The Sleeping Buddha

Product Details

Author : Hamida Ghafour
Binding : Paperback
EAN : 9781845293130
Number of Pages : 336
Product Group : Book
Publication Date : 2007-03-29
Publisher : Constable

ASIN : 1845293134

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Editorial Reviews

New Statesman

`Extraordinary ... her eyewitness accounts provide powerful insights into recent events from the perspective of a western woman, but with the inside track of an Afghan.'

New Statesman

`Extraordinary ... her eyewitness accounts provide powerful
insights into recent events from the perspective of a western woman, but
with the inside track of an Afghan.'

Publishing News,

Gives great insight into a troubled land

New Statesman

`Extraordinary ... her eyewitness accounts provide powerful insights into
recent events from the perspective of a western woman, but with the inside
track of an Afghan

Synopsis

This is an evocative family memoir and unique portrait of Afghanistan from a young Afghan journalist. Hamida Ghafour's family fled Kabul after the Russian invasion. In 2003, she was sent back by the Telegraph to cover the country's reconstruction. She finds a place changed utterly from the world her parents had described and her grandmother - an Afghan Virginia Woolf - had written about. All around her is the West's first post-9/11 experiment with an Islamic democracy. But the people she meets reveal a different kind of nation building: the 'beautician without borders' whose school teaches women a new kind of independence; her cousin's determined parliamentary campaign; the archaeologist digging for his country's lost civilization in the form of a giant sleeping Buddha. As she participates in her country's present, its elusive past and her family's own story come vividly together for Hamida. But only when she's standing by her grandmother's grave - after a heavily escorted Chinook trip to the wildest corner of the land - does she start to find her own place in it all.

Customer Reviews

A disappointment (2008-07-16)

I really wanted to like this book. The writer was a similar age to me and Afghanistan is a fascinating country - unfortunately I found I had little empathy with the author which meant the book didn't really gain momentum beyond a factual review of the country

The Suspicious Buddha (2008-06-12)

This book has had reviews from 6 people who each gave it a 5 star rating. 5 of those people reviewed it within a few days of each other and none of the reviewers have ever reviewed any other books before or since.

An English woman's view (2007-06-06)

Having read this book I have a better idea of the complexities of Afghan history and politics. More than anything, it was the sadness of leaving your home, your culture and your family, and then returning to find such a totally different place, that struck me most. Those of us who are free and live in "civilised democracies" do not realise how lucky we are. Everyone should read this book.

A thoroughly enjoyable and educational read (2007-06-04)

From the moment I picked up the book to the very last page I was captivated by the description and history in the book. Whether you're an Afghanistan-phile or a complete newbie to the subject the book must be required reading. When set against the current problems facing Afghanistan the book is a useful guide to a fiercely complicated history and present of Afghan society.

Moving portrait of Afghanistan (2007-06-04)

This book is a joy to read. The author brings the subject to life even though it must have been a painful personal journey, not just when she was a reporter in Afghanistan but when she was writing about her own and her family's past, intertwined as they are with the history of Afghanistan. Yet she has produced such a moving, evocative and clear-sighted book. It is a tremendous achievement. Instead of the usual gloomy media portrayal, Afghanistan emerges in its true colours - a beautiful country and an old civilisation.Rebecca Eliahoo

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