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Freshta
Welcome to Kabul: one family, countless secrets.
When Herra, a Russian-Tadjik woman, falls in love with Nadir, an Afghan, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join. A grandfather who is a feminist, an adopted young boy who astounds with his intellect, and Freshta, who will do anything to run away from her abusive husband.
Like the other women in the family, Herra wears a burka and hides in a closet when guests arrive. She soon starts a new job with an American woman, Heidi, who has little understanding of the way women live in Afghanistan, and still less that not everybody wants to be saved by Westerners.
Freshta is a stunning debut about conceptions of human faith in a war-stricken country. It is a deeply moving story that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, a universal tale of husbands and wives, lovers and friends, who all seek happiness and acceptance against the backdrop of the unexpected events playing around them.
Translated by Julia Sherwood.
When Herra, a Russian-Tadjik woman, falls in love with Nadir, an Afghan, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join. A grandfather who is a feminist, an adopted young boy who astounds with his intellect, and Freshta, who will do anything to run away from her abusive husband.
Like the other women in the family, Herra wears a burka and hides in a closet when guests arrive. She soon starts a new job with an American woman, Heidi, who has little understanding of the way women live in Afghanistan, and still less that not everybody wants to be saved by Westerners.
Freshta is a stunning debut about conceptions of human faith in a war-stricken country. It is a deeply moving story that will make you laugh and cry at the same time, a universal tale of husbands and wives, lovers and friends, who all seek happiness and acceptance against the backdrop of the unexpected events playing around them.
Translated by Julia Sherwood.
323 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Petra Procházková
12 books13 followersPetra Procházková is an award-winning Czech journalist, humanitarian worker and writer. In 1994, she founded the private news agency Epicentrum, dedicated to war reporting with fellow journalist Jaromír Štětina. They have covered events in Abkhazia, Afghanistan, Czechnya, East Timor, Georgia, Nagorny, Karabakh, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Ossetia, and Tadjikistan.
On her return to the Czech Republic, Petra founded the humanitarian organization Berkat for the support of children and women in Chechnya and Afghanistan (where she has acted as a correspondent in recent years) and for refugees living in the Czech Republic. In 1997 she was awarded the Ferdinand Peroutka Prize, and in 2000 the President of the Czech Republic presented her with a Medal of Merit. In 2001, the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award was bestowed on her by Madeleine Albright.
On her return to the Czech Republic, Petra founded the humanitarian organization Berkat for the support of children and women in Chechnya and Afghanistan (where she has acted as a correspondent in recent years) and for refugees living in the Czech Republic. In 1997 she was awarded the Ferdinand Peroutka Prize, and in 2000 the President of the Czech Republic presented her with a Medal of Merit. In 2001, the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award was bestowed on her by Madeleine Albright.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 26, 2013
This was my favourite book of those published by Stork Press - a new independent publisher concentrating on translated works from Central and Eastern Europe.
When you read the synopsis of Freshta and learn that it is about women in Afghanistan and family secrets and it really doesn’t sound like nothing new but such simplified slogans don’t do the book justice.
First of all, it was written by a Czech woman, who brought the very typical Czech humour to it, making the story a bitter sweet comedy-drama. It is very easy to write a gut-wrenching tear jerker about the sad lives of Afghan women. It has been done and sold millions. It’s a lot harder to write something funny, to give Afghan women something to laugh about. It requires more talent and artistry.
Petra Prochazkova is a Czech journalist and war correspondent, who grew up during communism and has been a war correspondent from many former Soviet Republic. All that allowed her to bring something new and fresh to the table, precisely the fantastic notion that the world is not just divided between East and West, which is what many books about Muslim culture would have you believe. The reality is that there are a million tiny cultural clashes everywhere and it’s lazy to describe it otherwise. Not only there are differences between thousands of existing cultures but also between different generations within those cultures – something that should be obvious to everyone but in the world of 140 characters tweets and 5 word headlines such nuances often get lost.
