The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seirstad
This book does not tell a common story about Afghanistan and its people during and after the fall of Taliban power. This book tells about the life of Sultan Khan, an Afghan businessman, who lived the life that many other people in Afghanistan could only have in dreams: money in hand, sufficient food to eat, and decent clothes to wear and place to live. With his several bookstores, managed by his family members, Sultan dreamed to build his own emporium in book trade and publications.
Asne Seirstad, the author, wrote every detail of her several months’ stay with the family. Most of the events were recorded during daily activities; visits to the market, marriage preparation, wedding ceremonies, Sultan’s business travels (where Asne was fortunate enough to be allowed to join), even a punishment of a thief. All pieces were gathered from every mouth of Sultan’s family members. No special moments were spared for interviews. This method and the use of third person point of view are probably the main reason why the story reads like a fiction.
Other than the man’s dream, the book also reveals the passions and conflicts among Sultan’s family members. Some actually depicts the passions and struggles of Afghan people in general, women in particular.
The heartache and sorrows of Sultan’s first wife were deeply told in several chapters in this book. These pains were the result of Sultan’s decision to take another wife (a women child), mixed with hopes and struggle to build a non-conflicting (if not harmonious) life with the new wife, in order to keep the family in one piece. On the other hand, the new wife also possessed her own fear as a boy had not been delivered from her womb. It would be a disgrace for her if she couldn’t give a son for his husband.
The oppressed dreams and passions experienced by the children are also well conveyed in this book. The son was not allowed to continue his school and his father commanded him to take care of the store everyday. “You’d take over everything I owned one day, and running the store is the best way to learn to be a good businessman,” that’s, more or less, what Sultan’s said to his son. The frustrated son then, expressed his sorrow and anger by treating the female members in the family as slaves, even his own mother. Then, there’s a daughter who struggled to leave the house for a better life. Sadly, luck didn’t stand on her side and she was forced to accept her destiny. All these stories are somewhat ironic as Sultan was very well read and strongly familiar with breakthrough ideas.
Other stories in the book would give the readers a further understanding about the common life, norms, and culture in Afghanistan. A story of a woman who was murdered by her own brother for her affair behind her (rich) fiancée’s back, gives another sad picture of women’s value and economic ambition for better life. Forced marriages, rape, insults, violence, and no speaking right in the family, are just additional gloomy realities that need to be faced by Afghan women. The situation may be worst for other Afghan women, as in general most of them belong to the poverty stricken families.
It seems like a hopeless and desperate situation there in Afghanistan, particularly for women. Yet, with the collapse of Taliban regime and the set up of somewhat reformed government, these women may have a little hope for a better tomorrow.
