4 out of 5 stars
On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
How I discovered this
book: It was
submitted to Rosie Amber's Review Team, of
which I am a member. Two years ago I read No More Mulberries by this author, which I liked a lot.
This is an interesting and
diverse collection of stories, set in several locations, from Scotland to
Pakistan, where the author lived for a while. Some of them were written
as monologues, which have been performed.
I liked those set in
Pakistan best, my very favourite being Accidents Happen, about a girl whose
mother marries a man she hates. I liked it so much I read it again,
straight away. I also liked Donkey Boy itself, about a little boy who has
to work for his father instead of going to school, and Trouble with Socks,
about the sort of ghastly, patronising auxiliary in a care home who thinks that
physically disabled means mentally deficient. The last one, a longer
story called The Thing In Your Eye, was interesting. A woman believes she
sees evil in people in their eyes; this left me a little unsure, as I didn't
know if we were meant to think it was all in her mind (as everyone else does),
or if she really could 'read' people.
They're all unusual, with a
theme of private sadness. I liked a very short one called My Name is
Anya, too, about an Afghani girl adopted by Scottish parents. They're
ideal for a nice bit of lying on the sofa, afternoon reading when you're not in
the mood for complicated plots.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Family drama set in Afghanistan
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
This was one of those books that stayed with me when I wasn't reading it; the emotions of the main characters, Miriam and Iqbal, were so well painted.
Jawad was the love of Miriam's life; they met in her hometown in Scotland and struggled against initial family opposition to marry, after which they had a son and set up home and a medical practice in his native Afghanistan. At the beginning of the novel Jawad is dead, and Miriam's second marriage to Iqbal, a doctor, is causing them both problems ~ for Iqbal, the shadow of Miriam's first husband, his need to conform to the culture of the village in which he grew up, the stigma attached to his childhood leprosy. Miriam struggles with the restrictions placed on her by Iqbal's place in society, and her rose tinted memories of her ex-husband.
This book gave me great insight into the culture of rural Afghanistan, not a country I knew much about at all. I was surprised by how normal life went on despite all the conflict of the time (it's set in 1995). What struck me most was how stifling village life appeared to be, with everyone knowing everyone else's business and having plenty to say about it! My sympathies lay more with Iqbal than with Miriam, I must say; her initial reason for marrying him (ie, to get back to Afghanistan, rather than love) and the fact that she was still in love with a dead man must have been apparent to him, yet she expected him to behave in a way that would make her happy, never thinking about what it might cost him. I did find her pain over the loss of Jawad heartbreaking, though.
The novel is very well paced, with detail about the culture woven subtly into the main story. I found it hard at first to keep up with all the different characters, but this was partly because the names were not familiar to me. I felt sad when I finished it, and it made me want to read more about the people. Recommended!