Herra, the main character and narrator of the novel, is a half Russian, half Tadjik woman who marries an Afghan man. To her new Afghan family, she represents the West, and to the British and American humanitarian workers she is just another woman wearing a burka, Tadjik or Afghan could barely make any difference in their heads. Herra tries to negotiate these two worlds, neither of which truly her own and her witty observations are the true strength of the novel. It is not because of the ‘family secrets’, ‘tales of husbands and lovers’ you should read this book but because of its cultural perceptiveness which shows a more complex picture of Afghanistan. Also, did I say it was funny?
When you read the synopsis of Freshta and learn that it is about women in Afghanistan and family secrets and it really doesn’t sound like nothing new but such simplified slogans don’t do the book justice.
First of all, it was written by a Czech woman, who brought the very typical Czech humour to it, making the story a bitter sweet comedy-drama. It is very easy to write a gut-wrenching tear jerker about the sad lives of Afghan women. It has been done and sold millions. It’s a lot harder to write something funny, to give Afghan women something to laugh about. It requires more talent and artistry.
Petra Prochazkova is a Czech journalist and war correspondent, who grew up during communism and has been a war correspondent from many former Soviet Republic. All that allowed her to bring something new and fresh to the table, precisely the fantastic notion that the world is not just divided between East and West, which is what many books about Muslim culture would have you believe. The reality is that there are a million tiny cultural clashes everywhere and it’s lazy to describe it otherwise. Not only there are differences between thousands of existing cultures but also between different generations within those cultures – something that should be obvious to everyone but in the world of 140 characters tweets and 5 word headlines such nuances often get lost.
Herra, the main character and narrator of the novel, is a half Russian, half Tadjik woman who marries an Afghan man. To her new Afghan family, she represents the West, and to the British and American humanitarian workers she is just another woman wearing a burka, Tadjik or Afghan could barely make any difference in their heads. Herra tries to negotiate these two worlds, neither of which truly her own and her witty observations are the true strength of the novel. It is not because of the ‘family secrets’, ‘tales of husbands and lovers’ you should read this book but because of its cultural perceptiveness which shows a more complex picture of Afghanistan. Also, did I say it was funny?
April 3, 2024
Beletrie inspirována tím, co Petra Procházková viděla a zažila během své novinářské práce, ale je podle mě důležité si říct, že toto není reportáž.
Toto bych asi normálně nečetla, nicméně mi to hodil na stůl můj šéf s tím, že mě to bude zajímat a zajímavé to bylo, ale reálně teď potřebuju terapii, ať můžu na ulici potkávat muže bez toho, aniž bych měla náladu jim useknout hlavu O:) To samozřejmě trochu přeháním, ale je to zlo a já vím, že někdo si z této knihy vezme poučení, že Islám je špatný, takovým lidem bych doporučila sledovat např. pod svícnem či tiktok. Tady v této knize max tak vidíme jak to dopadá, když mají muži systémovou oporu v tom se chovat nadřazeně a majetnicky. Not all men, ale evidentně to stačí, bleju.
Toto bych asi normálně nečetla, nicméně mi to hodil na stůl můj šéf s tím, že mě to bude zajímat a zajímavé to bylo, ale reálně teď potřebuju terapii, ať můžu na ulici potkávat muže bez toho, aniž bych měla náladu jim useknout hlavu O:) To samozřejmě trochu přeháním, ale je to zlo a já vím, že někdo si z této knihy vezme poučení, že Islám je špatný, takovým lidem bych doporučila sledovat např. pod svícnem či tiktok. Tady v této knize max tak vidíme jak to dopadá, když mají muži systémovou oporu v tom se chovat nadřazeně a majetnicky. Not all men, ale evidentně to stačí, bleju.
November 18, 2012
Freshta's pedigree of internationalism is impeccable, having been written in Czech (by Petra Prochazkova) and featuring a Russian narrator who marries into an Afghan family and settles in Kabul. It's like looking at a map of Eurasia through a kaleidoscope.
