Helpful Score: 2
The next time Im asked why I waste time reading non-fiction instead of books that would make me more knowledgeable about current events, I hope I remember to point out what I learned from reading this book. Up until know the bits and pieces Ive picked up about whats been going on in Afghanistan havent really sunk in very deeply. Then I picked up this book by the author of The Kite Runner and suddenly I started paying attention because Hosseini has gone beneath the surface to give readers a glimpse into what its been like for ordinary men, women and children whose lives have been impacted by the terrifying events of the last 30 years of Afghanistans history. Like his earlier book, this one left me feeling like I was living right alongside people I came to care about. Which is why it was so hard to read the horribly brutal scenes of violence especially the violence against women without feeling angry and outraged. Even though this book might lack some of the emotional intensity of his earlier one (the betrayal scene in The Kite Runner is one of the most heart-wrenching pieces of writing Ive ever come across) I think its every bit as good when it comes to depicting the complexities and depth of human relationships. But what affected me most was the staggering sense of knowing that while the book and its characters were all fictional, the world they had been invented to live in is not. Nor is the suffering and deprivation that Hosseini described. As he writes in the afterward: War, hunger, anarchy and oppression forced millions of people. . .to abandon their homes and flee Afghanistan to settle in neighboring Pakistan and Iran. . .today more than two million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan. As soon as I finished this book I went on-line to http://www.khaledhosseinifoundation.org/ , a nonprofit organization founded by the author to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afganistan by supporting projects which provide financial, educational and medical assistance to women and children. Making a paltry little donation wasnt much, but its more than I would have done had I never read this book. And that, it seems to me, is as good a justification for reading fiction as any!
Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
