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Apr 11, 2007

Ariel rated it:

I was irritated early on by the way this book was written. I think it encompasses all my other grips about the book.

Basically the situation is like this: a woman journalist is in Kabul after 9/11. She meets this bookseller, lives with his family a few months with only 3 people in the family speaking English and then she writes a book about them.

First of all, having lived abroad and lived abroad with families, you can't know a family the way this author pretends to in tha More...

4 comments like (25 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Eman rated it:

Okay so the author seems very naive, and that's a pretty safe bet. She is knowledgeable however, so I'll give her that. I wouldn't take this book seriously if you're looking for some real social or historical insight into Afghanistan. It really pales in that sense. If you're looking for a light read and a good story, in that sense, it's good and can offer some inspiration. So it's all right so far.

--

All right, just finished it. It was interesting and page-turning, but the More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 06, 2008

Miriam rated it:

my issues with this book are basically ideological/political -- in spite of an introduction justifying her decision to erase herself from the story, the author also says that she spent a significant period of her time in the household arguing with its male members (presumably about gender politics and the subordinate status of the family's women). i think including these disagreements would have made for a far stronger and more compelling story (not to mention more honest) -- as it is, this is More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2008

Eileen rated it:

I think I learned more from this one book than from any news story or other examination of Afghanistan.
You think, after reading the forward and the beginning of the book, that the bookseller will be a progressive man, but his love for his country's history and its literary heritage is his only redeeming quality and yet the very reason he is such a bastard toward his family. Everything comes second to his passion.
In the wake of the Taliban's withdrawal we see them slowly try to re More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

May 21, 2008

Ana T. rated it:

For more than twenty years, Sultan Khan has defied the authorities, whether communist or Taliban, to supply books to the people of Kabul. He has been arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned, and has watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. Yet he has persisted in his passion for books, shedding light in one of the world's darkest places. This is the intimate portrait of a man of principle and of his family - two wives, five children, and many relatives sharing a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2007

Dana rated it:

In keeping in line with my Afghanistan kick, I discovered this book online and got it from the library.

The premise of the book is this: Its non-fiction, written in novel form. Basically, this author (female from Norway) lived with a family for a period of time and interviewed them about their family. So you get the honest workings and day to day life of this family. The are really far from normal. They are all literate(rare for Afghanistan), as the father is a bookseller, and More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2009

Robin rated it:

I am torn with this book. I would definitely say that there is not anthropological merit to it considering her special "bi-gendered" creature (her words) stature. She rides a line between how an outside women is able to act and what an Afghan women is limited to. It is depressing to see the oxymoron that is life in this world. In one instance Sultan Khan talks of empowering women but then treats them in the traditional fashion - he only has his past with which to guide his actions

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2011

Dem rated it:

I was slightly confused about this book as when I read the blurb I thought the book was going to be about the bookseller himself and his book shop and about how he defied the authorities to supply books to the people of Kabul but this book sways away from the blurb and concentrates more on Sultan Khan's family.

I am not sure I like the way the story reads, In spring 2002 award winning journalist Asne Seiratad spent four months living with the bookseller and his family but while the st More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2008

Theduchess rated it:

A factual account written in a fictional way. This made for a very good read. I read this book after I had read The Kite Runner and Reading Lolita in Tehran. It enhanced my knowledge of the difficulties of living in a restrictive culture.

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

AAmaal rated it:

بناء على ماهو مكتوب خلف الكتاب أن الصحافية الشقراء تذهب لافغانستان وتسكن مع أحد العائلات لتسجل مشاهداتها لحياة الافغان بعد سقوط نظام طالبان. وتبدأ لتتكلم باقتضاب عن كيفية دخولها للعائلة، وفجأة تنسحب الكاتبة من مجريات الاحداث لتتم مشاهداتها بطريقة أدبية كما تقول. كما وتتكلم باقتضاب أيضا عن "سلطان" وهو بائع الكتب وعن تجارته وكيفية تأسيسه لها في مايقارب الفصل أو الفصلين. وتكمل باقي الكتاب بالحديث عن بقية أفراد الاسرة وتصور حياتهم فردا فردا.