The bulk of the novel is concerned with the period when the Western nations, spearheaded by the Americans and the British, are moving into Afghanistan, and the reverberations of 9/11 are still freshly sounding around the globe. The book's major preoccupation is with describing and commenting upon Afghanistan's culture and people at this point, including all the aspects one would expect (religion, sexual politics, economic hardship, the view of the West, etc...). Prochazkova's device of using a converted outsider (a Russian woman who meets her future husband in Moscow and then marries him and joins his extended family) works well both in terms of giving a fresh perspective to this examination and in giving a natural form to the exposition of these subjects. Moreover, the tone of voice adopted by Herra, the narrator, is (at first startlingly) light, which lifts the novel above the potential pitfalls of being over-ponderous or sounding too dutiful or didactic. In keeping with this approach, there is much very successful humour in character description, situation and dialogue:
'When we first met, my future husband's rhapsodies about his family made me feel inferior.....I invented an actress aunt and when I was told off that actresses were often prostitutes I tried to embellish my family tree with a nuclear physicist uncle'.
Nobody in our family like Uncle Amin......he would laugh that horrid laugh of his that sounded like a hysterical little boy being circumcised.
The most remarkable character for me is the child Muhammad who, with his deformed body and eerie, eclectic knowledge, I read as a metaphor for what is produced when wildly diverse cultures interract, but who is a superb character in his own right.
This tone and approach by no means seal off the story from unpleasant territory, and the details gradually emerge of how the narrator's brother-in-law inflicts sadistic treatment upon his wife, which becomes one of the main drivers of this somewhat picaresque narrative. An effective contrast to the portrayal of the brother-in-law is Herra's husband, Nazir, who occupies a complex intersection of innate decency, sincere belief in traditional Afghan culture and a genuine love and compassion for his wife and family. This is a rounded portrait that is credible and moving, and which has him veer from behaving with Western style tenderness and respect to Herra to administering physical and verbal rebukes to her when her behaviour stretches the envelope of his tolerance.
The novel's major weakness for me came in what I found to be a rather crude satire of the arrogance and unconscious imperialism with which the American aid workers enter Afghan life, but this is not unremitting, and some scenes involving these characters are very deftly handled.
I could not but recommend this novel to anyone wanting either a humane and balanced description of Afghan and traditional Muslim life or simply a highly engaging story with characters whose vividness is matched by their ability to generate empathy.
The bulk of the novel is concerned with the period when the Western nations, spearheaded by the Americans and the British, are moving into Afghanistan, and the reverberations of 9/11 are still freshly sounding around the globe. The book's major preoccupation is with describing and commenting upon Afghanistan's culture and people at this point, including all the aspects one would expect (religion, sexual politics, economic hardship, the view of the West, etc...). Prochazkova's device of using a converted outsider (a Russian woman who meets her future husband in Moscow and then marries him and joins his extended family) works well both in terms of giving a fresh perspective to this examination and in giving a natural form to the exposition of these subjects. Moreover, the tone of voice adopted by Herra, the narrator, is (at first startlingly) light, which lifts the novel above the potential pitfalls of being over-ponderous or sounding too dutiful or didactic. In keeping with this approach, there is much very successful humour in character description, situation and dialogue:
'When we first met, my future husband's rhapsodies about his family made me feel inferior.....I invented an actress aunt and when I was told off that actresses were often prostitutes I tried to embellish my family tree with a nuclear physicist uncle'.
Nobody in our family like Uncle Amin......he would laugh that horrid laugh of his that sounded like a hysterical little boy being circumcised.
The most remarkable character for me is the child Muhammad who, with his deformed body and eerie, eclectic knowledge, I read as a metaphor for what is produced when wildly diverse cultures interract, but who is a superb character in his own right.
