The Bookseller of Kabul 11.30.08

I finally finished The Bookseller of Kabul, for the second time! I will be the first to say it took me way too long but that's beside the point. I remembered a lot of the book when I reread it, however this time I took it in with a deeper understanding. The entire time I was reading it, the story unfolded in such a way that it kept me hooked. Especially as I got to the last few chapters, I just couldn't put the book down because I had to know what was happening to the Khan family. Most of the characters evolved so much from the beginning of the book, and this growth was well written and explained through Seierstad's watchful eyes and ears. Although I found the ending of the book to be a bit abrupt, I think its appropriate because Seierstad was staying with a real family. It wasn't a made up story, written to have a fairytale ending. In the real world and especially in Afghanistan, fairytale endings don't exist. The story ended; Seierstad stopped observing the Khan family life. The two are linked together. The relationship that she had built up with the family is incredible and is proven by the way Seierstad represents each person so well. She is capable of making a strong connection with each person and relay it in her writing so well that one must wonder if it was all true. I think the thing that amazes me most is that while Seierstad writes about all the struggles the people of Afghanistan go through, she,a woman from a foreign country, is able to gain such respect within a Islamic family and travel and record many different experiences.

The Bookseller of Kabul 11.24. 08

So yet it again appears that in some ways the lives of the women in this book lead the better lives. Unlike Fazil, they are not experiencing such pain and question. Nor are they experiencing the pure boredom, that Aimal, Sultan's youngest son experiences daily. Like many of Sultan's sons or brothers, Aimal is forced to work in a hotel shop. Everyday for twelve hours he works or rather sits in boredom. With the lack of demand for hotels in Kabul(among many other things), the once beautiful and popular hotel is now a quiet and sleepy business trying to stay alive. Working in a shop right in the middle of the lobby of a once thriving area pains Aimal. He remembers the days of the hotel being full of tourists and American journalists, willing to pay any price for the goodies inside. It was during this time that he would dream of becoming a big shot businessman. But once the war ended, the journalists left, once again leaving Aimal in his lonely stall.
I find it interesting that Seierstad chose to introduce these two sad, young boys into the book so close to the end, but at the same time I can kind of understand why. Although the boys might both lead very difficult lives, I think they have a bit of muffled hope lying in them. I think that Seierstad included the boys in her story because they are who she discovered along her journey of writing this novel but also perhaps saw them as motivational or wished to have their story closely be told.

The Bookseller of Kabul 11.24. 08

In my most recent readings, the bad side of Sultan's personality has truly come out. Fazil, Sultan's nephew, has worked for Sultan most of his young, eleven year old life. One day however, Sultan grew tired of his nephew, who was a hard worker and needed to work for his uncle as a way to help his mother look after the family. Now living back at home in the outskirts of Kabul, he attends school but suffers quite painfully in his religion class. Despite the fact that religion is or seems like it would have to be a huge part of every Muslim's life in Afghanistan, little Fazil just can't seem to get a grip on it. Everyday he is assigned more homework about God.."God is the creator, God is eternal, God is almighty", etc. During the class he is asked similar questions.."Can God Die?, Can God talk?, Can God see?". Yet, no matter how much he studies, he just can't seem to obtain the courage to speak up and share the correct answer. His failure to comply with the teacher's requests makes him more shy and unfortunately, a victim of punishment. He is even threatened to discontinue the class if he can't learn everything. This strict demand for all, big and small to follow Islam and be completely aware is understood in such a conservative country but makes me sad to see such a young boy pressured to understand something so huge. I wonder how this will shape him as he grows, hopefully I can find out soon before the book ends, whether or not his is even still a Muslim. Did this painful and stressful time push him away from this religion?

The Bookseller of Kabul 11.17.08

Hopefully you read the post I posted just before this one because they are slightly related. But..I'm sure you can follow along anyways.

