In the wake of the Taliban's fall, Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad moves in with the titular bookseller and his family. She believes Sultan Khan is a unique, forward-thinking man—but his vision of a progressive Afghanistan doesn't seem to extend to his own family, particularly where his female relatives are concerned.
My thoughts
Every few months the plight of women in Afghanistan will appear as a brief blip in the media, usually when yet another study names Afghanistan as one of the most dangerous places in the world for those who lack a Y chromosome. Seierstad's close relationship with the Khan family and her matter-of-fact tone make this account particularly heartbreaking.
I related most to Sultan's youngest sister Leila. We are roughly the same age, but while I was at college living with four (entirely platonic) male roommates and blithely taking my education for granted, Leila felt forced to drop out of a coed English course because of the impropriety of talking with men she wasn't related to. I graduated, found a job I loved, moved halfway across the country from my family, and chose my own husband (he chose me too, just so we're clear on that); Leila struggled as her family's de facto servant while she dreamed of a teaching job that never materialized and covertly exchanged notes with a boy she could never marry.
Parts of this book are so infuriating that it's difficult to keep an open mind. Afghanistan is a backward nation in many respects, but there is hope. Now that the Taliban is gone, the potential for real reform exists. It may happen at a glacial pace, but shifting long-standing cultural institutions isn't easy.
Khan might have been a typical Afghan in his treatment of his wives and sisters, but it was his commitment to literature that drew Seierstad to him in the first place. Even though his store was ransacked and he was thrown in jail, he persisted in defying the Soviets and then the Taliban by saving books that would otherwise have been destroyed. Unfortunately, for me at least, his misogyny and his ruthlessness as a businessman overshadowed his good deeds.
Bottom Line
A must-read. It's a hugely powerful book.
Fine Print
The Bookseller of Kabul, by Åsne Seierstad
Genre: History/Current Events
Photo from Goodreads
I bought this book as a birthday present to myself. It was part of a Borders 3-for-2 promotion back when Borders was still around.
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