The Worst Place in the World

In Anthony Bourdain's book A Cook's Tour he descrbed Cambodia as "...the worst place on earth...a dream come true for international losers-a beautiful but badly beaten woman, staked out on an anthill for every predator in the world to do with as he wishes."

When I read that, I immediately thought back to Khaled Hosseini's book The Kite Runner.

The book is not set in Cambodia at all, but the image Bourdain evokes is appropriate. Because in Hosseini's writings, what is important is not so much the story, the people, or in many regards even the country, but rather that it is 2008 and places like the one he described in his book exist.

Difficulty: 3/5 The book is easy to read word-wise, and it isn't very long. Like most authors writing a book in English set in another non-English speaking country, he does include a lot of local words, but they are usually followed with an explanation so it isn't that difficult. The only real difficulty comes with the subject matter which can be in your face and difficult to swallow. I don't want to spoil it totally, but the book does have a rape in it.

Enjoyment: 3.5/5 Certainly the book is a good read, but at times, it drags a little especially after the halfway point, and while this shouldn't be an indicator of the quality of the book, there aren't many triumphs. We get a whole lot of very depressing stuff here. Is it interesting though? Absolutely. I think anyone who reads the book will be affected by it and will probably learn a whole lot. I haven't seen the movie, but from critical reviews, it lacks the power of the book and it is certainly a powerful book.

Set in Afganistan in the seventies, the first part of the book is actually quite fascinating to someone like me and most others who know very little about that part of the world. I think we all have our preconceptions about Afganistan, especially now that our troops have been there for several years, but Hosseini shatters them in the first few chapters. The idea of Afganistan as a broken, dry, ugly landscape ruled with an iron fist by Sharia Law was simply not true for Afganistan in the early seventies. In fact, according to Hosseini's description, I got the image of a slightly less technologically advanced (say 1910ish) America. That being said, the country had its problems. There was a definite caste system in place and being a monarchy, the upper-class had many priveledges that the lower-class did not. In one part, however when the main character Amir is describing both his own country and Iran, he might as well have been talking about two completely different places from the preconceptions I had about the area.

The problems begin when the king is deposed, guerrilla fighters take over, then the Soviets come in, the the Taliban kick the soviets out, etc. etc. etc. What we see in the book is a young boy (and eventually man) coping with his native country as it goes through now almost 40 years of war. The people were repressed, different factions ruled, and for the most part, daily life is nothing more than turmoil.

The main story features Amir and his best friend Hassan (the son of Amir's servant) as they learn to cope with all of this and the guilt Amir feels as he purposefully ruins Hassan's life and then as the Soviets come in, leaves him behind in the war torn country.

The secondary story, is more of a straightforward immigration story as Amir and his father Baba, both very wealthy in Afganistan, try and succeed in America as new immigrants to the country. They have to deal with their new positions in life and try to get by with the help and support of their fellow ex-countrymen.

The book is good, I recommend it and wish there was a way I could teach it to my Sophomores because I think it would be enlightening for them and help them understand the political mess that most of the world is in. One of the drawbacks about the book is that Amir leaves and we don't get to see much of the destruction of the country to bring it to where we are now. Hosseini does address this in his next book though, which was also very good: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Want something contemporary and non-fiction?

This isn't a formal review, mostly because I haven't read it, but one is coming when I get my hands on the book. Anyway, I just watched Thomas Friedman's conference on C-SPAN for the L.A. Book Expo and his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded is coming out soon. It centers on the United States role in the "Green Movement" and how we can solve many of our geo-political problems by solving "Green Problems" instead of using force. It sounds great.

I'm not a Cook but I Watch one on T.V.

I watch a lot of television, and though I don't cook at all, I love to watch food programs. Not necessarily chefs preparing food or chefs cooking elaborate meals, but rather, chefs talking about food and culture and how food is a byproduct of the place we live. My obsession for watching programs like these led me to Anthony Bourdain both because he is a chef and a great writer.

Today we'll take a look at his first book: Kitchen Confidential

Difficulty: 2/5 The book is easy to read and a pleasure to read. Unless you get easily offended by cursing or stories about drug or alcohol abuse. He is a chef who has seen his share of hard times, mostly self-induced and as a result, there are some grisly stories in here.

Enjoyment: 5/5 As someone who loves eating out, this book is invaluable. It explains who is in the kitchen, how to act at a restaurant, what makes a good restaurant, and what goes on behind the scenes.

Mixing chapters about food with scenes from his life as a chef, the book is great in that it is both a biography and a study guide. Though he is not cooking now, we see what drew him to cooking in the first place, how he became a successful chef, and all of the bumps and bruises along the way. His biography is interesting, especially if you are a fan of his show on the Travel Channel: No Reservations. This is where I first got to know him. On the show, much like in his book, he is a lover of all things of quality, seemingly more interested in having experiences than souveniers, on an endless search for the perfect meal. The biography in the book fills in some gaps that we don't get on the T.V. show. He was addicted to several drugs, failed as a chef on numerous occasions, was a drug dealer, built up an army of cook friends and burned a lot of bridges before cleaning up his act and settling in at an up-scale restaurant.

What I like more about the book though, is what I call the "study guide" portion of the book. He teaches us all about the restaurant business, from owning your own restaurant, to cooking in the back, to serving tables, to eating out. What to do and what not to do, where to find good restaurants and what days are the best for eating out. Perhaps the most famous part of the book are his tips for when to eat out. He talks about Monday as being the worst day as you are essentially eating leftovers from the weekend. Asking for a steak well done? You're going to get the worst cut. He tells home cooks tips on how to cook like the pros, and reveals who really cooks most of the food in restaurants around the country.

I love this book and those that followed. If you enjoy eating out, pick it up, you won't be sorry. If you loved the movie Ratatouille, like I did, you may be surprised to see that many of the concepts in that movie (from the different personalities in the kitchen to the end scene with the food critic,) are inspired by this book.

On a side note, I am going to be posting a lot in the next few days, so watch out.

Currently reading: The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
Currently watching: UEFA Soccer Chamionships...Go Germany!