The Last Knot

by Shabir Ahmad Mir

In nineteenth-century Srinagar, a carpet-maker breaks from the rituals of his craft to pursue a transcendental dream – to weave a flying carpet that will deliver him from a life of subjugation. On this quest, he meets Abli Bab, a former maestro, who tells him of a fabled blue silk carpet, imbued with a mystical dye and marked by Solomon’s star. Lost to time, this legendary creation may hold the key to his freedom.

The runaway weaver, now disguised as a madman, seeks refuge in the company of a local dyer and his spirited daughter, Heemal. This serendipitous encounter leads him to uncover the secret to his dream. Under the shadow of the mythical Haer Parbat – and despite the dark prophecy that foretells his doom – the weaver begins crafting his masterpiece.

As the imperial forces close in, each warp and weft on the loom raises the stakes perilously high. When it is finally complete, will the carpet truly fly?

Steeped in Kashmiri folklore, The Last Knot is a spellbinding chronicle of defiance, love and the transformative power of art.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

138 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 12, 2025

About the author

Shabir Ahmad Mir is a writer from Kashmir. The Plague Upon Us is his first novel, which was shortlisted for JCB Prize for Literature 2021.

Reviews

[Rajlaxmi ~ sentencesiloved · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded off to 4 <3

I loved the overall story; the writing stood out as brilliant in several places. What struck me most was how well the protagonist’s character was crafted. The narrative blurs the lines between sanity and insanity so seamlessly that you’re constantly questioning where one ends and the other begins.

It captures the deep-rooted struggles of the fight against an oppressive system and the relentless search for freedom, no matter the personal cost. Through its characters, the book explores how this fight is never just external but also an internal battle that fractures identities and relationships.

Heemal’s portrayal, on the other hand, reflects the classic burdens of being a daughter and a woman in a world where only the male child matters. There’s a powerful commentary on how traditions and legacies are passed down to men, even when those men are outsiders.

As for the writing style, while I enjoy unpacking metaphors, this book felt dense with them—so much so that missing one could shift your entire understanding of the story. It’s the kind of book that demands your full attention, and while that can be challenging, it also makes the experience all the more rewarding.

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shabir Ahmad Mir’s The Last Knot is set in 19th century Srinagar, from where a tyrannical ruler reigns, his bands of ruthless soldiers terrorising the city. Here, in a karkhan where he weaves carpets, a young weaver (the narrator of the story) begins to chafe at the bit and look for freedom. His quest leads him to an old man named Abli Bab, from where the weaver gets the inspiration to weave a flying carpet that will give him the freedom he desires… The weaver ends up pretending to be a madman, and in this state, meets an old rangur (dyer) and his daughter, Heemal. Because of them, the weaver finally gets his hands on an exquisite blue dye and can begin to weave his carpet, knot after knot after knot.

The imagery here is sensational, the writing so lyrical, it was at times as if I were reading a poem. A poignant poem, a poem that brimmed with pain and despair.

And yet, there were times I couldn’t quite decide for myself what this was. Was it magical realism, was it fantasy (as seemed apparent from the folktale/legend-like stories embedded in the narrative every now and then) that just happened to be set in a time and space that is real? Or was it all allegory, a story of Kashmir as it was, as it still is?

Allegory, of course; but where does folklore and myth bisect with reality? I recognized Mir Syed Ali Hamdani and how he brought not just Islam but also arts and crafts to Kashmir. I recognized, in King Brutal, the first Dogra ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Gulab Singh (and his two brothers, who fell behind in the race to be king because of their own weaknesses); I recognized the brutal deal that was made with the British: ‘…. Once the battle was over, the victorious enemy granted the title of King to Brutal in recognition of the great help he had provided to the victors. All he needed now was a kingdom. And he got one. He purchased one from the victorious enemy for a prize of seventy-five lakh rupees, one horse, six goats and three shawls…’

I recognized, in the narrations regarding the soldiers streaming out of the fort to kill and maim, to extort money, to vandalize—accounts of the extremely self-serving nature of Gulab Singh and his cohorts. I felt the despair and desperation of the Kashmiri people under Gulab Singh, their ache to be free (to fly away, on a carpet so blue it defied description?). And I wondered, too, if Shabir Ahmad Mir meant us, his readers, to see mirrored in that despair the pain of Kashmiris living in the Valley today. I wondered if King Brutal might be reflected in those who have bought off Kashmir today, 180 years after Gulab Singh.

