Such a fascinating book which deserves to be read more than once. I was shocked at how downtrodden the women were, but there are some patches of humour in the narrative. This is being lend amongst BookCrossers at the Chelmsford meet, as I must read this again.

RELEASE NOTES:

At the Chelmsford Bookcrossers meeting - to be initially released as part of a bookring.

The Blurb
For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned, and watched illiterate solders burn piles of his books in the street.

In spring 2002 award-winning journalist Asne Seierstad spent four months living with the bookseller and his family. As Seierstad steps back from the page and lets the Khans tell their stories, we learn of proposals and marriages, hope and fear, crime and punishment. The result is a unique portrait of a family and a country.

My thoughts on the book
The thing that really stands out to me is the terrible treatment of Afgan women. They have to do as they are told throughout their lives - daughters obey parents, wives obey husbands, sisters obey brothers. They have no say on who they marry, where they live, how many children to have, or if they are allowed to work or have any education. They cannot even shop for groceries without an escort. Although a few have cast off the burka, most of them find it easier to wear one of these movable tombs, because if they don't the disapproval on the streets is palpable. Women are still being murdered by their families for being alone with a man they are not married to.
Something else that is evident throughout the book is the poverty these people live in. The bookseller is wealthy and middle-class - his family are relatively well off, and unusual in that most of them can speak English and have had an education. But even so, there were around 10 family members living in one flat which had intermittent electricity & water. They have none of the things we take for granted to make our lives easier - No proper bathroom and no hot water, no washing machine, no oven, no fridge or freezer, although they did have enough to eat - other families were much worse off and were literally starving.
It was a very touching book, and very well written.

RELEASE NOTES:

Going off to Pakasnelly today.

Arrived today - thank you WickedLazy!!

Have no preconceptions about this book other than it has been highly recommended by some members of the Chelmsford group. I'll make sure I read it before the next meeting.

Thank you so much to BookTwitcher for this bookring - I would never have read the book without the recommendation. Very difficult to decide on a star rating though, considering the content.

Well, I started the book as an atheist and complete ignoramus as far as middle-eastern affairs are concerned. Having finished the book, I’m an even more devout atheist (and looking forward to The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, coming out in paperback) and a little more enlightened about a culture so radically different from mine that it might as well be on an alien planet. Some of the sixteen Taliban decrees pps 84-87 are almost beyond belief. The gender-related ones are no surprise, I suppose, having got this far in the book, but ‘Prohibition against Kite-flying’ - Eh???

In fact, many, many times through the book, I was reminded of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, which I read recently. (A future dystopia - a kind of 1984/ Brave New World hybrid.) Another BookCrosser said to me it was depressing, but not a patch on The Bookseller of Kabul, IMO. The author says she has rarely been as angry as when she spent time with the family – and never felt the urge to hit someone so strongly - due to the manner in which the men treated the women. I’m sure I’d have been the same if I’d been there in person. But by the end I was just very sad about the characters described, especially Leila, Aimal and the carpenter, and depressed about a country which seems determined to annihilate itself.

As far as the style goes – I never like third-person, present tense, but Seierstad does it well. There were only a couple of chapters I found tedious, or a little repetitive. And I thought I kept up with the family tree well, considering how many are included in the book – a credit to the author perhaps.

I suppose it is a ‘must-read’ book, though a very uncomfortable one for me.

The next day [Mansur] is in a bad mood and sits sulking behind the counter. The room is in semi-darkness, there is no electricity. Where the sun’s rays enter the dust dances and makes the room appear even drearier. When customers arrive and ask for books Mansur answers surlily that he has not got them, despite the fact that the book is sitting on the shelf right opposite him. He curses the fact that he is tied to his father’s bookshop, that not even Fridays are free, and that his father will not allow him to study, won’t allow him to buy a bicycle, won’t allow him to see friends. He hates the dusty tomes on the shelves. He really hates books, and has always hated them and hasn’t finished a single one since he was taken out of school

Handed back to Booktwitcher at the Chelmsford meeting last November! Only adding this journal entry to show that it's not one of my TBRs anymore :-)

Returned to me for a re-read before wild release. Passed to a non-Bookcrosser in my booktalk group.

Sent via bookmooch, haven't read it yet, will update!