Customer Reviews

An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Of the currently posted reviews, it is interesting that they either rate this book at the top or at the bottom of the rating scale. This is a sign that the book elicits much more comment on the reviewer's state of mind than on the book itself. My review will be no different.

While I second those who extoll the book's poetry and its vivid portrayal of the Afghan land and culture, to me the real value of the book lies in its deepest appeal to the conscience (or lack of conscience) in the reader. Mr. Elliot's report is unique in that it covers two or three visits that he undertook that span the time during and after the Soviet war, just prior to Taleban occupation of Kabul and the roughly 90% of Afghanistan that it occupies today.

During this time, under extremely difficult circumstances, Mr. Elliot had access to people and places that would shortly be cut off and, in many cases, destroyed during the ensuing Taleban onslaught. The result, both of the circumstances and Mr. Elliot's reporting on them, is a tale filled with longing--a longing for some of what is, much of what was and has been lost, and what may never be recovered, an innocence and deeply human sympathy ravaged by the cynicism of the world.

Afghanistan was never an easy place to live, but it was long a place where humanity reigned supreme in the daily lives of common people. Some have called it the height of civilization, low-tech though it was. It had long been the seat of a kind of basic (and advanced) hospitality that has been all but lost, though much imitated, in much of the rest of the world. Elliot's deep love and intimate knowledge of these people and the remaining remnants of their culture informs every page of his vivid account.

In the end, he leaves those of us with the conscience to respond with a deep sense of loss, yet with a vivid picture of hope for the future of our common human destiny. Yes, he makes us want to visit what was once Afghanistan, the Land of the Free. But even more, he makes us accutely aware of the Jewel that has been lost and that we must all find again to restore the vital center of our own particular human culture where we happen to live, among the common people of our daily lives.

An extraordinary book that transcends the bounds of travelogue and gives us deep and personal insight into one of the most the world's most inaccessible regions. Elliot's Afghan friends and travel companions convey, in the midst of the grief and difficulty of war, an enviable warmth and humor that has made the country a favorite of travelers for decades before the Soviet invasion. There are many hair raising trips in overloaded trucks over vertiginous mountain passes, lavish descriptions of ruins seldom seen by westerners, and intriguing historical facts from this crossroads of peoples for the traveler, adventurer and historian. Elliot writes from the heart and out of love for the Afghan people and land and this shines through on every page more than any such book I've read since Thesiger's Arabian Sands (and upon inspection, even Thesiger's motives begin to seem cloudy compared with Elliott's affection and respect for his subjects). You will put this book down with a profound respect for the Afghan people and immense desire to visit this land... I cannot recommend this book highly enough - if you read it you will soon find yourself searching through old travel guides and looking for a way to travel the roads of Afghanistan first hand.

Afghanistan's current inaccessibility to Westerners presents a paradox of sorts: on the one hand, travelogues have a long tradition of providing armchair portraits of countries and people not easy visited, and on the other hand, in extreme cases such as contemporary Afghanistan, the difficulties in moving into and around such a country make such travelogues all the rarer. We should be therefore be grateful for this book, in which Jason Elliot recounts his travels and impressions from a trip made in 1979 as a teenager, and a trip 20 years later when he had learned Persian. It's a very traditional and endearing piece of travel literature, full of evocative descriptions of the sights and sounds, and most importantly, the people. While the book has plenty of the other usual travelogue elements-detailed descriptions of perilous trips in overstuffed decrepit vehicles, beautiful descriptions of obscure but astonishing ancient ruins, digestible tidbits of history, and asides of longing for unattainable women-the book's greatest value comes from Elliot's sensitive treatment of the Afghans he meets and befriends. Far from being the religious totalitarianists commonly associated with the country, virtually everyone he meets-almost every one of whom is male-is unstintingly curious, tough, enduring, and most of all, warmly hospitable. When he does encounter the Taliban, he notes how other Afghans warily regard them as powerful outsiders, with no constituency save themselves. Indeed, Elliot, writing in 1999, seems to scoff at the notion of them ever controlling the entire country, as their brand of Islam is so at odds with the forms widely practiced in Afghanistan over history. Elliot spends a fair amount of time and effort in trying to get to various Sufi shrines, and he does a good job of trying to explain the mystical nature of Sufism.