I don’t know. Perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree. Or perhaps, after all, that is what good literature is all about: it can work in many different ways, it can touch chords; and there is no one single interpretation that might be put to a piece of writing such as this. Perhaps The Last Knot, while so deeply rooted in Kashmir, will resonate just as deeply with others, in lands far apart and in another period, simply because it tells—so eloquently—a story of oppression and the all-consuming hunger for freedom. A story many may be able to identify with, in their own way.

I just wish there had been some sort of annotation that came with this book. An afterword, perhaps, that could point to the myths, the folklore and the history Mir has woven into his story. For me, at least, I think that might help to appreciate The Last Knot better. I suppose many readers would be happy without that, but personally, I’d have preferred it.

[Sawana (everythingsawana) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was little, my favourite colour was pink. Then came the "I hate all things girly" phase, and my favourite colour was black. Fast forward a couple of years, my favourite colours are now green and blue. The two colours that represent nature the most. My wardrobe has so much blue in it, but little did I know how difficult it is to paint a piece of cloth blue. Well, I read about the Indigo Revolt in Bengal where the farmers protested against the exploitative British indigo planters who were forcing the farmers to grow indigo by taking lands for rent. The Last Knot by Shabir Ahmad Mir is also about the colour blue and about a carpet-maker in Srinagar who wants to paint a carpet blue like Solomon's flying carpet and fly far far away. But just like the Bengali farmers, the weaver is chained to his work like a machine working day and night to satiate an authoritarian king. There is no escape from the cruel regime and it seems their destiny is pre-determined: they have to weave and dye and live and die and weave and dye. Whether the protagonist can weave a flying carpet and escape is for you to read and find out.  

Set in 19th century Kashmir, this story is overflowing with folklore that brought me closer to the history of the country. This book feels like reading a play with a touch of influence from Shakespeare and a hint of James Joyce's modernist stream-of-consciousness writing style which honestly pleased me so much. But the writing style sometimes overshadowed the plot, which is my only complaint with this book. The author did a fantastic job at shaping all the characters including the secondary ones that kept me hooked and sympathetic for everyone. It is a powerful tale of defiance and revolt written in a poetic style that left me haunted and questioning my own purpose and existence.

[Rehana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never been so dumbstruck by a book in a long while. I am really at a loss for words and I cannot believe I almost passed this book off as a regular contemporary fiction.

The Last Knot is the story of a carpet-maker who dreams of weaving a flying carpet someday to escape his fate and life of oppression. During his attempt to do so, he crosses paths with Heemal, a dye maker’s daughter who is paying the heavy price of being born a daughter to a man who needs a son to carry on their family business. Though Heemal could cure his madness and mayhem, he can’t have her for himself—not right now, not ever. Because all his life he must run—run, weave, knot and wander—to escape slavery. But what will happen when he turns his back on people who helped him for the sake of Heemal and himself?

Reading this book felt like magic, an absolutely healing experience, like a coolant gel for a sore wound. It was as if the book possessed the ability to cure what I didn’t even know I was suffering from. I was so famished for words that I finished this book in just a day. As the book started, I did not know where it was heading. But I knew I had to keep going because of its poetic and poignant prose. And as expected the ending left me speechless and devastated.

I didn’t want it to end, not so soon. I wanted the book to go on and on and on for it to heal me more and there is no way I would not have fallen for it. No other book could have done justice to a tale of love, longing, desires, tragedies, and acceptance so well.

