I just finished reading this book written by Khaled Hosseini. It had been on my list for a long long time. Mostly because it's title was in the test data for the application I used to work on. There it was, every time I ran the application, on top of the list. Yet its presence always dwarfed by the urgency of a bug fix or the addition of a new feature. The final push came when I spotted a girl on the bus reading a translated version. There was also talk of awards. So, naturally, I got myself a copy the same day and got down to business.
The book is about two Afghani women from different backgrounds. One a poor villager and the other an ambitious daughter of a school teacher in Kabul. How, starting out from totally different beginnings, fate brings them together to face the cruelties which had become part and parcel of life in their country. It's a story of survival, friendship and self sacrifice. At the background of the story are the upheavals in Afghanistan starting from the Soviet invasion, the Mujahideen infighting, the 'oppression' of the Taliban and finally ending with the American invasion. The author also slightly and very carefully touches the role of Pakistan(is) throughout the story which, even though I wished there was more, is pretty much alright given the focus of the story was on the lives of the main characters rather than international relations.
The description on Amazon.com claims that
"...There are parts of this book that will have grown men surreptitiously blotting the tears that are on the verge of overflowing their ducts, and by the time you get to the middle, you won't be able to put it down....". (Which I have eventually come to agree to :P).
Nevertheless, by the time you reach the middle you also realize that this book was intended to target western female readers. No surprises there.
All said, I like this novel and would definitely recommend it.
Nadeem Babar vs Shahid Khaqan – Debate on LNG
3 years ago
Don't tell me. You cried? You cry-baby, you cried? Don't tell me. :P
ReplyDeleteAnd where did the uninstalling ubuntu and rest-in-peace posts go?
I DID NOT cry. I only experienced "...tears that are on the verge of overflowing..."
ReplyDeleteEver heard of emotions, Commander Data?
Nice review. Somehow I feel bit reluctance in reading stuff that is written to gain sympathies from western world by exposing own country and people.. but after your review, I am thinking there is no harm in at least reading this..
ReplyDeleteand yeah.. million dollar question.. you cried! you did, man wish i were there with camera ;)
... Exactly, where are few last posts.. i got them on rss feed but couldnt later find here. Some sort of censor policy in place? :)
I'm telling you I did not cry. I think I should edit this post :P
ReplyDeleteCheck the main blog page. I think you should be able to see all the posts from there.
If you like this one, you should also read "The Kite Runner", if not then definitely watch the movie.
ReplyDelete..and JD is happy as now he is not the only with an unusually high EQ. You should have seen him when it was his last day.
Kite runner is third on my to-read list :)
ReplyDeleteWhat happened on JD's last day? I want to know all the high EQ stuff :P