This tone and approach by no means seal off the story from unpleasant territory, and the details gradually emerge of how the narrator's brother-in-law inflicts sadistic treatment upon his wife, which becomes one of the main drivers of this somewhat picaresque narrative. An effective contrast to the portrayal of the brother-in-law is Herra's husband, Nazir, who occupies a complex intersection of innate decency, sincere belief in traditional Afghan culture and a genuine love and compassion for his wife and family. This is a rounded portrait that is credible and moving, and which has him veer from behaving with Western style tenderness and respect to Herra to administering physical and verbal rebukes to her when her behaviour stretches the envelope of his tolerance.
The novel's major weakness for me came in what I found to be a rather crude satire of the arrogance and unconscious imperialism with which the American aid workers enter Afghan life, but this is not unremitting, and some scenes involving these characters are very deftly handled.
I could not but recommend this novel to anyone wanting either a humane and balanced description of Afghan and traditional Muslim life or simply a highly engaging story with characters whose vividness is matched by their ability to generate empathy.
January 9, 2018
Frišta je příběh o životě afghánských žen, je to příběh o životě ruské míšenky provdané do Afghánistánu, o kulturním šoku, a hlubokých kulturních rozdílech, které vůbec není jednoduché překonat ani jednoduše vyřešit různými humanitárními organizacemi a zahraniční pomocí. Co na knize nejvíce oceňuji je ten lehký až dokumentaristický autorčin styl, který nijak netlačí na city, a přitom čtenáře do hloubky seznamuje s charaktery a myšlenkami jednotlivých postav, se způsobem rodinného života i s tím, že přes veškerá příkoří i násilí může stále trvat láska k partnerovi. Zaujalo mě mnoho názorů afghánských žen a vlastně i mužů např. na mnohoženství, burky, vzdělání, otevřenost celého vyprávění a samozřejmě obdivuji znalost prostředí a myšlení prostých Afghánců. Doporučuji.
August 20, 2015
This is a very, very interesting novel that brings the reader to the heart of domestic life in post Taliban Afghanistan. Written with an extraordinary sense of humour, Freshta brings you unforgettable characters not only female but also male. It goes beyond the stereotypical hard life of Afghan women and the harsh life they have when seen under Western eyes.
The only thing that left me wondering is why the author decided to call the novel Freshta, in my view Herra, the narrator of the story is such a fascinating character that I wished the book was called after her. But that's just me.
The only thing that left me wondering is why the author decided to call the novel Freshta, in my view Herra, the narrator of the story is such a fascinating character that I wished the book was called after her. But that's just me.
February 7, 2013
In one fell swoop, Freshta packs a strong culturally diverse wallop: written by a Czech journalist and author, and translated into English by a Slovak translator, it tells the story of a woman with Russian and Tajik heritage living with her Afghan husband in post-Taliban Kabul.
Freshta is complicated in that it is a relatively long novel, and far-reaching in its subject matter. However, it is a surprisingly easy read. Herra is a confusing but endearing narrator, and Procházková manages to inject humour, however dark, into even the bleakest of scenes. The diverse and hugely entertaining cast of characters include Mad, a mysterious and deformed young man who seems to appear from nowhere and is often wise far beyond his years; Freshta, the novel’s namesake, a stunning woman desperate to escape her abusive husband; and Heidi, a clueless but well-meaning American aid worker.
Herra does not overtly condemn the oppressive nature of the society she now lives in, despite the fact that she comes from Russia, regarded by other characters in the novel as a Western land of freedom when compared to Afghanistan. Freshta is not a novel that offers easy answers to questions about war, women or the West, but it is a novel that is moving and funny in the most unexpected ways.
Freshta is complicated in that it is a relatively long novel, and far-reaching in its subject matter. However, it is a surprisingly easy read. Herra is a confusing but endearing narrator, and Procházková manages to inject humour, however dark, into even the bleakest of scenes. The diverse and hugely entertaining cast of characters include Mad, a mysterious and deformed young man who seems to appear from nowhere and is often wise far beyond his years; Freshta, the novel’s namesake, a stunning woman desperate to escape her abusive husband; and Heidi, a clueless but well-meaning American aid worker.