There are so much of metaphors and mysteries hidden behind each word and I was paying full attention to every word so as not to let anything slip by accidentally. There are colours—especially blue, depths, dreams, light and knots and threads that keep digging into your soul as you let yourself slip into the world of fabrics and pigments, unknowingly. It is a well-balanced mix of folklore, tragedy, love, and mystical elements. I don’t think you should miss this book. Not for anything.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the face of it, this book is part folk tale, part magic realism. An apprentice weaver who no longer wants to weave carpets in a karkhana, but instead wants to make a magic carpet which can fly to faraway lands. As if learning to harness magic is not complicated enough, the weaver lives in a surveillance state where anyone who is not producing goods or services that earn revenue is presumed to be "stealing" from the ruler.
The book meshes together folklore, magic realism and old fashioned human emotions to show us a reality that is not always palatable. There is, for instance, a magic blue dye, which only the worthy can use, but which has the ability to turn anything that touches it blue. There is the patriarchal society where the master dyer who was himself not considered sufficiently worthy by his father rejects the utility of his daughter as anything more than someone who fetches water for his dyeing. There is the ultimate price that the weaver is expected to pay, in order to discover the truth about himself.
The tale would be beautiful in itself, but becomes even more powerful when you consider the allegories. Is this the story of Kashmir itself? A land under oppression, where people yearn for nothing more than to be free.

[Rahul Vishnoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

-A fantasy shrouded in tragedy-

Shortlisted for prestigious JCB Award for his 2021 novel ‘The Plague Upon Us’, Shabir Ahmad Mir now brings a story replete with Kashmiri folktales: ‘The Last Knot’. Based in a Kashmir of nineteenth century but also a Kashmir of stories and legends, The Last Knot brings a gore-flecked reality of a tragedy wrapped in a shiny packaging of fantasy. The intent is same, akin to that of art: to give comfort to the uncomfortable and discomfort to those cocooned in soft cushions of privilege. Kashmir and its inhabitants are struggling and The Last Knot doesn’t let you forget that.

Use of a Fort and a Carpet Weaver as symbolism

Ahmad Mir skilfully words his story, without using any words that may be deemed ‘risky’ in the current political climate. To a reader with an eye of imagery, everything can be compared to the tense of now and present. So, there is a fort atop a hill (Haer Parbat: there is a beautiful tale that the author recounts in the book) that sees everything and controls everything, including the weavers that weave carpets. Even a knot here and there and they shall know. Know and object and imprison and torture and what not. The fort stands for everything tyrannical and imperial. It stands for chains, the restraints and a hand clapped tightly shut over the mouth of the oppressed. But the ones with unrest in their mind shall always find a way to look for the just. To look for the freedom and a chance to escape.
Ahmad Mir writes: ‘The master sings, the apprentices obey and this duet on the loom continues in mellifluous monotony and agonizing repetition for months, if not years; each day adding just a barely perceptible but excruciating layer of colour and shape on the loom, as if one were measuring out the void of eternity in handfuls...’
The master stands in soft assistant to the fort. Where the fort cannot be, the master is. When the protagonist ends up making a carpet that lies limp like a corpse, he is filled with apathy and revulsion for following the pattern and singing to the tune. He wishes to break the tune and weave a carpet that would fly. Abli Bab, a has-been carpet weaver who lives in a cave right under the nose of the controlling fort, tells him about a blue carpet enriched with a fabled blue dye and marked by Solomon’s star. This carpet, now lost to time, could be a key to our protagonist’s freedom.

The dyer, the daughter and the weaver

The protagonist runs away and under the cloak of madness, starts living near the house of a dyer. His daughter Heemal, on a detour to fetch water for his controlling father (control makes appearance again, this time in guise of family,) ends up losing her earthen pot. The protagonist, to cement his madness, spits in her face. The dyer, to compensate for the loss of pots, takes him as apprentice. He soon shifts into the house and learns the secrets of dyeing.
Heemal, the dyer’s feisty daughter, has locked horns with her father. She, in no unsubtle words, shares with the weaver that her father could be inadequate at the business of dyeing and understanding the dyes. She says: ‘A dye, any dye, is an impurity forced upon the fibre. Our ancestors knew that, as any dyer worth his salt would. The yarn must be pure before we make it impure. That is as good a lesson as any. Lesson, mind you, not some vulgar joke. You see, only that yarn which is pure will put on a colour you want it to, Otherwise, the impurity within resists the impurity forced upon it and the result is only as good as anybody's guess.’

