Customer Reviews

West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow! It is so rare to finish a book in just a few sittings simmply by lack of will-power to tear yourself away from it. Rare still is it to find a non-fictional book having that effect. Buy this one. If you like that feeling of not being able to resist reading "just 10 more pages" and having it turn into 50, you won't regret this book.

In brief, it is about a hyphenated man - born in Afghanistan by an american mother (the first american mother ever to live in Afhanistan) and an Afghani father. By high-school, he has moved to America and 'loses track' of his Afghani roots - truly Americanized. The real 'blow by blow' of the book comes from a trip he took as a freelance journalist back to Afghanistan to write about it before/during the cold war, and his subsequent return to America, ending with his torn feelings over Sept. 11.

The beauty of this book is that he remains sympathetic both to his Afhghani and American sentiments. While recognizing the hell that the middle east can often seem, he never fails to recall his fond memories of growing up Afghani. At the same time, he dances close to the conclusion that he is, for any intent or purpose, an American first and an Afghani second (without ever really imposing that choice upon himself).

As the other reviewers will tell you, the sparkle that is this book came about after the world trade center bombings. The author, who writes educational childrens books for a living, decided to write an e-mail on Sept. 12 to 'set the record straight' seperating the Afghani fact from the Taliban fiction. Subsequently, the e-mail, which he mailed to 20 or so people, got forwarded enough times that it reached possibly 1,000. The e-mail (and you may have gotten it) is included as an epilogue, and he explains his feelings on the 'middle east question' in the prologue and last chapter of the book.'

Like I said, though, the action is in the middle of the book, where he recounts his catastrophic trip to the middle east (where, among other things, they don't take American Express. Just read it and you'll understand!) From first page to last, this book will entertain, enrage, entrhall, and...dare I say...enhance you!

Tamim Ansary's book is a must read for anyone who has even a passing interest in Afghans and Afghanistan. Because what they will discover between the covers is different from most what has been written about Afghanistan since the events of Sept. 11th. Most of that has been about the Taliban, their unforgiving ways, their mistreatment of women. Those are important and riverting stories and they must be told. And they have been. Tamim Ansary's memoir hails back to an Afghanistan most people have forgotten, one I personally remember fondly, an Afghanistan living in peaceful anonymity, a "lost world" of walled villages, extended family networks, a world where instead of television, "we had genealogy." His prose is rich with the sounds and smells of this old world, but it transcends mere nostalgia. Tamim's memories serve as tools for his keen observations about the social and political mores of that time, about ripples in the calm way of life which led in part to the communist coup -see the chapter "Unintended Consequences."

Tamim's book will also resonate with anyone who has ever lived in a foreign land, anyone who has ever felt part of two worlds. Tamim is as American as he is Afghan, maybe more even -his mother is American and Tamim has lived in the U.S. for almost forty years. The book will resonate with anyone who has felt the dissonance of being part of two cultures, strugged to reconcile the two, and -as often happens in such cases -faced a crisis of identity and faith. His trip to the middle east and his hunger to revisit Afghanistan will strike a chord with anyone who has ever wondered about their own roots, anyone who has sought to better understand their religion and ancestry. And his tale of merged identities, a middle ground between the sister who became entirely "American" and his devoutly Muslim brother, is told in a touching, affable manner that is prevasive throughout this entertaining -and important- book.
In the end, America is a land of merged identities and, to me, Tamim Ansary's book is as much about that as anything else.

This book was just one insight after another for me: a door into another world.

I first heard of Ansary when I got a copy of his e-mail, which the book explained also to have been received by millions of other people. When I saw the book on the library shelf, I almost felt as if this was a personal friend, since I'd gotten his letter. I feel even more that way having read this delightful book.

The first part of this book is about the author's childhood in Afghanistan. He weaves a lyrical myth out of his memories. The paperback version has a lovely addendum about his returning to Afhanistan.

The author also contrasts living in a clan to his basement office in California. There arises a clear dialectic between freedom and potential loneliness in the US on the one hand and having connectedness with a clan in Afghanistan, but considerably less freedom (particularly for women), on the other. This is a fascinating thing for Americans to think about.

The second part of the book was about the author's experiences in the US and as an adult travelling through Muslim countries. We learn that the Ansary surname designates a descendant of the people who helped Mohammed escape from Medina. Reading this Ansary's writings, I wonder if he will help Islam escape from the clutches of those horrible fundamentalists. Ansary has very interesting information about the historical roots of fundamentalism in Islam and dissenters from that fundamentalism. He explains how one can be Muslim and not fundamentalist.

