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
1 comment:
First, who is the anonymous person that left the other comments? I loved the Kite Runner book. Yes the rape was gross but I don't think that people should let that stop them from reading the book. There is much more to the book than just that scene. I still haven't read the sequel though I want to. And I don't think I will watch the movie because I did enjoy the book so much. Plus there is graphic stuff when Amir goes back to Afghanistan that could be gross to see. I do love the book though. It does help you see that certain parts of the world are in need; politically, economically, socially, etc. It is sad to see how people will treat their own countrymen. I just watched an investigative show last night about child slaves-it was just depressing. I live in my own bubble a little too much.
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