The magical prose of The Last Knot

The book is teeming with words and phrases indigenous to Kashmiri. The author patiently explains us the meaning of each word, without making his book look like a dictionary. Not even once did I feel I was reading a word I didn’t know about.
The prose is honeyed and yet it brings a discomfort that’s the demand of the story and its nature. He writes: ‘animosity is the dowry of secrets.’
My favourite quote is: ‘Do I really have a choice in all this? Did I choose to suffer like this? Can I choose anything else but an end to this suffering? Can anyone ever choose anything but an end to their suffering? The choice, if any, is already made; it always is.’
Steeped in Kashmiri folklore, The Last Knot is a story that sings.

[Khubaibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a thrill to be the first person to rate a book, that too 5 stars, that too a book that, like the bronze box bearing the star from the sigil of Solomon, carries mysteries within it, that too by using my thumbs to weave this review, knot by knot. Knots of words.

It is a book so poetic that like all poems it has to be read again and again until either one loses the mind or learns it by heart, in the rhythm of a taalim.

I will go back and gather all the beautiful quotes from this book and share them here with you.

And I will be back with a better, more comprehensive review soon as I feel that a void is still left that needs to be filled.

[Naveed Qazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shabir Ahmad Mir’s new work, “The Last Knot”, is a bold experiment in Kashmiri fiction. It fuses folklore, history, and allegory to create a narrative that feels both timeless and urgently relevant. Set in nineteenth-century Kashmir under Dogra rule, the novel follows a carpet-weaver who dreams of crafting a flying carpet, which is not merely an object of fantasy but a symbol of freedom, transcendence, and resistance to the harsh realities of his world.
Mir’s prose is rich and atmospheric, turning the landscape into something almost animate. In its universe, the fort at Haer Parbat looms like a vulture, the lake mirrors the sky with uncanny stillness, and the mountains seem to watch the unfolding human drama. These descriptions are not decorative but thematic, underscoring the weight of history pressing down on the characters. The writing invites readers to slow down and absorb every texture, immersing themselves in the rough weave of the carpet, the cold stone of the fortress, and the quiet dread that runs through the streets.
The narrative structure reflects the weaver’s loom: threads intersect, repeat, and form intricate patterns. Mir does not tell the story in a straight line. Time bends and folds, myth and reality blur. Encounters with figures like Abli Bab, the dyer, and Heemal are presented as fragments of a larger pattern, leaving readers to stitch them together. This non-linearity can be demanding, but it creates a sense of inevitability, as though the characters are caught in a cycle larger than themselves.
At its core, the novel is about aspiration under constraint. The weaver’s dream of a flying carpet becomes a metaphor for imagining freedom when one’s life is tightly controlled. Every step toward the carpet’s completion feels like an act of defiance, an attempt to break away from patterns imposed by craft masters and rulers. Whether the carpet flies or not becomes secondary, but the act of dreaming is itself transformative.
Mir resists easy resolutions. The ending remains open, denying the reader a neat conclusion. This refusal is deliberate – the “knot” of the title remains partly tied, echoing the unresolved nature of Kashmir’s own history. For some readers, this ambiguity will be part of the novel’s appeal; for others, it may be frustrating. Characters often speak through silence, and their motivations are left suggestive rather than explicit.
This turn toward myth and allegory represents an important development in Kashmiri fiction. Much of the region’s modern writing has been grounded in social realist narratives. The Last Knot offers something different. However, the story remains loyal to a reimagining of history through an oral tradition, where legend becomes a way to process collective memory. Mir’s approach does not romanticise the past but reframes it. It gives a fresh voice to the longings of ordinary people.
The novel also places Kashmiri literature in conversation with global traditions of mythic realism and allegorical fiction. Yet Mir’s work remains rooted in the Kashmiri idiom, drawing on local storytelling rhythms and cultural motifs. The result feels neither borrowed nor derivative but a distinctly regional innovation. Thus, the book is a sign of a literature stretching into new territory.
If the book has a weakness, it lies in its density. The symbolic weight can feel heavy, and the non-linear form may disorient those seeking a more conventional story. But Mir seems to embrace this difficulty, turning the reading experience itself into a kind of untying, meticulous, and ultimately rewarding.
“The Last Knot” by Shabir Ahmad Mir is an intriguing novel that gives myths and memory equal footing with real history, thereby exploring the magical in fiction.

