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Thread: What is your latest read?

  1. #511
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Roshan's Avatar
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    Done with "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Shall wait until Sridhar finishes.

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  3. #512
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber 19thmay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roshan View Post
    Done with "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Shall wait until Sridhar finishes.
    Finished it. Must read and a classic!
    Mariam made my heart so heavy. The character was excellently described as an innocent girl earlier, kallanalum kanavan and bit possessive wife later.Short happiness due to Laila and Azira and finally accepting the blunder for the better life of others. Mariam is more painful than Hassan
    I am unable to imagine a life of so many incidents, so many heart throbbing episodes. Khaled has splendidly mixed the political events occurred in Afghanistan of past three decades with the personal life’s of two Afghan ladies, how it affected and damaged them so badly. It also shattered the chauvinism and Taliban policies in name of Islam.
    I loved all the characters, Rasheed was so sneaky and cunning. Laila was clever and bold. I loved the climax, her decisions.
    Roshan – You would be able to connect relatively well as you are living there.

  4. #513
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Roshan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 19thmay View Post
    Finished it. Must read and a classic!
    Mariam made my heart so heavy. The character was excellently described as an innocent girl earlier, kallanalum kanavan and bit possessive wife later.Short happiness due to Laila and Azira and finally accepting the blunder for the better life of others. Mariam is more painful than Hassan
    I am unable to imagine a life of so many incidents, so many heart throbbing episodes. Khaled has splendidly mixed the political events occurred in Afghanistan of past three decades with the personal life’s of two Afghan ladies, how it affected and damaged them so badly. It also shattered the chauvinism and Taliban policies in name of Islam.
    I loved all the characters, Rasheed was so sneaky and cunning. Laila was clever and bold. I loved the climax, her decisions.
    Roshan – You would be able to connect relatively well as you are living there.
    The initial chapters were not very engrossing to me compared to The Kite Runner (Kite Runner takes off from the very first chapter). But after a certain point it was unputdownable. I finished the 2nd half in one go on Friday. I liked the way he narrates the political events that happened in Afghanistan from early 1960s. He covers 4 decades and it is not an easy task given the complexity. In his previous book Kite Runner he mostly touched on Taliban and their atrocities but this time it was about all parties/groups who had impacted on Afghanistan, her people and their lives, especially the lives of women. From what ever I have heard and read about Afghanistan, I should say that he maintained a very good balance with his views and did not spare any one this time.

    Coming to the story, as in the his previous book, the flow was amazing. Simple words, simple language yet powerful. He has very well narrated the status of women who suffer in the hands of a never changing patriarcal society of Afghanistan and if you had noticed he makes it very clear the Taliban type of oppression of women in certain regions of Afghanistan existed long before Taliban took over in mid 90s. Taliban made things worse by legalising all sort of discrimination and violence against women. They did not even spare Kabul, which was otherwise a place where women did enjoy ceratain degree of autonomy.

    In his previous book main characters were a mixture of Pashtun and Hazara ethnicities and a story set exclusively in the world of men, and this time it is Pashtun and Tajik in th world of women. Since I've been here for more than 2 years now, to some extent I can understand the way of thinking, the ideologies of those ethnic groups and their views about each other and most imporatantly the patriarcal views and ideologies of men In the book he elegantly captures those aspects and I could easily relate things.

    Mariam, Laila, Nana - every character is a realistic potrayal of Afghan women and thousands of real life examples of such characters still exist in Afghanistan, especially in the Southern and Eastern part. I also liked Laila's mother character Fariba and the father Hakim. The narration of Fariba's moods and as to how it keeps swinging to both extremes was quite realistic, given her situation.

    Ending was as good as the ending of the Kite Runner. It left me with a heavy heart. Mariyam, Laila, Nana, Fariba, Hakim, Rasheed, Tariq, Jaleel Khan, Mullah Faziullah - Khalid Hossein once again proves that he is a master when it comes to characterisation. Every single character leaves a mark in the end.

    An honest tribute to the oppressed women of Afghanistan !

    PS: In my point of view, Taliban or no Taliban, the suffering of women in Afghanistan will never end. "Oppression" is in the blood of Afghan men, no matter they are litterate or not. Any policy they implement is primarily based on women. For them everything should start with putting down women.
    Last edited by Roshan; 21st May 2012 at 12:25 PM.

  5. #514
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Roshan's Avatar
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    Posting this news as it is related to the theme of the novel "A Thousand Splendid Suns"


    Afghan schoolgirls 'poisoned by Taliban'

    Toxic powder used to contaminate air in girls' classrooms, leaving scores of students unconscious in Takhar province.

    Central & South Asia

    Afghan schoolgirls 'poisoned by Taliban'

    Toxic powder used to contaminate air in girls' classrooms, leaving scores of students unconscious in Takhar province.
    Last Modified: 24 May 2012 08:05
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    Since 2001, three million school-aged girls have returned to school [GALLO/GETTY]
    More than 120 schoolgirls and three teachers have been poisoned in the second attack in as many months in Afghanistan blamed on conservative radicals in the country's north, Afghan police and education officials have said.

