspecting. There is a lot to say and ponder about this book but the thing that bothers me most is that our main heroine and hero don't get the ending they deserve. The entire time I read this book I was hoping for the two of them to find realize the errors of their ways but they never do and it has intense consequences. Overall I would recommend it's a super sad historical fiction but all historical fiction is sad. I am definitely going to have to pick up some more books around this time period because I still have no idea what happens and I need to figure it out. I am off to go perfume shopping.

This book was difficult for me to get through, I'm not quite sure why. I found the characters interesting, and the plot and writing were both decent. It just wasn't for me. I would however, still recommend this for those looking for this type of book! I think a lot of times we find that a book isn't for us so we write it off as bad, but that wasn't the case with this book at all! The book is good, I just found myself not enjoying it as much.

A love story about a Hindu perfumer and a Muslim calligrapher torn apart amid the partition of Hindustan, The Book of Everlasting Things is an epic novel describing the generations of the Khan and Vij families navigating the changes of Lahore. The story contains a number of subplots including Hindustan soldiers serving in WWI, the vocations of perfumery and calligraphy, the violence and unspoken multigenerational trauma of the partition, and a few love stories. Aanchal Malhotra arguably presents the sense of smell as a character in itself through exquisite descriptions of the fragrances of flowers and spices. Also, the descriptions of life in Lahore, the events of the partition, and the work of perfumery and calligraphy were engaging. At times it felt like the plot was dragging on and the book was seeking to accomplish too much. Overall, I recommend the book and would rate it 3.5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley and Flatiron Books for the advance copy.

The Partition of India totally changed the country and this is a close look at the personal devastation that occurred. At the same time, there was wonderful information about making perfume and Islamic calligraphy. I learned alot and enjoyed every minute of this book.