[Fictionandme · Rating 4 out of 5]

the last knot by shabir ahmad mir

genre : literary fiction

My 💭:
[7/6/25 6.19 PM]

Have you ever read a book that brought you so much peace to your soul that you fell asleep after finishing it? This is the second time I'm experiencing this in my life and I must say, it feels kinda heavenly to be able to experience such bliss! ✨

Ah so now, with my rejuvenated brain, I'm penning my thoughts. Tbh I don't feel qualified or experienced enough to write a 'review' for this book, so please consider these my thoughts evoked by my reading experience, brought forth by this book.

As the blurb says, the story is about a weaver from Srinagar trying to escape the authoritarian rule of his land and his life using a magic flying carpet he dreams to weave. His journey takes him across a thumbless aged weaver whom he later betrays for his own freedom and into unexpectedly discovering love for Heemal, the daughter of a dyer who gives him refuge. Heemal, a spirited fiery woman, has her own tale to tell, but in a men's world, who's there to listen to her wisdom and words without letting her perish? And it all culminates into something unexpected.

Yes, you read it right - this story is full of allegories and deep introspective lessons. Again, these are all my interpretations, which might differ vastly from yours. Basically, reading this book felt like reading a poetry, which holds different meanings to each set of eyes. So, when I just finished chapter 2, I was dumbfounded to see the book raising a question at me that has been kinda the theme of my life. Or maybe it is the same for everyone - us always dreaming of something grand to whisk us away from the nightmare that is our life and take us to a paradise. We put all our dreams and hopes and obsessions into that something - the magic carpet in this case. But life always always has some other plans for us, maybe something even grander? So, of course, the journey brings us across something unexpected, at the right moment - a serendipity, a bliss, a heaven - the colour "blue" - something not to chase for, but to nurture only. Somehow, after this, in our oblivion, our story shifts its focus and slowly, gradually, we realise that it is the journey we are enjoying more than the distant fictitious dream of the "magic carpet". So, in the end, even the dark allure of "the last knot" of the perfect weave could not hold the character's obsession, he let go and finally understood who was tied to whom.

Ahhh this feeling inside which I'm rn, it's beautiful! The clarity! So many knots untied in my weave, all thanks to the beautiful lyrical words of this book. Honestly, this life would have been a cold dark room without books like this, bringing in a ray of sunlight through the door's edge, creeping some warmth into my soul. Oh I'm definitely going to read it again after few years - who knows what answers it might bring me then!

[Kanwarpal Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story take back us In 19th century Srinagar, a carpet weaver breaks from the rituals of his craft to pursue his fantasy dream to weave a flying carpet that will release him from a life of subjugation. Everybody think he is mad and dream of freedom is superficial in order to save him, his parents painted him with colour and declared him mad and let him out of Kingdom so that his life can change.

He went out on this quest, he meets Abli Bab, a former maestro, who tells him of a fabled blue silk carpet, imbued with a mystical dye and marked by Solomon’s star. Lost to time, this legendary creation may hold the key to his freedom, if he can find it and use is for the good purpose.

