Het is geen slecht boek, maar na 35 boeken die zin in Afghanistan afspelen, had het voor mij nog weinig meerwaarde. ( )

this wasn't nearly as engaging as i thought it would be, but there are definitely strong elements. the beginning and the ending, in particular, are good, and there are parts that are just poetry. ("At this altitude, we are close to the stars. I bow my head, for fear of grazing them.")

i don't feel like the non-linear way the story is told benefits it at all. there didn't seem to be much reason at all to jump back and forth in time and i was looking for more consistency in the telling. there is great value, though, in the inner journey the author takes in her attempt to discover herself and her roots. reading about this, while powerful, was just less than i was hoping for. (and many of the things she does in the interests of journalism are kind of awful, and it felt exploitative to even read about them.)

"I am so often treated better than I deserve without complaining, why should I always protest when I am treated worse?" - aphorism of Sayed Muhammad Khan

"When you meddle with the foundations of society, the whole structure tumbles down. The women were the bricks at the bottom of the pile. No wonder the city [Kabul] is just a pile of rubble."

"Since new capacities come about through necessity
Therefore, O man, increase your necessity." - Rumi ( )

An interesting book. The author is a reporter, of Afghani/Scottish descent, and was raised in the UK. An early desire of hers was to return to the land that her father had told stories about, his homeland of Afghanistan. The book covers several trips, some quite harrowing, she took over the years, reporting on the events in Afghanistan. The most poignant pieces for me were seeing how the stories and myths she had been told were revealed in the cold light of day, by the brutalities of war, and seeing how her perceptions (and those of the people) of the Mujahideen shifted.

The audio version was narrated by the author herself. ( )

Non imperdibile, ma sicuramente interessante: si iscrive bene nella collezione di storie per conoscere il mondo. In questo caso un Afghanistan montano e semiselvaggio con affondi nel lessico famigliare. Forse ognuno che scrive ha nel suo bagaglio qualcuno che raccontava e, raccontando, inoculava il gusto delle storie.

"Trust in God but tie your camel." ( )