“For far too long, Afghan women have been faceless and voiceless. Until now. With The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi gives face and voic...
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reviews
Oct 13, 2011
Friederike
rated it: 
This is an extraordinarily powerful novella, despite being compressed on some 120 pages. The story is both personal, even intimate, and wide-reaching in substance and relevance. At the centre of all comings and goings is one room where a woman attends to her wounded husband...
In a language that is at the same time simple, spare and compressed, yet often poetic, Rahimi evokes the atmosphere in the room and slowly, in sensitively conveyed step, the reader learns to understand the hard More...
In a language that is at the same time simple, spare and compressed, yet often poetic, Rahimi evokes the atmosphere in the room and slowly, in sensitively conveyed step, the reader learns to understand the hard More...
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Aug 28, 2010
Eileen
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I thought that this book would be great - it had a fascinating premise, as a living version of the sang e saboor. Unfortunately, the reality just didn't hit the mark.
It was too short, not deep enough, and unrelateable - I think because of the way it was written. It was almost like a very long poem that didn't rhyme or follow any rhythm, if that makes sense.
The story is told from a third party perspective, and the entire story takes place in a room - and you only read abou More...
It was too short, not deep enough, and unrelateable - I think because of the way it was written. It was almost like a very long poem that didn't rhyme or follow any rhythm, if that makes sense.
The story is told from a third party perspective, and the entire story takes place in a room - and you only read abou More...
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Jul 10, 2011
Hiba
rated it:
Beautifully written but a lot of violence and crude words are not always necessary to make a point.
Winner of the prestigious Goncourt Prize in France, an Afghani writer with an introduction by Khalid Hosseini - I was thrilled to start reading and managed to finish it in one evening.
This short novel is incredibly deep in the psychological and social exploration of a "typical" afghani woman, whose husband, a Jihad warrior, has been injured. As he lays there in th More...
Winner of the prestigious Goncourt Prize in France, an Afghani writer with an introduction by Khalid Hosseini - I was thrilled to start reading and managed to finish it in one evening.
This short novel is incredibly deep in the psychological and social exploration of a "typical" afghani woman, whose husband, a Jihad warrior, has been injured. As he lays there in th More...
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Oct 27, 2011
Ismail
rated it: 
First off, this is one tight book. The translator, Polly McLean, pulled a Hemingway with this one. Every sentence is accounted for and ever word conveyed a specific mood, feeling and image. Kudos to a flawless prose!
Now to the story itself.
This short story (136 pages) is about a woman caring for her immobile, stricken husband as she recounts her dark thoughts and secrets to him. The entire story takes place in the room where the husband lies bed-bound, which makes it a grea More...
Now to the story itself.
This short story (136 pages) is about a woman caring for her immobile, stricken husband as she recounts her dark thoughts and secrets to him. The entire story takes place in the room where the husband lies bed-bound, which makes it a grea More...
Aug 05, 2011
J.
rated it:
Novela corta, muy corta, que se lee casi de un tirón. Aunque creo que el autor lo ha hecho bastante bien, escribiendo desde la ventana de la habitación, manteniendo las distancias, y consiguiendo fundamentalmente crear una atmósfera adecuada, a mi, personalmente, la historia no me ha llegado. Y no porque no tenga todos los ingredientes para hacerlo, que seguramente los tiene porque lo que nos cuenta es muy crudo y muy duro, y está muy bien contado..., pero a mi me ha quedado como algo lejano.
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Oct 27, 2010
Denise
rated it: 
The Patience Stone, also called Syngue Sabour, is said to absorb the grief of people who confess to it. This concept is used as a strong metaphor in this brief but powerful story. A woman sits vigil over her comatose husband. He was injured in Afghanistan fighting in a jihad. As she waits, often hiding from marauding soldiers, seeking shelter from bombs, and vaguely caring for her young daughter, she talks to her husband.
This one-sided conversation is the heart of the book. She is a More...
This one-sided conversation is the heart of the book. She is a More...
Jun 16, 2010
Maryan
rated it:
Atiq Rahimi cast a forceful spell with this extraordinary and powerful book and enchanted me for a day refusing to answer the phone until I breathed in the last page.
Rahimi, an Afghanistan refugee who fled to France in 1984, has poignantly taken the voiceless millions of Afghani woman and with spare and poetic prose written a deeply moving novella.
The scene is confined to a room with a nameless woman and her husband who has been shot and lies mute and paralysed while she cares for More...