Herra does not overtly condemn the oppressive nature of the society she now lives in, despite the fact that she comes from Russia, regarded by other characters in the novel as a Western land of freedom when compared to Afghanistan. Freshta is not a novel that offers easy answers to questions about war, women or the West, but it is a novel that is moving and funny in the most unexpected ways.
November 4, 2012
Emotional and vast, with a lot to take in about politics, family, gender, morality, marriage, war, and everything else! Still digesting. Full review here http://littlewordsreview.wordpress.co...
March 3, 2023
Pozoruhodná kniha, která pravdivě, citlivě a často s humorem (i černým) popisuje afghánskou mentalitu a život v obyčejné kábulské rodině.
Co se týče obsahu, realita je často hrůzná a pro Evropany nepochopitelná. Ostuda před sousedy a zneuctění je pro Afghánce úplně nejhorší, co se může stát. A v knize vidíme, co všechno jsou schopni udělat, aby tomu zabránili nebo aby to zneuctění alespoň zmírnili.
Na knize se mi nejvíc líbí, že autorka nikoho nesoudí a ukazuje nám pohled afgánský i evropský a také to, že se jedná o úplně jinou realitu. Na což krásně navazuje linie příběhu o americké rozvojové pomoci. Tady nám autorka předkládá typický příklad střetu kultur.
Líbila se mi postava Mada a oblíbila jsem si hlavní hrdinku Herru, která pocházela z rusko-tádžické rodiny a do Kábulu se vdala a musela se přizpůsobit místnímu životu. Celý příběh měl pro mě naprosto nečekaný závěr. Krutý, dojemný a zároveň podaný s humorem.
Doporučuji všem, kteří mají stejně jako já rádi příběhy z různých kultur ze všech koutů světa.🌍
"Bylo těch ostud na mne ten den nějak příliš. Co všechno je v Afghánistánu ostuda, jsem ani za ta léta nepochopila."
"Po dlouhém zdvořilostním úvodu, kdy se všichni vyptali šestkrát na zdraví všech a poděkovali Alláhovi, že během posledních čtrnácti dnů nikdo neskonal, nastalo ticho. Prolomil ho otec Kaize, tlustý, málo sympatický muž, který zplodil tolik synů, že si ani nepamatoval jejich jména. Jeho žena na znamení, že nejde o žádnou přátelskou návštěvu, nepřišla mezi nás do sousedního pokojíčku, ale zůstala s muži, což si jako dáma v letech při takové mimořádné příležitosti mohla dovolit."
Co se týče obsahu, realita je často hrůzná a pro Evropany nepochopitelná. Ostuda před sousedy a zneuctění je pro Afghánce úplně nejhorší, co se může stát. A v knize vidíme, co všechno jsou schopni udělat, aby tomu zabránili nebo aby to zneuctění alespoň zmírnili.
Na knize se mi nejvíc líbí, že autorka nikoho nesoudí a ukazuje nám pohled afgánský i evropský a také to, že se jedná o úplně jinou realitu. Na což krásně navazuje linie příběhu o americké rozvojové pomoci. Tady nám autorka předkládá typický příklad střetu kultur.
Líbila se mi postava Mada a oblíbila jsem si hlavní hrdinku Herru, která pocházela z rusko-tádžické rodiny a do Kábulu se vdala a musela se přizpůsobit místnímu životu. Celý příběh měl pro mě naprosto nečekaný závěr. Krutý, dojemný a zároveň podaný s humorem.
Doporučuji všem, kteří mají stejně jako já rádi příběhy z různých kultur ze všech koutů světa.🌍
"Bylo těch ostud na mne ten den nějak příliš. Co všechno je v Afghánistánu ostuda, jsem ani za ta léta nepochopila."
