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 story is told by Seierstad about the Khan family she does not appear in the book and I found this off putting as sometimes I felt I was reading a novel as I can’t believe that the characters especially the Afghan men would discuss or trust a western female journalist. Throughout the book I was waiting for something to happen or for conclusions to individual stories and I know this was my expectations so therefore perhaps this is the reason that I found the book lacking.

I did find the historical content of the book really interesting and felt such sadness for some of the characters especially the women who are treated so badly and have no control over their futures, I found the power fathers, husbands, brothers and sons have over their wives mothers, sisters and daughters so disturbing that I found it difficult reading as I wanted these women to triumph over these self obsessed men but that I am afraid this would not be true in the society they live in.

This is an interesting book and I think would make an excellent book club read as there is plenty to discuss here. ( )

El año 2002, cuando los talibanes se retiraron de Afganistán, la joven y respetada periodista y experta en conflictos internacionales, Åsne Seierstad, se trasladó a la capital del país para poder experimentar de primera mano la situación de la sociedad afgana en esta época convulsa. Se alojó en casa de la familia del librero Sultan Khan, lo que le permitió vivir muy de cerca la cotidianeidad de una familia afgana, el mundo íntimo de las mujeres y la camaradería de los hombres, en el seno de un pueblo dividido entre la tradición y la modernidad.

Un relato sobre la dignidad, el coraje y el amor por los libros en uno de los testimonios más conmovedores sobre la sociedad afgana ( )

Khan's story as a harassed and imprisoned bookseller in Afghanistan's capital is both harrowing and compelling. The story of his wives and their relationship to each other and their husband is just as compelling, often mirroring the relationship of the country to its citizens. ( )

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 events as actual but I was reminded through this that most of the stories had to be told to her second or third hand. When she goes into the head of the characters and explores their thoughts and feelings you know that she must be taking liberties. You know that such things would never be discussed to such detail and depth as she describes with a foreigner, a writer, and a woman of all things.
( )

This books gives insight to an area of the world that many of us could not see otherwise. For me, it was a dark read, but not without hope. The author wrote with a dispassionate voice, as a reporter must, but now and then her dismay at some of the events she witnessed came through. ( )