The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

A fabulous insight into the life of an Afghan family. The author stayed with this family over a period of several months and observed their lives and listened to their stories. They are not a typical Afghan family; in fact they are quite wealthy and relatively well educated. We see how the younger sons struggle having to do their father or older brothers’ bidding and how the family’s women suffer when the younger brother’s frustrations are taken out on them (fortunately verbally). We see how the family patriarch Sultan runs his business and his family, what the life is like for the wife based in Pakistan compared to the one in Kabul. Women’s issues are still not taken seriously in this part of the world; it will be a long slow process. This book is not trying to change the world, just bring us a verbal snapshot, as the author saw it, at the time after the Afghan war. Highly recommended to all fans of biographies, but I feel that this can cross over and appeal to anyone interested in the country, people or culture, or even general current affairs. This is probably one of the best books I have read this year, so far.