"Po dlouhém zdvořilostním úvodu, kdy se všichni vyptali šestkrát na zdraví všech a poděkovali Alláhovi, že během posledních čtrnácti dnů nikdo neskonal, nastalo ticho. Prolomil ho otec Kaize, tlustý, málo sympatický muž, který zplodil tolik synů, že si ani nepamatoval jejich jména. Jeho žena na znamení, že nejde o žádnou přátelskou návštěvu, nepřišla mezi nás do sousedního pokojíčku, ale zůstala s muži, což si jako dáma v letech při takové mimořádné příležitosti mohla dovolit."
August 21, 2023
Nejdříve jsem se nemohla zacist. Pak jsem se chytla a přečetla prakticky jedním dechem. Mám ale rozporuplné pocity. Přišlo mi, že vykreslení situace v Afghánistánu je tu opravdu dobré. Hlavní hrdinka mi ale nesedla. Paradoxně jsem daleko více rozuměla humanitární pomocnici z Ameriky, která byla fakt strašná 😀 Konání dobra za každou cenu. Hlavní hrdinka, která se prakticky plně přizpůsobí mi ale přišla tak nějak málo uveritelna. To, že to žijí afghánské ženy - tomu rozumím. Ale že by se takhle přizpůsobila vysokoškolacka z civilizace (i když ruské) mi přijde fakt málo uvěřitelné. Ale je to možné...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2022
Knihu jsem přečetla v češtině. Takhle byla jedna z mé první knihy přečtené v češtině, a stála za každou stránku. Ačkoli je výklad mnohokrát o něco smutného, spisovatelka ovládá to majestátně. Moc doporučuji!
March 27, 2022
zajimavy pohled na nabozenstvi islamu v rodinach. pribeh je super a mega me drzel
April 4, 2023
Loved it. Read in 2 days.
August 17, 2023
It was funny it was touch sometimes… very well written! Hope Mad and Herra got out in peace 🤍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2022
Skvěle napsaná kniha o afghánské rodině a střetu dvou zcela odlišných kultur. Petra Procházková skvěle vypráví velmi těžké životní osudy s lehkostí, kterou knize přináší postava Mada.
September 5, 2014
This book may be like Orwell's "1984" in that I felt a powerlessness and hopelessness for the main characters. Orwell was, at least, science fiction. "Freshta" is fiction but set in contemporary Afghanistan. Where Orwell asks us to "imagine a boot stamping on a human face", with Procházková we can well imagine Afghani boots stamping on burka-clad women's faces.
Procházková provides relief in the end, it's true, for some of the characters. For the rest of that society there seems no way out.
I found the story compelling, at times reading almost to prove for myself it's story was implausible (so I could dismiss it). I couldn't.
There may be some characatures, especially of the US aid workers, but I've worked in those fields and met people like humanitarian aid workers in this book.
The presence of military might and humanitarian aid in a country where the conquerors and the benefactors understand so little of the culture is apparent. The author was herself a journalist and aid worker in Afghanistan. When I first heard of this book I was Intrigued. I have read a lot of Czech literature but almost all of it is Czechs writing about their own experience, in their own country or abroad. This book is by a Czech but about a Tajik-Russian woman married into an Afghani family. It's rare that English speakers get translations of works like this. I want to encourage that.
Herra, the narrator, speaks of the abuse she is subjected to from men. It appears that the male society has no self-reflective abilities at all. If men and boys grab and fondle women on the street, it is the woman who dressed inappropriately, who walked "suggestively" despite being wrapped in cloth head to toe. It seems the men are repressed socially and sexually and so act inappropriately to satisfy their natural urges. Doing so, the men also imagine that the women must also have these same urges and want to express them in the same way. Any time a woman is found alone in public, regardless of the circumstances, she is judged by the males for the most extreme perversions. There's a whole lot of projection going on. I wonder now if the author, Procházková, having lived through Communism, felt an empathy for the woman she then worked with in Afghanistan. They are different types of oppression, but to the oppressed, the feeling must be similar.
