I've got a few things I need to say before I begin the review. First of all, my apologies for such long time since my last review! Since then, I finished at my old job, got a new job as an insurance broker and underwent 4 weeks of training for it. To be honest, I didn't read anything but insurance manuals and textbooks until this past Saturday. Secondly, if you have an excellent memory, you may recall that this book was not on the original list of 20! That is correct :) I was drawn to this book, and so I have read this one instead of #19 "A Man Called Intrepid". I have several WWII books on the list and was desperate to read this one instead. Now for the review...
The author of this book is named Kate McCord, however that is a protective pseudonym. As it says in the author description, "To protect herself and the men and women she talked with, all of the names in this book have been changed." She left her career in America, and went to start an organization with a view of helping Afghan women. She stayed for 5 years before things became too dangerous.
You may ask, what land is the land of blue burqas? Afghanistan. This book was published only in 2012 and so it is very current, both politically and socially. I began this book...and ended it 2 days later. It is fantastic. The last two days I was reading this, I was not in rainy Manitoba but in blistering hot Afganistan. The author wonderfully transports you, so that you can almost smell the smells, see the sights, hear the sounds and meet the people. There is a short paragraph in the first chapter summarizing what this book is - I love it when authors do that, it makes my job easier! :) "This book is a journey into Afghanistan, into some of those conversations. I invite you. Come with me. Join me in the rickshaws and taxis, the bazaars, offices and Afghan homes. You will be our guest. Listen in to our conversations as we share our lives and our faith with one another." (pg. 28) She then proceeds to do just that. You will feel like her shadow, or a fly on the wall. This book is full of intimate conversations, challenging convictions and realistic lives.
She seeks to paint a picture of how different Afghan society is from the Western world. Indeed, how different they are! Differences can be seen in marriages, children, education, how one practices their faith. Islam is central to their lives and everything stems from that. Most of the conversations consist of the locals peppering her with questions about why she does what she does, and she always gives very wise answers!
This is the type of book where I wish I could quote everything to you! But here are just some samples:
- "If there's anything in American culture that Afghans, both young men and all women really admire it's this: that men and women decide who and when to marry. It touched on their greatest sorrow and their deepest dream." (pg. 39)
- The author often remarks how her time there strengthened her own faith and deepened her appreciation for Christ. "I'll admit, sometimes it was difficult to live among Afghans. Sometimes the darkness overwhelmed me. When my Afghan friends explained Jesus as the prophet who will come and dismember those who would not convert to Islam, I wanted to scream, 'No, that's not who Jesus is. You have another Jesus entirely.'" (pg. 83)
- The author also takes the time to tell her own testimony. She naively thought that she must read the Bible as one solid book, and in one go (before she trusted Christ) and I loved how she described that experience: "So I started in Genesis. It took several months for me to read the book, but the results were cataclysmic in my life. In the pages of the Old Testament, I met the God of the universe and found Him beautiful. I was astonished, first, by how honest the Old Testament is about the nature of people. We're always running off in wrong directions. I suppose I expected the Bible to make all those Jewish heroes look perfect, but it didn't...what really captivated my attention was God's unremitting love, His patience and willingness to continually forgive and restore." (pg. 97)
- "For my Afghan neighbors, (prayer) is a beautiful ritual that must be practiced consistently. For me, as a follower of Christ, prayer is an intimate conversation with the God of the universe." (pg. 239)
- "As long as Afghans understand God as a judge who only loves the obedient, they will never genuinely love one another...as long as Afghans hero-worship a warrior king who defined submission and required it at the edge of a sword, there cannot be peace in their country." (pg. 303)
Be prepared to have your view on Afghanistan radically changed. Be prepared to have your heart touched. Be prepared to have your faith and convictions freshly challenged. And be prepared to love this book. I certainly did!
Comments welcome below :)
No comments:
Post a Comment