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With American eyes and ears swarming around Afghanistan it is as much enlightening as it is inspiring to read Khaled Hosseini's books The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Raw imagery with delectable tidbits about being human surround us as we become a part of Hosseini's world. The reader will shudder in horror and laugh out loud while wondering about themselves: Would I behave similarly? What personality characteristics dwell inside me that would truly shine in times of desperation and chaos?
Khaled Hosseini was son of a Afghan Foreign Ministry diplomat in Kabul. His family were taken to Paris to flee the much anticipated Soviet occupation. They tried to return but never did due to political circumstances in his country. Instead they relocated to California where Hosseini graduated from high school then medical school. Now he is an author who passionately volunteers with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). It seems he has quite an amazing story to tell himself, which offers authenticity to his books. http://www.khaledhosseini.com/index.html
The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover are illustrated in both books, as is a rigid cast system accepted for generations. Hosseini's illustration of what it was like to live in Afghanistan pre and post war is very telling to readers.
Hosseini helps us understand what it means to be part of a cast system, differences between social economic status, and the standard of how men and women are treated in Afghanistan.
The Kite Runner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner helps us grasp how good wealthy Afghans had it in Kabul and how terrible it felt to lose power, prestige, and self identity after Kabul's occupations.
Amir, a Pashtun boy from a prestigious family, lives in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. His best friend Hassan (whom he never publicly calls friend) is the son of their servant. Ironically, the servant Ali was also best friends with Amir's father Baba. Even more ironically, both Amir and Baba betrayed their best friends ... but even so ... Hassan and Ali remained loyal.
Without holding back, Hosseini takes us on a sometimes sickening but always fantastic ride through Kabul to the streets of the United States. Taliban rule is startlingly displayed across pages that seem too small to contain all the insights and information. With compassion readers watch Amir's mighty struggle as he grows into a man.
The Kite Runner is now playing at a theater near you. Since I have not yet seen it, I cannot say what it scores or how closely it follows the book. However, this movie is on my "most want to see" movie list.
In A Thousand Splendid Suns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Splendid_Suns
(published May 22, 2007)
we follow Mariam, an ethnic Hazara Afghan, growing up in Herat. She is the illegitimate daughter of Jalil, a wealth Pashtun businessman, who loves his child but refuses to publicly acknowledge her. Afterall, he has three wives and Mariam's mother (Nana) was one of his servants.
After an arranged marriage to a much older Pashtun named Rasheed, Mariam finds herself isolated in Kabul. She lives in a middle class neighborhood and is required for the first time to wear a burka (full length traditional Muslim "dress" worn by women that covers all but a slit for the eyes).
Suddenly she fully understands why her mother constantly rattled on about a woman's burden and how hard it is to be female in some parts of Afghanistan. In the midst of this realization Kabul is occupied by the Soviets and later on the Taliban.
Our eyes are directed towards this part of our world. Many alarming situations continue to occur such as the recent assisination of Benazir Butto, the former leader of Pakistan, constant and tedious conversations with Iran, and the ever present challenge of American soldiers still in Iraq ... It seems important that we as American citizens try to gain a better understanding of what is going on *over there* and how it affects us *over here*.
Another interesting tidbit ... Let's make a pact to see Charlie Wilson's War. This too is on my movie list. Find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson's_War
"Wilson leads the effort to provide United States funds indirectly to the Afghan Mujahideen. In the process, Wilson (a Congressman) disdains the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan." Apparently he also had a "gregarious social life of women and partying" that does lend itself to making the character more believable.
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