Rahimi, an Afghanistan refugee who fled to France in 1984, has poignantly taken the voiceless millions of Afghani woman and with spare and poetic prose written a deeply moving novella.
The scene is confined to a room with a nameless woman and her husband who has been shot and lies mute and paralysed while she cares for More...
Dec 19, 2011
Jeanette
rated it:
This is a short but powerful novel, well-deserving of the 2008 Prix Goncourt.
Through the revelations of one nameless woman's secrets, Atiq Rahimi speaks for Afghan women down through the ages, silenced and negated by religion and tribalism. As you read, you may be struck with wonder that the author is a man.
The legend of the patience stone, the sang-e saboor, says that if you bare your soul to this magical stone, it will eventually shatter. When it does, you will be released More...
Through the revelations of one nameless woman's secrets, Atiq Rahimi speaks for Afghan women down through the ages, silenced and negated by religion and tribalism. As you read, you may be struck with wonder that the author is a man.
The legend of the patience stone, the sang-e saboor, says that if you bare your soul to this magical stone, it will eventually shatter. When it does, you will be released More...
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Jun 05, 2010
Gloria
rated it:
I expected more. The introduction by one of my fave authors, Khalid Hosseini, in his own eloquent style, was promising. I was excited to start it, and it kept my interest for the most part, but found the ending unsatisfactory for my taste. I have an advanced readers copy (ARC paperback size: 7-1/2" x 5"), provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes, not for re-sale, but if anyone wants to trade this, I would be interested in hearing from you.
mzglorybe@gmail.com
mzglorybe@gmail.com
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May 29, 2011
Mohd Nazmi
rated it: 
SAYA hampir pasti pengarang The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi pernah membaca Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan sebelum menulis novel keduanya itu. Watak wanita yang tak pernah diberikan namanya itu seolah-olah Jeha yang berbangsa Afghan yang terpaksa mengunyah derita selepas suami mereka ditimpa tragedi.
Hanya saja saya disedarkan tema yang diungkapkan Shahnon Ahmad dalam Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan adalah bersifat sejagat. Boleh berlaku di Banggul Derdap di kawasan pertanian, juga tak mustahil menjalar More...
Hanya saja saya disedarkan tema yang diungkapkan Shahnon Ahmad dalam Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan adalah bersifat sejagat. Boleh berlaku di Banggul Derdap di kawasan pertanian, juga tak mustahil menjalar More...
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May 25, 2010
Tina DC
rated it:
"The Patience Stone" by Atiq Rahimi is an impressive novel that gives us a peak into Afghani culture. The story is unique in that it's told from the viewpoint of the room around which all the action happens. The characters aren't named, only called the man and the woman, but yet the reader feels an affinity to them both.
In Afghanistan, a woman takes care of her patriot husband, who is wounded and unable to move. War is going on around them and everyone else she could dep More...
In Afghanistan, a woman takes care of her patriot husband, who is wounded and unable to move. War is going on around them and everyone else she could dep More...
Jun 01, 2011
Nadine
rated it:
I wasn't overly fond of the style - it read a little bit like a screenplay; very descriptive, impersonal. We're reliant entirely on our interpretation of what is seen and overheard (the woman speaks to her husband as he lies in a coma). I also struggled at times with the authenticity of the woman's character - would she really have used such harsh words in describing sexual acts? And that's not to say I was affronted by those passages - I think the honesty was beautiful albeit painful; but I
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Nov 07, 2010
Pbwritr
rated it:
A very slender book. The book jacket pretty well foreshadows what the ending will be, so it was a bit anticlimactic. Nevertheless, a woman is viewed as taking care of her wounded Taliban husband (or a soldier, maybe fought against the war, but I think he was Taliban). Everything takes place in the room. He's in a vegetative state and she begins confessing all sorts of things, ending with that their daughters were not his because he was infertile and her mother-in-law forced her to have sex with
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Feb 24, 2010
Robin
rated it:
*very strong language in many places; contains sex and violence*
I would not recommend this book to anyone unless I knew them well. There are some things that many would find offensive. They did go a little too far for my comfort, but I found myself asking how much could be taken out and still have the story told properly.
It is a heavy story.
I enjoyed the way the story was told. I think the pace and tone represented well the experience of the abused. The au More...
I would not recommend this book to anyone unless I knew them well. There are some things that many would find offensive. They did go a little too far for my comfort, but I found myself asking how much could be taken out and still have the story told properly.
It is a heavy story.
I enjoyed the way the story was told. I think the pace and tone represented well the experience of the abused. The au More...