I must add that the women of the story struggle with the societal constraints but nevertheless, love and are devoted to, their families and husbands.
The other thing I get from this story is that everyone seems to quote the Koran to justify everyone of their actions. It seems at times the Koran says many, often contradictory, things.
Procházková provides relief in the end, it's true, for some of the characters. For the rest of that society there seems no way out.
I found the story compelling, at times reading almost to prove for myself it's story was implausible (so I could dismiss it). I couldn't.
There may be some characatures, especially of the US aid workers, but I've worked in those fields and met people like humanitarian aid workers in this book.
The presence of military might and humanitarian aid in a country where the conquerors and the benefactors understand so little of the culture is apparent. The author was herself a journalist and aid worker in Afghanistan. When I first heard of this book I was Intrigued. I have read a lot of Czech literature but almost all of it is Czechs writing about their own experience, in their own country or abroad. This book is by a Czech but about a Tajik-Russian woman married into an Afghani family. It's rare that English speakers get translations of works like this. I want to encourage that.
Herra, the narrator, speaks of the abuse she is subjected to from men. It appears that the male society has no self-reflective abilities at all. If men and boys grab and fondle women on the street, it is the woman who dressed inappropriately, who walked "suggestively" despite being wrapped in cloth head to toe. It seems the men are repressed socially and sexually and so act inappropriately to satisfy their natural urges. Doing so, the men also imagine that the women must also have these same urges and want to express them in the same way. Any time a woman is found alone in public, regardless of the circumstances, she is judged by the males for the most extreme perversions. There's a whole lot of projection going on. I wonder now if the author, Procházková, having lived through Communism, felt an empathy for the woman she then worked with in Afghanistan. They are different types of oppression, but to the oppressed, the feeling must be similar.
I must add that the women of the story struggle with the societal constraints but nevertheless, love and are devoted to, their families and husbands.
The other thing I get from this story is that everyone seems to quote the Koran to justify everyone of their actions. It seems at times the Koran says many, often contradictory, things.
February 19, 2017
Je vidět, že kniha pochází z pera člověka, který se v prostředí příběhu dobře vyzná. Petra Procházková je novinářka, která má neuvěřitelný um přesně a jasně vystihnout každý moment nejen při dělání reportáží z různých často i dost nebezpečných míst válečného konfliktu, ale i při psaní tohoto románu jej mohla naprosto skvěle využít.
Herra je dcerou ruské matky a její otec pochází z Tádžikistánu. V Moskvě se seznamuje s Afgháncem, kterého si posléze bere za muže. Dostává se tak do velmi tradiční afghánské rodiny, která dost přísně ctí po staletí vžité tradice a striktně dodržuje pravidla spjatá s nimi. Herra se střetává s tímto pro ni doposud ne zcela známým světem, ale chce-li s rodinou žít, musí tato pravidla akceptovat. Jak se cítí žena schovaná pod burkou? Co jí jede hlavou?
Herra je dcerou ruské matky a její otec pochází z Tádžikistánu. V Moskvě se seznamuje s Afgháncem, kterého si posléze bere za muže. Dostává se tak do velmi tradiční afghánské rodiny, která dost přísně ctí po staletí vžité tradice a striktně dodržuje pravidla spjatá s nimi. Herra se střetává s tímto pro ni doposud ne zcela známým světem, ale chce-li s rodinou žít, musí tato pravidla akceptovat. Jak se cítí žena schovaná pod burkou? Co jí jede hlavou?
November 18, 2017
Rozhodě stojí za přečtení. V mnoha momentech je pro nás Evropany nepochopitelná, ale zároveň fascinující a poučná. Výborně napsaná.