    The attack occurred on Wednesday in Takhar province where police said the Taliban, who are opposed to education of women and girls, had used an unidentified toxic powder to contaminate the air in classrooms, leaving scores of students unconscious.

    Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said the Taliban appear intent on closing schools ahead of a 2014 withdrawal by foreign combat troops.


    From the perspective of one neighbourhood in Herat
    "A part of their Al Farooq spring offensive operation is ... to close schools. By poisoning girls they want to create fear. They try to make families not send their children to school," NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said.

    Afghanistan's Ministry of Education said last week that 550 schools in 11 provinces where the Taliban have strong support had been closed down.

    Last month, 150 schoolgirls were poisoned in the Takhar province after they drank contaminated water.

    Since 2001, when the Taliban were toppled from power by US-backed Afghan forces, three million school-aged girls have returned to school.

    Women were previously banned from work and education under Taliban rule.

    There are still periodic attacks against students, teachers and school buildings, usually in the more conservative south and east of the country, where the Taliban draws most of its support

    Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2...931671453.html

    This is how those hooligans advocate Religion !

  6. #515
    Senior Member Platinum Hubber pavalamani pragasam's Avatar
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    Finished reading 'Micro', the last novel by Michael Crichton completed by Richard Preston. I feel shell-shocked! Really a terrifying thriller. My awe about science and technology has immensely augmented. I shiver at the horrors that unfolded in the novel holding ominous forecasts about the future of our world and its countries.Two characters rightly say in the end:"...with technology, once a thing is invented, it never gets un-invented.....Killer bots and micro-drones are here to stay. People will die in terrible new ways. Terrible wars will be fought with this technology. The world will never be the same." What a ghastly prediction! The black pronouncement sends a chill down the spine. Sounds stunningly true.

    Another passage that found full agreement in the novel is the thoughts in the mind of one of the characters described: "These Americans played with fire. Hydrogen bombs, megapower lasers, killer drones, shrunken micro-people...Americans were demon-raisers. Americans awakened technological demons they couldn't control, yet they to enjoy the power."

    An interesting travelogue on the dangerous beauty of Hawaii- loved it tremendously being the hard-core armchair traveller that I am.

    Strangely my mind recalled Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. A vague connection found there!? Perhaps that political satire showed futuristic knowledge of technology unknowingly!!!
    Eager to watch the trends of the world & to nurture in the youth who carry the future world on their shoulders a right sense of values.

  7. #516
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber 19thmay's Avatar
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    Roshan - I was thinking like how the author is going to end this. Any normal muslim women from Afghanistan would have stayed in Pakistan considering it as the safe zone especially if they had such a dreadful past. But author likes them to come out of the shell and be bold like Laila (Her episode of visiting the hostel alone to see her daughter ) Not sure if this book was published in Afghan, but must read by all Afghan ladies.

  8. #517
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Roshan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 19thmay View Post
    Roshan - I was thinking like how the author is going to end this. Any normal muslim women from Afghanistan would have stayed in Pakistan considering it as the safe zone especially if they had such a dreadful past. But author likes them to come out of the shell and be bold like Laila (Her episode of visiting the hostel alone to see her daughter ) Not sure if this book was published in Afghan, but must read by all Afghan ladies.
    Books is available in Afghanistan. An Afghan colleague of mine (who is farily liberal and anti-Taliban) had read it but when I asked for his opinion he said it's good but exaggerated (that's the typical reply you would get from an Afghan man, however modern and liberal he is). Anyway, the real life stories I've heard from some of other male colleagues are far more worser than what is described in the book. And the above news I've posted is a proof that their way of thinking would never change.

    Many people returned back to Afghanistan after NATO invasion expecting some positive changes. Certain thinks changed like reopening of schools, universities and hospitals for women, women seeking employment, not wearing burqa, et al. But these changes were largely limited to few urban areas. Irrespective of all criticisms and reservations I have for the US led NATO invasion, I should accept the fact that it created some space for women, though the NATO invasion could hardly bring any changes to the lives and life styles of people in Taliban dominated areas, especially in the south and east. And there are plenty of signs, for another civil war and a Pakistan backed Taliban regime after the withdrawal of NATO by end of 2013. Even if Talibans dont take over, Karzai will go to any extent to please Pakistan and Taliban in order for him to remain in power. Afghanistan is far beyond redemption.

  9. #518
    Senior Member Senior Hubber Sid_316's Avatar
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    Before i go to sleep - A very good engaging thriller though the plot sounds familiar

  10. #519
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    If I could tell you - By Somya Bhattacharya....A book based on a series of letters written by a father to his 8 year old girl. Was a really good read, considering how the whole theme was handled. In a lot of places the author digresses but does it in a manner where the reader's attention or interest is not lost. Fairly autobiographical as the the protagonist is a writer too, but laced with a tinge of fiction...

  11. #520
    Senior Member Veteran Hubber Roshan's Avatar
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    Bought theses two books yesterday and they are my next reads..

    Taliban - Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (By Ahmed Rashid)

    Getting away with Murder - The real story behind American Taliban and what the US government had to hide (by John Walker Lindh)
    And those who were seen dancing, were thought to be insane, by those who could not hear the music - Friedrich Nietzsche

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