The story of colour dyers and how blue colour is the toughest to dye.The runaway weaver, now disguised as a madman, seeks refuge in the company of a local dyer and his spirited daughter, Heemal. She was considered doom because dyers need heirs to run the family business thats how Local dyer history is repeating how his forefathers came to this business by taking refuge and married a widow whose husband family business was of dyers and the art of dyeing blue is passed on as legacy in the family and how Heemal father failed to learn or say his father didn't get time to make him learn that art of dyeing blue legacy .

This fortuitous encounter leads him to uncover the secret to his dream. Under the shadow of the mythical Haer Parbat and despite the dark prophecy that foretells his doom , the weaver begins crafting his masterpiece. Although he didn't get his fantasy fulfilled but Heemal father want her away from this business and time came she is forced into prostitution. On return of his conquest he take her back to her place and try to revive old Heemal who he fall in love with and take her out of hellhole.

Steeped in Kashmiri folklore, The Last Knot is a spellbinding chronicle of defiance, love and the transformative power of art in ones life especially who want excel or want to explore new things in art form.

[Khushi Yadav · Rating 5 out of 5]

_Because there is always a knot left to be tied. There is always a knot after a knot after a knot. And as long as there is a knot to be tied, the void will remain._

_The Last Knot_ by Shabir Ahmad Mir portrays the constant and endless pursuit of an artist to refine his art. The novel explores the themes of exhaustion, anxieties, insecurities and dilemmas that accompany an artist in every step of his journey of creating an art that would satisfy his sanity and hunger to create. The text is laden with metaphors which constantly motivate you to scrutinize every word, every incident, every character.
The novel ends with a scream that cannot find a voice and thus streams down as tears.
Aching, itching, devastating and unsettling.

I forgot to mention...

The book also talks about the self-sacrificial nature of an artist. The whole idea of how an artist self anhiliates to achieve the satisfaction of the magnificent work of art that he aims to produce. It also delves into the idea of insanity and madness that an artist succumbs to in order to produce a higher degree of his art. This ,however, is never achieved, not because of the lack of skill or talent but the endless dissatisfaction of one's own abilities.

This book will grow heavier with each thought that you'll have about it.

[Priyanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘭𝘺."

A lyrical world of imagination, indigo air transcending to find the sculpture who is lost in animosity of hope.

It's a story of a weaver in Kashmir in the 19th century who dreamed of crossing the boundaries and weaving a carpet that would transcend him beyond their reach.

On conquest of his creation, he encounters Ablibab, a former Maestro, who tells him about the blue silk carpet and a mystical blue dye marked by Soloman star lost in time in encompassing answers to his dreams.

The Last Knot is a metaphorical blend of myth, history and engraved emotions buried in the heart.A conquest of freedom, an illusion or a victory is still mystical.

The writing is lyrical prose embedded with rhetorical prompt etching its own subjective footnote. The character strongly portrays the societal pressure to fit in a flask, a mold designed to exist but with the mind of others.

Heemel's character elicits the nuance of being a daughter and her life, a semblance of burden, where only male voice is heard and hers is just the disturbance in the background.

A story all about freedom from boundaries, rules, obligations and a pure love which sustained the harsh reality.An experience beyond folklore and a visionary journey on carpet you weave together.

"𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮? 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦."

[Ambica Gulati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set against the backdrop of 19th-century Srinagar, the book meanders through the life of a runaway weaver who lives in an authoritarian kingdom, where the state owns and controls everything. Layered with myths, fables, legacies, fates, secrets, love and betrayal, this book is about a dream, a dream to fly over the mountains, a dream to break the shackles of cruel forces.

His phrases turn the tides of time, ‘memories of the future’, ‘Dreams of the dark depths of despair. The despair of the dark depths of dreams. The depth of dark despair of dreams…’ The interplay of words evokes the inner turmoil, the knots that overthinking creates and the hopelessness at being unable to find a method to undo the knots. The last knot seals the weaver’s fate.

The story will stay with you for a long time because you need to process and decipher it in your head. Maybe, you’ll read it again. The book’s beautiful cover and the author’s intricate web of existential ideas, such as the weaver’s search for meaning and struggle against fate, conveyed through stream of consciousness, result in a ruminative narrative.