The book does suffer a little bit from Elliot's going back and forth between his two visits, and occasionally one loses track as to which visit an anecdote dates from, but the perspective he gains from having traveled in the country twenty years apart more than makes up for it. Elliot vividly conveys the troubles the Soviet forces had in the war, as well as the classic guerilla tactics used by the Afghans. He takes great pains to point out that the Afghan resistance was not a religiously based one, despite the connotation the word "mujaheddin" has taken in the West, but another struggle in a long succession of resisting incursions by more powerful states. What also emerges from almost every Afghan mouth is a sentiment of having been "abandoned" by America following the Soviet withdrawal. He makes no direct judgment on the matter himself, but like any good reporter, lets the people speak for themselves. In the end, one is left lamenting the destruction of Afghanistan during its tenure as proxy Cold War battleground, and the resultant forces that have allowed the Taliban to impose their will-a least for the moment. If only one thing is totally clear from their history, it is that the Afghan people will only live so long under the yoke of oppressors.

Mr. Elliot, obviously, is well connected in contemporary Afghan circles, both outside and inside Afghanistan. This fact enabled and encouraged him to travel in a most unusual and remote country during a most difficult and turbulent era. The author did not travel on a preplanned itinerary but from the start surrendered, instead, to encounters and events. This underlying current gives the account much of its unique quality and realism. The book is richly strewn with delightful coinages, penetrating insights sensitive observations, humor, historical and other intriguing information and descriptions. The, included, short introduction to Sufism is quite good. Puts Afghanistan and its people on the map. Erudite. A gripping and moving account of people and places entangled in the web of war-time meshed with the author personal inner-journey. A tribute to the human spirit.

Jason Elliot's travels in Afghanistan are told with evocative poignancy of a land racked through the centuries by invading armies. Ravaged most recently by the Soviet Army and now by internal strife Afghanistan endures. Whether telling the tale of the Afghan warrior beckoning the rocket-shy author to step out of the cold but protected shadows of a Kabul doorway into the warmth of the sun, or the harrowing tale of a mountainous truck ride under the light of a crescent moon, Elliot shares the beauty and poetic delicacy of a rough but resilient land. This is classic travel writing which enraptures and enables the reader to smell and taste the smoke and dust of the journey , to feel the sharp bite of the cold mountain air as night descends, and captures, as the author says, " a ray of beauty out of the backdrop of harshness." The dignity of this land and its poetic people is shared with respect and startling skill by the author.

If you read any travel books this year, I believe this is your best choice. It was written in 1999 when very few people in the developed countries had any interest in the average person's plight in Afghanistan at all. Jason Elliot doesn't seem to have a pre-set agenda or an axe to grind, and I'm guessing that newer books are going to have plenty of both.
I'm a great fan of travel books, and I'm stunned by just how well-written Elliot's first book is. I'd only rank Colin Thurbon above Elliot, and I think Elliot is a bolder traveller.
What really makes this book memorable are the short sections such as the Koran text wroven into his reflections upon his visit to the shrine in Mazar or the Wordsworth quotes at sunset in remote hills. Amidst a great deal of historical and cultural material that doesn't detract from the adventure, Elliot makes the point that Afghanistan has already been destroyed and abandoned, and that the Taleban are but one of many very bad things to happen to the people of Afghanistan. I came away with a much better understanding of the isolated tribal nature of most
of Afghanistan. After reading this book, I've come to the conclusion that bombing this broken land of hardship hardened yet somehow still friendly souls is another mistaken US foreign policy choice. I'll pray for end to their and our suffering, and write a check to the twice bombed Red Cross, even if I am unemployed right now.

Elliot provides an open-window to the joy of unplanned, uninhibited, exploratory travel. His traveling savvy is only matched by his ability to express his excitement and knowledge of this land in the shadows. He manages to incorporate history, current events, geography, sociology, politics, and religion into an entertaining prose that inspires the reader to look for other such books, so that the reader can expand his knowledge of this crossroads of the world. Even though Elliot shows an amorous relationship with the Northern Alliance, this book does not directly engage the current situation in Afghanistan. This bias toward one ethic group, in a country of multiple ethnicities, can be overlooked, since it seems to stem from his genuine concern and appreciation of the people he encountered and assisted him on his journey. This book is an engaging read for those of us with nomadic tendencies who like to travel, sleep and eat with the indigenous people.