Na západě ženy pomalu považují za obtěžování, že jim muž otevře dveře. Zatímco v Afghánistánu je normální, že manželka je svému muži naprosto oddaná a může být bita za to, že sama mluvila s cizím mužem. Když přijde návštěva, žena je zavřená v jiné místnosti a nesmí o ní být vůbec vědět.
Afghánští muži svým ženám, aby je uchránili před ostatními muži, přikazují, aby chodili v burce, pod záminkou, že to nařizuje korán. Nevím, nečetl jsem ho, ale autorka v knize tvrdí, že o zahalení žen v koránu hovoří pouze pasáž: "A nechť spustí závoje své na ňadra svá. A nechť ukazují své ozdoby jedině svým manželům..."
Paradox je chování humanitárních pracovníků. Naprosto jim chybí kulturně-společenská empatie. Nevím, proč nejsou před misí proškoleni. Nedochází jim, že žena nemůže být s cizím mužem sama v místnosti. Natož aby si mu sedla v přeplněném autě na klín, za to ji hrozí až zabití. Tamějším ženám se příliš nedostává lidské důstojnosti. V knize to vypadá, že vrchol humanitární pomoci je rozdávání potravin a poskytnutí lékařská péče.
Na západě ženy pomalu považují za obtěžování, že jim muž otevře dveře. Zatímco v Afghánistánu je normální, že manželka je svému muži naprosto oddaná a může být bita za to, že sama mluvila s cizím mužem. Když přijde návštěva, žena je zavřená v jiné místnosti a nesmí o ní být vůbec vědět.
Afghánští muži svým ženám, aby je uchránili před ostatními muži, přikazují, aby chodili v burce, pod záminkou, že to nařizuje korán. Nevím, nečetl jsem ho, ale autorka v knize tvrdí, že o zahalení žen v koránu hovoří pouze pasáž: "A nechť spustí závoje své na ňadra svá. A nechť ukazují své ozdoby jedině svým manželům..."
Paradox je chování humanitárních pracovníků. Naprosto jim chybí kulturně-společenská empatie. Nevím, proč nejsou před misí proškoleni. Nedochází jim, že žena nemůže být s cizím mužem sama v místnosti. Natož aby si mu sedla v přeplněném autě na klín, za to ji hrozí až zabití. Tamějším ženám se příliš nedostává lidské důstojnosti. V knize to vypadá, že vrchol humanitární pomoci je rozdávání potravin a poskytnutí lékařská péče.
January 13, 2017
Autorka popisuje život ženy, která nebyla zvyklá z domova zahalovat se, ale nyní musí. Do svého manžela se jako mladá dívka zamilovala. Jenže později zjistí, že život je zcela jiný, než jaký si ho představovala. Začíná to svatební nocí, kdy ho potupí, když zjistí, že již není pannou. Pokračuje to neschopností dát mu potomka a pokračuje jejím neutuchajícím zájmem o vzdělání, svoji rodnou zem a touhu mluvit a mluvit. Jenže není v Moskvě, ale v Kábulu. A zde platí jiná pravidla. Ačkoliv na ni byl její muž drsný a značně omezoval její svobodu, milovala ho. Stále při něm, bála se o něj. A sama zůstala v pekle, ačkoliv měla možnost z něj utéct. Protipólem je Belgičanka, která zde hodlá pomáhat ženám s vymaněním se z jejich nuzného života. Pro ni je nepochopitelné, proč ženy od mužů jednoduše neodejdou. Dochází ke střetu dvou kultur. A kniha je psána čtivě, ne nějak komplikovaně, ale lidsky, a tím si čtenáře dostane.
October 24, 2015
Hodně dobré. S notnou dávkou černého humotu pojatý příběh poloviční Rusky, která se vdá do Afgánistánu. Autorka Afgánce vykresluje realisticky. Stejně tak bez růžových brýlí, jako bez nenávistných výmyslů.
May 14, 2013
It keeps you reading along but I would have preferred a bit more anguish in the characters. It reminded me of The Bookseller of Kabul but that one was a touch more original.
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