Kirjailijakuva

Masood Farivar

Teoksen Confessions of a Mullah Warrior tekijä

2 teosta 40 jäsentä 5 arvostelua

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SMBrick | 4 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Feb 25, 2018 |
An interesting and readable account of this member of the erstwhile Afghan middle class through all phases of the Afghan tragedy starting with the Communist takeover of the mid 70s.

The really sad and tragic part is the utter collapse of the entire Afghan system and the destruction of it's cities and it's rich cultural heritage by the Soviets and then it's own people (Mujahedeen and Taliban).
 
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danoomistmatiste | 4 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 24, 2016 |
An interesting and readable account of this member of the erstwhile Afghan middle class through all phases of the Afghan tragedy starting with the Communist takeover of the mid 70s.

The really sad and tragic part is the utter collapse of the entire Afghan system and the destruction of it's cities and it's rich cultural heritage by the Soviets and then it's own people (Mujahedeen and Taliban).
 
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kkhambadkone | 4 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 17, 2016 |
CONFESSIONS OF A MULLAH WARRIOR is a memoir, written by an Agfhani whose family ties and personal experience give him an unusually comprehensive view of Afghanistan’s recent history.

Farivan was born to a family of elites, provincial governors and clerics. Through his grandfather Farivan gained an intimate understanding of the native, Hanafi Sunni religious culture, while in his immediate family his father rebelled against his conservative upbringing and entered the secular, Westernized middle class.

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Farivan flees with his family across the border to Pakistan. There, Farivan enrolls in a madrasa sponsored by wealthy Saudi Arabians who spread fundamentalist Wahabi Islam along with reading, writing, and arithmetic. The school works its magic, and soon Farivan spends hours of every day reading the Koran, instructing his family members to carefully wash their nostrils three times before performing their daily prayers, and passionately convinced that women are inferior to men. Farivan’s family are worried by his extremism, and ultimately they wean him away from his school and into a more temperate philosophy.

Soon, Farivan returns to Afghanistan as a soldier. From the caves in the mountains of Tora Bora, he fights to repel the Soviet occupation. Farivan is passionately devoted to the future of Afghanistan, and wants to secure its independence, but he does not like to see Afghanistan made into a battleground for a much larger conflicts. The Americans are waging a war against communism, not in favor of Afghani independence, while the Arabs see the war in Afghanistan as the first step in a larger jihad – as would become apparent on September 11.

As a soldier, Farivan comes into contact with the foreign journalists covering the conflict. With the advice and support of a few friends he makes among the visitors, Farivan decides to apply to Harvard. He’s not accepted outright – instead, the Harvard admissions office offers Farivan placement at a preparatory school in New Jersey and tells him that if he does well, they’ll look favorably on a re-application a year later. Farivan accepts, and a year later he’s a student at Harvard.

Farivan describes the culture shock he experiences upon his arrival to the United States, focusing on the religious conflicts that emerge. He keeps his long beard, even though it singles him out as a foreigner in the US. But he also starts drinking alcohol and this makes him wonder if he deserves to wear the full beard of a devout Muslim man. The segment of the book describing Farivan’s stint at Harvard is very short, however. He talks about joining a men’s club, and about arguing with friends from a Christian outreach group. He only discusses academics briefly, explaining why he chose to study Islamic history.

After graduation, Farivan struggles a bit. He wants to find a way back to Afghanistan, but the political situation is bad. After 9/11, Farivan doesn’t want to return to a war-torn country. He delays for years, doing good work in the US as a journalist, but at the end of the memoir he is proud to say that he is finally moving back to his homeland.

Masood Farivan has had a fascinating life, but he uses his memoir as a pedagogic opportunity. He aims to instruct, using each incident in his personal history as the starting point for a lecture about politics, history, or religion. He writes with a curiously unemotional voice – this has the effect of making everything he says sound reasonable (things like Afghan men going to Indian movies and spitting on the floor every time a Hindu religious monument appears on the screen sound perfectly normal when he describes them), but not very engaging. Traumatic events, like learning about the brutal assassination of a cousin, have little impact; Farivan’s expressions of grief are wooden, eclipsed by his lengthy description of the condolence letter that he writes to his cousin’s parents, and which Koranic quotations he chose to include.

I found that Farivan’s detached, pedantic voice made CONFESSIONS OF A MULLAH WARRIOR hard to enjoy. Farivan is more interested in teaching a course in modern Afghan history than in baring his soul, and I never had a sense of intimacy or connection with the author. Farivan has led a fascinating, exceptional life but his memoir is simply not a compelling read.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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MlleEhreen | 4 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Apr 3, 2013 |

Tilastot

Teokset
2
Jäseniä
40
Suosituimmuussija
#370,100
Arvio (tähdet)
½ 3.7
Kirja-arvosteluja
5
ISBN:t
9