[Sheetal Bahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 80%. No idea what the duck this is all about. It's certainly not the plot outlined in the blurb (which is what drew me to this book) because that gets done and dusted in the first 40% of the book, and even there it doesn't feel like the primary story. The rest of the book feels like fragments from some twilight zone world. I hear that this book is really about longing for life and freedom, but then I missed all the metaphors. 2-stars only for the occasional glimpses of linguistic brilliance.

[swati {swatislibrary} ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i picked up the last knot thinking it would be a straightforward story about resistance, but it turned out to be something much deeper. it’s about a carpet weaver in 19th-century kashmir who becomes obsessed with weaving a flying carpet. what starts as a dream slowly unravels into madness, and the line between reality and delusion becomes so thin that you’re left questioning everything alongside him.

heemal’s character stayed with me. she’s a dyer’s daughter who carries the silent burden of being born a girl in a place where only sons matter. her life is full of small, quiet sacrifices that speak volumes about the world she’s trapped in.

the writing itself is dense with metaphors. knots in carpets, hair, water, light all reflecting how tangled the characters’ lives are. sometimes it felt like missing even one metaphor would change how i understood the entire story. but that’s also what makes it powerful. it demands your attention and keeps pulling you deeper.

what really hit me was how the book talks about art. the weaver’s obsession felt so real: the way artists push themselves towards self-destruction, convinced that sacrificing their sanity will help them create something magnificent. and yet, that satisfaction never really comes.

if i had one wish for this book, it would be for a clearer structure. the looseness of the plot sometimes made it feel like wandering through a fog - beautiful, yes, but disorienting. a stronger narrative framework would’ve made the reading experience even more impactful for me.

there’s no neat ending here, no clean escape or resolution. but i liked it nonetheless. 3.5 🌟

[Kalpana Misra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical prose and a deeply political book about Kashmir with the carpet makers as metaphors for the oppressed. The people were oppressed by a variety of rulers but it seems this particular fiendish regime was a veiled reference to the Dogras.
I thoroughly enjoyed this slim volume of a magical if tragic tale.

[Prriyankaa Singh | the.bookish.epicure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freedom in Kashmir is a deeply subjective idea. It is a land where aspirations for self-determination meet the realities of geopolitics and where the meaning of freedom continues to evolve with time.

For centuries, Kashmir has struggled for autonomy and independence, and the question of freedom remains deeply personal and political at the same time.

Shabir Ahmad Mir's The Last Knot is a gracefully woven tapestry that blends myth, history, and the yearning for freedom beyond confines of artistic ambition and resistance. Set in 19th-century Srinagar, we follow a young carpet-maker whose dream of weaving a flying carpet is as much a metaphor for freedom as it is a literal aspiration.

Mir's prose is poetry and meditation, inviting one to dip into a world where art isn’t just creation but an act of defiance. Through a stream-of-consciousness style, Mir leads us down tunnels where overthinking can tie a mind into knots, mirroring the intricacy of the carpets the protagonist weaves.

What makes The Last Knot particularly compelling is its ability to evoke a sense of timelessness; drawing from Kashmiri folklore while addressing universal themes of autonomy, fate, and the limits of human endeavor.

Masked masked as a simple tale , The Last Knot has a far deeper meaning for those who care to seek it. It makes you question if true freedom can be achieved or if it's just an elusive dream, forever remaining beyond grasp.

The Last Knot is a beautiful piece of art that captivates, mesmerizes, and challenges you at the same time.

[M Firaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is a tour de force

[Alisha]

//The only thing worse than being a cowardly sardar is being a sardar rumoured to be hiding his cowardice//

Is it possible for a book to be weirdly fascinating? Because this one was.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story set in Srinagar of 19th Century about a carpet weaver. A well-written book.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

i always love when stories end with a thought-provoking, and philosophical story that makes us introspect for 15 minutes after the book is over.