For the first meeting of 2010, WIGZ Book Club gathered in Yerseke.
We had read The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad, a Norwegian journalist.
Seierstad had been invited to stay with the Bookseller and his extended family in their war damaged Soviet built apartment in Kabul. She stayed for a number of months observing the family and their lives both in the apartment and outside in a post Taliban Kabul.
The result is this book which is told as a series of accounts through the various family members, we learn nothing of Seierstad herself.
There is an overwhelming temptation whilst reading this book to make comparisons between the Afghanistan way of life and that of our own in the West. Women appear to lead a miserable existence, their days dominated by domestic chores and a multitude of restrictions, some of which are perpetuated by the women themselves, although men are portrayed as the dominant sex and women seem to be terribly oppressed. Poverty dominates and there are scarcities of food, clothing, and reasonable accommodation. Education is not compulsory.
Yet the book is not as depressing as it probably should be, the characters are skillfully described and some are even engaging, certainly they inspired a lot of sympathy from our group.
After the book had been published and widely sold, The Bookseller of the title decided to sue Seierstad saying that she had abused his hospitality by defaming him and that she had not made enough effort to fully disguise his identity. In doing so he revealed his true name to the world’s press and can be googled for his own version of events.
Discussion was led by the following questions:
Was she right to publish the book knowing that the main characters could easily be identified?
We thought that the book was a surprising best seller and that its popularity hadn’t been anticipated by her hosts.
Seierstad, a woman journalist was, although a guest, not part of the household and therefore not duty bound to Sultan Khan, who doesn’t perceive himself to be the controlling patriarch portrayed in the book.
He has written and published his own autobiographical book.
Could any of the family members done anything to help themselves?
There is very little chance to escape Kabul. Women, although freer than they were under the Taliban regime, are still very restricted by strongly enforced moral codes. Independence for them is virtually impossible.
Did the book help you to understand Afghan society?
The book made us want to learn more, we all knew something of the country’s troubled history from books like The Kite Runner but it would be interesting to read other books about Afghanistan.
Do you think Khan was justified in taking a second wife?
Khan’s money bought him what he wanted, in this case it was a younger model. We sympathized with the plight of the older first wife who was forced to be a spectator to her own degradation.
We awarded the book 3½/5
We would recommend it to others.
If you have read the book and would like to express your opinions on any of the above points, or any other aspect of the book, please post your comments below.
We’d love to hear from you.
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