Two weeks after September 11th, award-winning journalist Asne Seierstad went to Afghanistan to report on the conflict there. In the following spring she returned to live with an Afghan family for several months. For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities - be they communist or Taliban - to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned by the communists and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his ...
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Two weeks after September 11th, award-winning journalist Asne Seierstad went to Afghanistan to report on the conflict there. In the following spring she returned to live with an Afghan family for several months. For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities - be they communist or Taliban - to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned by the communists and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock in attics all over Kabul. But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and hatred of censorship, he is also a committed Muslim with strict views on family life. As an outsider, Seierstad is able to move between the private world of the women - including Khan's two wives - and the more public lives of the men. And so we learn of proposals and marriages, suppression and abuse of power, crime and punishment. The result is a gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.
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In the U.S. we hear glib references to the denial of rights to Afghan women, with the requirement to wear the burka or be accompanied by a male relative in public often cited. Asne Seierstad's intimate access to this "middle class" Afghan family shows that the denial of rights goes to the very core of individuality: women denied the right to even voice an opinion about whom they will marry (or when), whether they can go to school at all and weather they can work. Even in this family headed by an educated man, absolute male authority prevails. If the father isn't available, the eldest son decides. The relatively well-off women in this family were little more than domestic prisoners. And this portrait was drawn the first spring after the Taliban were driven from Afghanistan. I suspect conditions are vastly worse now.
Ada M
Mar 1, 2011
A learning experience
I am glad Asne wrote this book. We need to know more about the life style of families in the middle east. I am loaning to friends and suggested the book for a book club I belong to.
pamela1717
Apr 13, 2008
Informative.
Perhaps I shouldn't have read this book just on the heels of Persian Girls because it was too easy to make comparisons. Although not as well written as PG I found it very educational. I liked the juxtaposition of admiration and disgust I felt for the "Bookseller". It just illuminated how cultures are so vastly different--how someone "advanced" in one society can be seen as "backward" in another. Initially I was afraid the book would only focus on the oppression of women but I was glad to see it depicted problems the men have as well (when you aren't the eldest male of the family). Again, makes me thankful to be where I am today. May have given it 5 stars except it seemed somewhat fictionalized (my take only) compared to other non-fiction books I've read.
YellowTie
Jun 7, 2007
Awesome Book!
This is a fantastic book to read. I finished reading it in two days because I was not able to put it down, and I have recommended the book to everyone I know. It has opened my eyes to a different way of life outside the US, and it has inspired me to continue reading more books about Middle Eastern culture.
Laura
Apr 3, 2007
Just the beginning
This is an interesting book describing life inside an Afghan household. The writer has a chance to live with a family in Kabul and share everyday life with the member of the family. She writes about the challenges of being a family member in Afghanistan -- not only women but also men under the rule of a patriarch. However, the most interesting part of this book is the research to be done afterwards. The fallout after the book touches everyone -- the family and the author. As with most situations in life, there are two sides -- if not more -- to the story. It is a good lesson on the effects of the observer on the observed.
