It’s almost absurd to expect happy novels from Afghanistan. I knew I had sorrow coming when I selected this as my third book of 2024. I could have shelved it for later, but how could I resist this blue from Archipelago Books, translated from the Farsi to boot? How often can one find literature translated from the Farsi?
So it was on me when it started to break my heart and made me recoil from the brutality.
Unlike most books about Afghanistan, the characters are not caught in the crossfire of any of the wars that have ravaged Afghanistan for decades. It is set in a picturesque mountain village in the early 2000s when life was simple and young girls were allowed to dream about education and love, and villagers were content with raising livestock and planting their own wheat, beans, and melons. That is until the Talibs discovered the beauty of their nine-year-olds and found their land ideal for the cultivation of poppy to be sold to the “infidels”. Tali Girls is based on true events.
The first person narration shifts from one character to another, effectively and intimately thrusting the reader into a world plucked from its innocence.
I would be reluctant to recommend this for the anguish that it contains, but I am more inclined to listen to one of this novel’s wisest characters:
“‘Remember,’ he says, sitting in his library, ‘the more your eyes open to the world, the more you are likely to suffer. But better that you learn and understand… Read, Kowsar, read to understand the world around you.”
And so, we read. We must.
The Book-Butterfly 
Part of me wants to put this in the cart, the other says “save yourself the heartache” and not buy it. I can only imagine the horror and anguish the pages contain.
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I have a hunch that you will listen to the first voice, but maybe a little bit later. I know it’s not the best way to start a reading year. Your friend here just finds it hard to resist new Archipelago Books publications!
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Where do you buy the Archipelago books? Direct from their site in the USA? I’m struggling to find online here on Aussie sites. Ugh! I miss book depository so bad!
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Amazon, unfortunately! The downside about ordering direct from publishers is that they mail through regular postal services, and postal service is crappy in the Philippines. The average parcel from overseas unpredictably arrives somewhere between 2 – 6 months. Amazon, on the other hand, ships free to the Philippines via courier services and delivery time is one week!
And how I miss Book Depository, too!!!
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Ok so amazon it is… ugh! I loathe them! Lol. Im really struggling to buy books since book depository has gone… the Aussie site I try and buy off barely has any of the books I look for. I couldn’t find Tali Girls on it. I’ll have to go Amazon I guess. First world problems. 😂
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😅
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Thank you for reading the book and writing about it. I have written 14 novels so far. The basis of all my books is life under the cover of war. In a country that has been at war for nearly fifty years, can we write anything else? Afghan women are the main victims of this fifty-year war. To write my novels, I traveled to most parts of Afghanistan and got to know the environment and people, and for this reason I am known as a realist. A book that doesn’t make you think and you can’t learn anything from it is less worth reading.
I myself cried while writing Tully Girls. The reality of our life is that sometimes we laugh at our fate and sometimes we cry. Afghan people have the motivation to live even in war.
Our sons and daughters have learned how to love if they are safe from Satan. Maybe this is the secret of survival.
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It’s an honor to have an author leave their tracks in my book journal. Thank you for dropping by, and most of all, thank you for writing these stories. Please know that they are valued and appreciated.
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