Feb 06, 2010
Tim
rated it:
This is the best book I have seen in a very long time.
You rarely see a book like this, particularly in the modal literature about Afghanistan. War is but the chorus to this tragedy. Revenge and possession are deployed as redemptive powers. Rahimi takes a Persian myth – the Sang-e Saboor – and uses its ‘vessel’ component to invert a gender power hierarchy with such violent simplicity that the themes weave themselves.
Briefly: a woman in war-torn Afghanistan finds herself al More...
You rarely see a book like this, particularly in the modal literature about Afghanistan. War is but the chorus to this tragedy. Revenge and possession are deployed as redemptive powers. Rahimi takes a Persian myth – the Sang-e Saboor – and uses its ‘vessel’ component to invert a gender power hierarchy with such violent simplicity that the themes weave themselves.
Briefly: a woman in war-torn Afghanistan finds herself al More...
Jul 17, 2011
Theresa
rated it:
This very short book would have been a definite four star read if the ending had not been so mystical. I found it in the course of searching for any new writing by the author of The Kite Runner. (He wrote the introduction to this selection.) It is the story of a Muslim woman, probably in Afghanistan, who is tending her comatose husband who is suffering from a bullet wound received as a jihad fighter. She is in their home in a deserted village and surrounded by fighting. Even though there is n
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Feb 06, 2010
Wanda
rated it:
A good book; but, a hard read. This book is the well-written tale of a young woman (in a warn-torn area - maybe Afghanistan) who administers the day-to-day care to her mortally wounded husband. How he survives his wound (bullet to the neck) is beyond me; but, survive he does. Eventually, because this poor young woman has no one to provide emotional and/or mental support to her, she slowly cracks and it is under this intense emotional pressure that her story comes through to us.
I More...
I More...
Dec 25, 2011
Saritha
rated it:
Very sparse, very effective writing. An unnamed woman is tending to her injured husband in a room in Aghanistan. He has a bullet in his neck and does not respond to anything she says, so, as her mind begins to unravel, she reveals her secrets to him.
I loved the way the story is confined to that little room and it travels out only through her narrated memories. Also loved the interplay between the violence evoked by his static state and her memories in the room and the sounds of a no More...
I loved the way the story is confined to that little room and it travels out only through her narrated memories. Also loved the interplay between the violence evoked by his static state and her memories in the room and the sounds of a no More...
Aug 04, 2010
Lavinie
rated it:
Prix Goncourt 2008. Of course I wanted to read that, for a long time actually, but couldn't get it in any bookshop until yesterday.
This short novel (a little more than 100 pages) is incredibly deep in the psychological and and social exploration of a an afghani woman, whose husband, a Djihad warrior, has been injured. As he is laying, unconscious, she tells him all the deepest secrets of her life, revealing the condition of women in a strict muslim society, finding a purpose of this sick More...
This short novel (a little more than 100 pages) is incredibly deep in the psychological and and social exploration of a an afghani woman, whose husband, a Djihad warrior, has been injured. As he is laying, unconscious, she tells him all the deepest secrets of her life, revealing the condition of women in a strict muslim society, finding a purpose of this sick More...
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May 30, 2011
LaDawn
rated it:
It is difficult to say how much or how little I liked (or didn't) this book. I still feel very conflicted about my rating and would hesitate to recommend this to anyone.
But the book has stuck with me. This might be because I am not entirely sure what the book is about. I have read and reread the ending and I'm still not sure what happened. My book group discussed the ending repeatedly and we came up with several different scenarios none of them very plausible.
All po More...
But the book has stuck with me. This might be because I am not entirely sure what the book is about. I have read and reread the ending and I'm still not sure what happened. My book group discussed the ending repeatedly and we came up with several different scenarios none of them very plausible.
All po More...
