Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Review: The Bookseller of Kabul

I'd been avoiding reading The Bookseller of Kabul, by Asne Sierstad. Though I'd heard good things about it, there are no happy stories written about Afghanistan, and frankly I see enough grief there not to want to engage in it during my leisure time. But when I picked up the book, I had a hard time putting it down.

A Norwegian journalist spent three months living with an Afghan family. She had initially befriended the patriarch, a wealthy and relatively well-educated Afghan bookseller who espoused women's rights and a host of other liberal ideas. But when she spent time in his home, she discovered that what he preached and what he practiced were two very different things. The book might better be titled "The Bookseller's Wives," because the family drama portrayed puts Dallas and Dynasty to shame. It's a great book, and the scenes it portrays feel very "real" to me.

The infuriated bookseller is now suing Sierstad over defamation of character, but after reading the book, I feel little sympathy for the man. And knowing what I do about Afghanistan, I believe Sierstad's portrayal is spot on.

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