I just finished a section after Mansur has come home from his pilgrimage and everyone is at home. Leila, Bibi Gul's last child is still living at home, unmarried and is treated as the family slave. She is fed up with being treated this way and whats to leave the house when with her mother when Yunus got married. However, Yunus' engagement continues to drag on. Yunus is her only brother that doesn't treat with her with complete disrespect and expects her to kiss his feet.
Everyday Leila wakes up before the sun to start breakfast and prepares the house for the day. She works all day doing mindless chores and then stays up late into the morning cleaning up the last parts of the house and dinner. As Seierstad writes Leila story, the anger and anticipation to leave the house can be felt building up. So finally Leila lets go and secretly attends an English lesson at school without the knowlegde or permission from any of the men in the house. She uses a random village boy to escort her and is nervous but excited to attend the class. Unfortunately, when she arrives, she discovers that the class is very westernized. Few women wearing burkas and the ever more shocking...there are boys in the class! Shocked and upset by the people attending the class Leila barely sits throught the whole class and then rushes home, sharing the awful news to the fellow women in the house.

The Bookseller of Kabul 11.17.08

In response to a question I was asked...do you think the author is entirely objective in presenting the events, or do you detect some element of author response? How is she making you sympathetic with the characters and which ones?

Throughout the entire book, although Seierstad is completely immersioned in another culture and living with another family that is very inviting, she isn't able to capture the full story. The family is very interested in helping her write the book but she can only get so far into the workings of their minds. She can only write what she is told from an individual, the rest, she must interpret. Because of this simple lack of the ability to mind read, I think that Seierstad had to input part of herself in the writing because she was observing the interpreting the scenes her way. This also is what leads me to have sympathy towards certain characters and the need to know what is happening in their life throughout the entire book. I can't really say that there is one particular character that is my favorite, however my favorite parts of the book are the ones about the women in the family. A major intrest of mine is the people and culture of the Middle East, espeically Afghanistan and Pakistan. I have come to discover that the culture and way of life for the women of these countries is what really grabs my interest. The women live such different lifestyles from the one I know and also have such an unknown and hidden presense in the Muslin world and Seierstad is able to se past the burkas and bring out their true personalities.

The Booksellerof Kabul 11.10.08

As summertime approaches in Afghanistan, Sultan unexpectedly brought his first wife, Sharifa, home from Pakistan. Although he claims she is only staying for the summer, She is hopeful that she and her son will become new house members. Despite the differences between Sharifa and his younger second wife, Sonya, Sharifa's arrival brought them closer together. Having not seen or spoken to each other in over a year, they have much to catch up on. Although Sonya's stories are about city life in Kabul, Sharifa manages to still relate her stories from refugee life. Both have gossip about the weddings they attended, the dresses worn, the engagements, and which girls are unfortunately forced to marry lousy men. Sharifa tells them about Saliqa, someone they all formally knew who became quite a scandalous woman upon taking refuge in Pakistan. During the preparations for her engagement party, her husband was such a "poverty-stricken layabout" that his family wasn't able to pay for it. The engagement party is one of the most expensive and meaningful parts of a marriage. However she had no choice but to continue with the marriage because of a secret meeting they had in the park one day, that didn't remain a secret for very long. She had ruined her own reputation and would lose everything if the wedding was called off.

The Bookseller of Kabul 11.9.08

After finally getting through a large chunk of my book, I feel as if I have witnessed the growth and development of each character. This growth is especially emphasized in the chapters I just finished, in which Seierstad follows Mansur, Sultan's son, on his New Year's pilgrimage to Ali's tomb in Mazar-i-Sharif. As the new year approaches, thousands of Muslims have gathered here to ask for forgiveness of their sins and be healed to welcome the new year.
Mansur was once just a young fellow working in his father's bookstore, but very quickly matures from a young, misbehaving boy to a balanced and responsible man. His epiphany comes after becoming disgusted with himself for sinning against a child by standing quietly aside while his book selling neighbor abuses a young girl. He transforms his shame and disgrace into an incentive to go on the pilgrimage. Although Sultan doesn't allow it, Mansur believes if Ali really wants him to go, signs will be given to prove it. Low and behold, Mansur receives his signs. He is able to take the trip along with two other young men as they make the trip through mine covered mountains and dangerous villages. Once arrived in Mazar-i-Sharif, the experiences Mansur has are heart warming. He feels like a happy child, finding it difficult to control his emotions yet somehow manages, while bustling along through the holy city. He attends prayer and asks for forgiveness, but does however forget the little girl from back home. Despite his one minor mistake, he continues feeling invigorated by the city and all the food, shopping and religious aspects of the whole trip. His growth from a little boy in the bookstore to the grown man who takes the religious pilgrimage is truly amazing and he takes as much back as he can from experiences to education.