The writing quality is excellent: flowing, congenial, sometimes ironic, often deeply sincere, and with a certain innocence and idealism that is particulary wonderful in a middle aged man. Ansary has the ability to enjoy a great diversity of people, not feeling overly judgmental about any of them. The book is also mercifully short, despite being chock full of information. I never got bored.

Ansary first wrote an email shortly after 9/11 because he was outraged and saddened by reports that the U.S. should "bomb Afghanistan back to the Stone Age." Unable to talk about it, he instead sent an email to 30 or so of his friends offering his views about the terrorist attacks, Afghanistan, and the Taliban. That email in turn went to their friends and so on. Turns out, it was read by a million or more people. From there, news agencies and TV programs picked up on it and Ansary spoke more. Eventually, he wrote this book. It's fascinating in the first third, it drags through the middle, and it's interesting near the end. He probably goes into more detail than he needs to about his life and his family in Afghanistan because he seems to get away from the purpose of the book, but some of the details are really intriguing. He begins by stating that there's no real need to bomb Afghanistan back to the Stone Age because the Soviets already did it. Schools, hospitals, and infrastructure were leveld years ago and mostly stayed that way. The country is one of the poorest in the world and the Taliban, a group he refers to as "ignorant psychotics" took over the country in 1997. He says we can bomb all we want, but the Taliban will simply hide in the many caves, and bombing will only further destroy an already destroyed country (and waste a lot of bombs). Possibly the most interesting part of the book was his reference to the Ghaznavid Empire which thrived in the early middle ages spanning from India to the Caspian Sea, covering all the area of Afghanistan and much more. It was an empire of Turks, Arabs, and Persians that, according to the author, "rivaled the Italian Renaissance" with poetry, art, literature and the like. But the great war hero Ghengis Khan came through and dumped the libraries into the river and tore up all the irrigation that had created the Helmand Valley breadbasket. Apparently Ghengis Khan thought they should eat meat, not grain. So we learn that this devastated country was once a place of greatness, its past now mired in poverty and rubble. What a history lesson. This book is worth reading simply for its glimpse into a life that most of know know little about, a life and culture that is far removed from today's Afghanistan.

I wasn't certain Ansary's book would hold up next to his immensely powerful and popular email send immediately following 911. But "West of Kabul, East of New York" shines because by writing his personal stories instead of yet another news report or political editorial, Ansary provides exactly what we need now: well crafted tales, spun over a life long journey, on Islam, Afghanistan, and the bicultural experience in the United States. There's something surprisingly warm and familiar about these stories, from the schoolroom and clan in Afganistan to adolescence in the US to realizing how much you love someone who is isolated from you on the other side of the world. We've bought a number of copies--it's the type of book you can recommend and give broadly and know your friends and family will enjoy.

When cyberespace was filled with calls for revenge after 9/11, Ansary's thoughtful email arrived. I was so grateful to read it, fervently hoped the writer was to be trusted, and wished he would write more about himself and about Afganistan.
Now he has. His book, too, is a calm, urgent message that told me more about what is happening than the media or the administration has. This is a book to share. Thank you Mr. Ansary!

I stumbled across this book accidently and sat down at the bookstore to read the first few pages and thought it was well written.

The conflict between being an Afghan and an American is captivating and the anguish is apparent. I felt it is very relevant to current events and would recommend it highly if you want to learn more about the challenges and growth the author experienced. I'd like to thank him for sharing his story.

this was one of the first books i read on afghanistan. come to find out quotes from this book are all over the web. it is apparently a well known work. the author does a superb job of explaining his life and past living in afghanistan prior to the state the country is in now. with well defined images of the area, people, and culture, the authors tale will keep you reading without stopping. there are also great clarifications of terms and language used that is not familiar to those who are not privy to the language of aghanistan. the travels the author takes as a grown adult also give great insight into other areas, such as algeria, and has tales of interesting interaction with those who follow varying degrees of islam. a great read even if your not heavily into the afghan cause or culture.

Mr. Ansary will introduce you to his families. He will crak open the walls of the secret Afghan compound and show you the hidden Eden inside. He will introduce you to his Muslim clan, his Jewish-American wife, his torn self. He will prove to you that we're all family. Open this book, and you open a great heart.

Trust me. Stop watching CNN and read this. Ansary moves seamlessly from tragedy to comedy to romance to history lesson to odyssey to farce. A man with 2 homes lives in eternal exile. Ask the exiled what home means.

I love this book. It is clear-headed and honest, with a quirky sense of humor. You feel as if the author is an old friend. He definitely is a rock and roll American with an Afgan soul. His experiences of living in Afganistan as a child and his later trip back to the Islamic world is both enlightening and completely engrossing.