The Bookseller of Kabul

by Asne Seierstad

The fall of the Taliban offered Western journalists broad access to Afghanistan for the first time in years. Asne Seierstad took full advantage of this access when she lived with a family in Kabul for a year in 2001 and 2002. She wrote a book about that year: The Bookseller of Kabul.

What makes this book so special is that Seierstad leaves herself out of it entirely. Other than a brief introduction explaining her project, the author herself does not appear as a character even once. Instead, she allows the actions and words of the individual family members to speak for themselves. She allows Sultan, the bookseller, describe the process of taking a sixteen-year-old girl for his second wife. The book becomes charged with youthful excitement when Seierstad writes about Mansur, Sultan's 16-year-old son, venturing out of Kabul for the time on a religious pilgrimmage. In the chapters describing the life of Leila, Sultan's 19-year-old sister, the book becomes downtrodden and somewhat wistful. It was Seierstad's luck that she chose such a large and interesting family to write about; however, it was her talent that executed the tale in such a seamless and intriguing manner.

This book's faults are few; however, Seierstad does create a somewhat one-dimensional portrait of some of the characters. In a family as large as Sultan's (Sultan has ten siblings, a mother, two wives, and several children, in addition to various in-laws and business partners), this is almost inevitable. However, Seierstad could, I think, have been a bit more sympathetic towards characters such as Sonya, Sultan's 16-year-old wife, who is portrayed as lazy and dull, with no redeeming qualities. The book also leaves out some important historical information. A more complete introduction describing Kabul under Soviet rule, under the Afghan communist party, and under the Taliban would be welcome and informative.

Rating: 6/8

Tea: If you really want the authentic experience, I recommend tea similar to the tea drunk in Afghanistan. You can find an easy recipe here. Otherwise, I recommend lemon tea with a lot of milk.