Asne Seierstad’s Bookseller of Kabul recounts various episodes in the life of a family in the months after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.  The patriarchy of Afghan society seems to be an overriding theme: the author shows how Sultan, the title character, rules his family almost despotically: women are regarded as chattel and marriage is viewed as an exchange of property.  The stories are based on true events, Seierstad actually spend several months living with the family.

I am not an expert on Afghan society, so it is difficult for me to interpret the Bookseller of Kabul, but I did find the repetitive theme of male domination to be somewhat reductive: it sometimes seems to be the only defining feature of the family.  Additionally, the work is in fact a type of ethnography, it lacks reflexivity that might lend greater credibility to the events. Seierstad is completely transparent in all the episodes she portrays, as if she were invisible and suspended from the ceiling.  Although she acknowledges she frequently fought with the Kahn family in the foreword, her realationship to them is never mentioned again  It seems unlikely that a Norwegian women could live with an Afghan family without influencing the course of their lives: portraying that would have added greater depth to the book.  Also, the book itself is problematic: Seierstad depicts the characters and their relationships in an almost entirely negative light.  Is the family aware of the book?  If so, what were their opinions and how does the author construe her relationship to them?

Without doubt, the Bookseller of Kabul is a captivating and well-written book, but it at times it seems to only tell part of the story.

While neither the Middle East nor suicide bombers are strong interests of mine, The Attack by Yasmina Khadra (aka Mohammed Moulessehooul) was an interesting and entertaining book, if not always an enjoyable and uplifting one.  The topic is certainly relevant to recent events: Amin Jafaari, an Arab physician and a naturalized Israeli citizen, tries to piece together the reasons that led his wife to commit a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.  The author juxtaposes Jafaari’s humanist ethics with the fatalism of the Palestinian militants he encounters, and in doing so offers Western readers a chance to do the same.

As an increasing amount of media attention is devoted to the psychological makeup of suicide attackers, The Attack may interest many readers.  Others might find the portrayal of Islamic militarism in Palestine rather simplistic.  If nothing else, the author paints a humanizing and somewhat ironic depiction of his characters and the viewpoints they embody.