Dec 25, 2010
Ryan
rated it:
The presentation of this story feels like reading a play--a room in an unnamed town in Afghanistan is the stage setting, a woman and a man the main characters. The man has been wounded in a macho fight (ironic, here, as he has been a freedom fighter for most of his adult life) and now lays in a coma, his wife attending. She cares for him and her children while fighting disrupts the life of the town around them. She begins to talk, to tell him things she never could when he was aware. She reveals
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Jul 23, 2010
Erin
rated it:
I've read a lot of books about Afghanistan and this is one of the most haunting. It took me a couple hours to digest the last few pages. I found his style of writing difficult, but in a way it beautifully captured the choppy nature of a difficult conversation which is essentially what the book is. I heard about it after a reading where Rahimi spoke about the book and read passages from it - the story of how this book came about is heart-wrenching and made each of the pages that much more real
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Sep 10, 2010
Enrique
rated it:
Lo primero que paso por mi cabeza al ver la portada del libro fue el pensar en otra historia acerca de los maltratos e injusticias de las mujeres en Afganistán, lo cual es un tema peligroso pues el lector ya sabe lo que espera y al tratarse de una novela, corre el riesgo de caer en los clichés; La piedra de la paciencia no pudo escapar de la tentación de contar una historia bien sabida y caer en los estereotipos. El autor se respalda en la represión sexual y emotiva de una mujer afgana quien cui
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Jun 26, 2010
Kokeshi
rated it:
A brilliant novel. Unlike anything I have ever read - the style is fascinating. Completely eye-opening and heart wrenching. Definitely one of my top ten books.
Synopsis (from amazon.ca):
In Persian folklore, Syngue Sabour is the name of a magical black stone, a patience stone, which absorbs the plight of those who confide in it. It is believed that the day it explodes, after having received too much hardship and pain, will be the day of the Apocalypse. But here, the Syngue Sabou More...
Synopsis (from amazon.ca):
In Persian folklore, Syngue Sabour is the name of a magical black stone, a patience stone, which absorbs the plight of those who confide in it. It is believed that the day it explodes, after having received too much hardship and pain, will be the day of the Apocalypse. But here, the Syngue Sabou More...
Sep 18, 2011
Ebtihal
rated it:
من قرأ الأفغاني خالد حسيني سيقرأ أدب الأفغان مجدداً. وهذا ما قادني إلى حجر الصبر - عتيق رحيمي. حين بحثت عنه أول مرة قرأت الكثير من المقالات عن حجر الصبر، العمل الأدبي الفائز بجائزة الغونكور الفرنسية، والرواية ذات الطابع الرقيق: نزف امرأة أفغانية في حديث لا ينقطع لجسد زوجها الهائم في ما بين الحياة والموت، في غيبوبة.
اهداء الرواية يثير وقفة، فهي مهداة إلى ن.أ الشاعرة الأفغانية التي قتلها زوجها "بوحشية". (ناديا أنجومان). لكنك الآن ترى هذه المرأة (البلا إسم) سيدة القصة، وقد تخل More...
اهداء الرواية يثير وقفة، فهي مهداة إلى ن.أ الشاعرة الأفغانية التي قتلها زوجها "بوحشية". (ناديا أنجومان). لكنك الآن ترى هذه المرأة (البلا إسم) سيدة القصة، وقد تخل More...
Feb 11, 2012
Sheena
rated it:
I enjoyed this book. The predominant thought in my head while reading it was that it would make an excellent play. It is written in the style of the great classics - waiting for godot, art, etc. And packs a lot of metaphors & emotions into that single room where the plot unfolds. One of the things that disconcerted me was the language used. I am so used to South asian characters speak in the nuanced english of south asia, that it took a while for me to get used to the way the protagonist spoke.
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Aug 01, 2011
Sheri
rated it:
Like "Room," this book takes place in a single room. An Afghan wife carries on a one-sided conversation with her comatose husband (shot in the back of the neck in a meaningless altercation, and now in a vegetative state), revealing more about herself and her thoughts and feelings that she ever disclosed to him while he was conscious and present with her. But then again, he probably would have killed her if she'd told him those things before he became a vegetable. Very short, but pow
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Feb 01, 2012
Sheila
rated it:
This was my first read of this writer. Loaned to me by co-worker was a quick read. Insight to the plight of Afghanistan women and children. However it was more about sex than about how the character felt about her other sad aspects of life as there is more to it for any woman. It was a bit disappointing to a sudden end... Some people may find this type of writing offensive. I am not sure if my co-worker would like it but will see. I liked Khaled Hosseini writing better.
Jan 08, 2010
Just published in the US by Other Books (Random House) it is a small (160 pgs) but very powerful book. I am still haunted by the spare writing and the skill of the author, who wrote this in his adopted French not his native Farsi. It is the story of a Mideastern woman who sits with her comatose husband while a war rages outside her door. In her endless hours waiting for his death she begins to tell him the secrets of her life and marriage never knowing if he hears her.
Nov 11, 2011
"Rahimi's lyric prose is simple and poetic, and McLean's translation is superb. With an introduction by Khaled Hosseini, this Prix Goncourt-winning book should have a profound impact on the literature of Afghanistan for its brave portrayal of, among other things, an Afghan woman as a sexual being."-Library Journal
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