أما عن رأيي بالكتاب فلم يضف لي الكثير More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

Donabilla rated it:

وصف حياة أسرة أفغانيه, ذلك الشعب الذي يحيطه الغموض و لا يدري أحد ما الذي يدور فعلاً داخل أسوار بيوته , استطاعت الكاتبه ان تقنع رب الأسرة بأن تعيش مع أسرته و تراقب حياتهم لتؤلف كتابها الذي يوصف بانه الوصف الأكثر حميميه لحياة
عائليه أفغانيه الذي استطاع صحفي غربي كتابته على الإطلاق
تستطيع فعلاً تخيل الجدران االمثقوبه بالرصاص و مشاهدة الأطفال الذين يسيل المخاط من انوفهم و تشعر بلذة استمتاعهم بتناول الأطعمه الغنيه بالدهن و اللحم و الأرز كما تشعر بالتعاطف مع جميع شخصيات القصه بدءً من بيب More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 28, 2010

Miramira rated it:

Valerie - I found a used copy of this book for your Christmas present (since I raved about it to you) so don't go buying it! :-)

I wasn't going to write a review of this book at all until I read some of the other reviews posted here and became horrified at their castigation of Ms. Seierstad.

A rebuttal:

I liked this book BECAUSE it doesn't read like investigative journalism. Seirstad never once pretends that she's being unbiased and doesn't apologize for the obvi More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2009

Lorenzo rated it:

Each aspirant journalist was once told to write his/her articles minding "the famous 5 Ws".
Who? What? When? Where? Why?

I assume how for young Seierstad was the same.
Then she became talented enough as a journalist for being a reporter. And as a correspondant she became talented enough to choose her own stories. Then for following the stories she chose, she went to dangerous countries such as Serbia, Iraq or Chechnya. And Afghanistan.

But.
At some More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 12, 2007

Margaret rated it:

This is an account by a Swedish journalist of an Afghan family she lived with. She met a bookseller in the city of Kabul, a middle-aged man who seemed to be what every Westerner would hope to proliferate in Afghanistan. He prized reading and education, tried hard to preserve his country's heritage and opposed the Taliban, and wanted to see his country make material progress. He would seem to be an example of the country's hope for a better future. However, the book mostly focuses on the women of More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2008

Kathleen rated it:

It was interesting to learn about the lives of Afghan womens day to day activities, and to understand their dreams and plans for the future. Though most have dreams of gaining or furthering education, careers outside the home, and finding a perfect marital situation-sadly, their society's and family's status quo and structure prohibit most of these dreams from becoming a reality. Through reading the authors experiences in living with an Afghan family you feel the frustrations of these women. T More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 20, 2009

Tera rated it:

The most depressing book about the area that I have read. Most of the characters have little to no redeeming qualities or likeablity. The bookseller was the least likeable of all. The ones that were likeable and you wanted to root for you realize have no chance for happiness or an existance other than servitude and repression.
The book didn't flow very well either. At times I wasn't sure if I was reading a book or a collection of magazine articles. The author represents the people and More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2009

Bettie rated it:

A hard book to take and I did find some of the angles covered a tad bit implausible, from an investigative POV. Who in their right mind is going to tell this white western woman okayed by Sultan anything as disparate (and desperate) as their feelings about him. Yes, I am a little suspect of Seierstad's methods here but there is no doubt that the behaviours exposed are pretty true to life in Afghanistan at the moment.

6 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

Sarah rated it:

The problem with a biography written in novel form is that I, as the reader, keep expecting something to happen. You know, for the book to have a main plot and for events described in the book to have a resolution. I had to keep reminding myself that these were true stories, and that they don't always get tied up in a neat little bow. Also, since the book is called "The Bookseller of Kabul," I expected it to be more about Sultan the bookseller. Instead, it was mostly about his family. More...

3 comments like

Dec 16, 2009

Ilana rated it:

This book is not so much an account about a bookseller, but about life generally in Afghan after the fall of the Taliban. The author is a well-known war journalist who moves in with the bookseller's family and describes the world around her as she shops in a burka, observes marital rituals and treatment of women.
The book is powerful and engaging at times and it's jarring to find that a non-fiction account can read so much like fiction (unfortunate here as you wish some of the stories you More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 19, 2007

Lee rated it:

It was a decent book, I thought that it gave a lot of information, especially for someone who doesn't know a whole lot about the middle east---it's sort of an introduction to life in Afghanistan. I felt that many of the characters in the book (especially the male ones) were very unlikeable. The abuse of women in this book is just incredible, and it ends on a bit of depressing note, which is to be expected. If you're looking for a riveting story this is not the book to read-- if your looking for More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Sam added it

I was slightly disappointed with this book as I felt there were 2 different elements to this story that I'm not sure gelled. Firstly, there's the journalistic element where Seierstad reports on the impact of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the impact the war has had there. The other element reads like a novel, telling the story of the Khan family and the male dominated world in which they live. I thoroughly enjoyed both elements of the book but felt that they didn't really work together and th More...

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Mar 15, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I really enjoyed this view, though I did try to keep in mind as I read something the author wrote herself as part of the foreword:

I have written this book in literary form, but it is based on real events or what was told to me by people who took part in those events. When I describe thoughts and feelings, the point of departure is what people told me they thought or felt in any given situation...I am not, of course, an omniscient author. Internal dialogue and feelings are based entir More...