This is one of the four best books I have read in the past 15 years. As I stood in a bookstore, cursorily flipping through its pages, the music of Elliott's prose swelled up at me like no other book I'd held in my hands. I knew I had to have it.

I will admit that my primary motivation in seeking this book out was not to learn more about Afghanistan ... that was a secondary motive. I was seeking instead, as I always do, to read something beautifully written. The other books about Afghanistan I'd collected to choose among instantly fell away when I skimmed across the pages of Elliott's writing.

If you want to BEGIN to understand the current conflict, to begin to grasp its roots, let Jason Elliott be your guide. I cannot say anything, really, that does justice to his brilliance. Instead, I will quote a bit of his writing. For starters, the opening paragraph:

"From the beginning we became the captives of an unexpected light. Even as we stepped into its unaccustomed brightness that first morning, it seemed probable we had entered a world in some way enchanted, for which we lacked the proper measure."

And now, a passage ...

"It was late afternoon. Through hollow doorways suspended uselessly in columns of broken wall the sun shot long sloping lances of golden light. We walked along in stunned silence as the desolation grew, past what had once been a cinema where the scorched carcass of a crippled tank listed at a crazy angle against a mound of rubble. A few men were pulling carts of precious firewood on sacks piled piteously high, heaving at loads fit for animals...

"A cold wind began to whip up the dust along the street, and like animals that have wandered too far from their lairs, we knew instinctively it was a bad place to be lost as the sun went down. It had a lawless air. The shadows thickened as the golden light retreated, and at last its touch slipped upwards, first from the city itself and then from the mountains beyond."

"In a darkening doorway we glimpsed a one-legged man, rising on his crutches at the sight of us. He was young, perhaps thirty, with a rich black beard, and lured us nearer with an uncanny brightness in his eyes. Beckoning, and with a smile of improbable vigour, he asked if we would join him for a glass of tea."

The exchange that follows is both a heart-touching delight and a soul-stirring revelation ... the first of so many in the treasure trove of beauty that this book is.

Do yourself a favor ... buy this book. Then generously give yourself the time and space to take this journey with someone as brave as he is human, as humble as he is inquisitive, as respectful as he is humorous. Someone who will show you a people and a place quite marvelously unexpected.

I borrowed this book from the library and loved it so much that I had to own a copy. I read a lot of travel books but this one is a rare gem. The author doesn't describe his experiences. He shares them. Before I read "An Unexpected Light" I read Eric Newby's book and didn't feel anything for the land or the people Newby encountered. This book really touched me. I've done a bit of travel around the world but I'm not brave enough to do the sort of travel Mr. Elliot does. He makes me wish I was.

Jason Elliot immerses himself into Afghanistan twice, once in 1979 with the Mujahadeen, and once again in 1989 to see a land still in the throes of war. Perhaps he will still get a chance to revisit the country in 2009, to get a perspective of the latest iteration of warfare and it's nature and tragic effect on the people of the Country. At this rate anything's possible.

I almost dinged this book for Elliot's occasional writing style that dips into the area of over-flowery, fanciful, and meandering, but surprisingly enough if you keep reading, he keeps this distraction to a minimum.

I believe what Elliot achieves with "An Unexpected Light" is the best account of what Afghanistan and its people are like that can be achieved by a Western writer. The reader must be cautioned to not take Elliot's perception at face value for the truth of how Afghani's think and feel and live. That local perspective would have to be gained by a book that was written by an Afghani and translated into English. To my knowledge there isn't a book out there like that available to English readers. If you know of one, by all means shoot it my way.

At first I thought the approach Elliot was taking in writing this book, was to toss himself haphazardly into as many life-threatening situations as humanely possible to experience and still live through it. Through these blood pressure pumping situations, at the end, Elliot would have himself a damn fine book. What I came to realize though is that the book was written about a love affair. A continual burning love affair that Elliot has for the country and especially the people of Afghanistan. That intense love shows, earning this book a special place amongst other travel writings. The work fills a distinct need to learn more about a country that Western nations' find themselves enmeshed in during the ongoing war on terrorism.

Internalize this book. There's a need to make that knowledge your own. Now more than ever.