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Jan 04, 2009

Pris rated it:

Portrait Of An Afghan Family, 31 Dec 2005

"Sultan recounted stories: the sons laughed and joked. The atmosphere was unrestrained, and a huge contrast to the simple meals with commandos in the mountains. But I soon noticed that the women said little. Sultan's beautiful young wife sat quietly by the door with her baby in her arms. The other women answered questions put to them, but never initiated a conversation on their own. The belief in male superiori More...

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Dec 30, 2008

Maltaise rated it:

Asne chooses to go to Kabul and live with the bookseller's family under a burka. I am not sure what amazes me more, the story of the family, or the fact that this blonde Scandinavian author lives under a burka to get her story. This amazing story tells the tale of a family from each of the family's perspective. The father became a bookseller during his college days when he would travel to obtain his own college books. His sons have no desire to follow in his footsteps and resents the father' More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Talal rated it:

في ٣٥٠ صفحة تقع هذه الرواية تتجول بك في حياة عائلة أفغانية تنقل القارئ لذلك البلد بأسلوب بديع تقييمي ٤/٥

أسلوب الكاتبة جميل جدا فهي تشدك لآخر الرواية حتى تعرف مصير أبطال الرواية وكأنك تنتزع اعترافا من جاسوس

الرواية دسمة بالمعلومات عن ظروف حياة العائلات الأفغانية وطقوسهم المعتادة في الزواجات وترى مدى تقارب افراد العائلة الواحدة

أحداث الرواية حقيقية وقد عاشت مؤلفتها فترة من الزمن في هذا البيت الأفغاني وأصبحت كأنها فردا من العائلة

من يعشق الكتب والمكت More...

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Dec 19, 2011

Anni rated it:

About the life of a bookseller's family in Afghanistan - just after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

from Books: Books + News | guardian.co.uk by Alexandra Topping December 17, 2011:
Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad, who spent months with bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais, tells of relief over ruling

It provided a compelling picture of the life of an Afghan family living under the tyranny of the Taliban and became the bestselling nonfiction book in Norwegian history, before More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Masheeee rated it:

كتاب جميل يحكي عن عائلة أفغانية وعن عاداتها وتقاليدها للكاتبة والصحفية النرويجية آسني سييرستاد التي أمضت ثلاثة أشهر في ضيافة العائلة بعد سقوط نظام طالبان وشهدت أحداثاً جرت للعائلة وكتبت عن معاناه بائع الكتب سلطان خان
مع طالبان و قصة عشقة للكتب التي بدأت حين سافر في مطلع شبابة مع عمه الى إيران وأقتنى بعض الدواوين للشاعر الافغاني العظيم جلال الدين الرومي
وأسفارة الى باكستان لأجل طباعة الكتب وغيرها من الاحداث الورّاقية. تحدثت أيضاً عن زواجة الثاني بفتاة صغيرة وكيف كانت والدتة وقريباتة م More...

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Aug 09, 2011

Emma rated it:

A fascinating read, I found the historical context in the novel really interesting as, regretfully, this is not an area of the world that I know very much about and it is interesting to understand more about the history of a country that our troops are currently fighting in.

I thought the mix of fact and narration worked well. Like some of the other reviewers, I did find that the "story" did not always flow from chapter to chapter, but this is the nature of the book itself given that i More...

0 comments like

Jul 02, 2011

Lynn rated it:

A truly enlightening read. While I knew that the treatment of women in Afghanistan was horrendous and oftentimes inhumane, this inside look at a 'real family' was an eye-opener. What is most distressing, I think, is that the patriarch of the family is a somewhat progressive man by Afghani standards, promoting literacy and education and free thinking as well as desiring Afghanistan to become a more progressive country. The bookseller of the title - Sultan Kahn - appears from the outside to be the More...

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Jun 10, 2011

Al7nan added it

" و اذا كنت قد قمت بكتابة هذا الكتاب في حلة أدبية .. فإنه رغم ذلك مبني على أحداث حقيقية أو على أحداث أخبرني عنها أناس حقيقيون .. كانوا قد شاركوا فيها " *
* آسني سييرستاد
أنتهيت للتو من قراءة كتاب ( بائع الكتب في كابول ) للصحفية النرويجية آسني سييرستاد .. من أجمل الكتب التي قرأتها مؤخرا و أمتعها ..
تتحدث فيه الكاتبة عن الشهور التي عاشتها في أفغانستان بعد رحيل طالبان بفترة قصيرة جدا .. و كانت قد أختارت الإقامة في بيت أحد بائعي الكتب في العاصمة كابول .. عاشت مع عائلته و تعرفت More...

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