Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a woman's view.
Review: The women are treated worst than slaves. Young unmarried girls are forbidden to have any romantic feelings. Expressing them could cost them their life. Men can do little wrong.
A young wife is rumored to have committed adultry so her mother sends her three brothers to murder her. They blame it on a household accident. No police, no investigation, she was a woman.
Even with the Taliban driven out, it is the family unit that brutalizes the women not the goverment.
The women wear the same clothes for months. After a weekly trip to the communal bath they put the same clothes back on. The hygene is primitive. A fourth of the new-born children die in their first year.
And this story is of an relatively wealthy and progressive family.
You must read this book.
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Summary: Best Seller in Norway
Review: There was an immense amount of controversy surrounding this book upon its publication in English, because it was at that point that the main character got a chance to read it. Sultan Khan, the fictionalize personality of Shah Mohammed Rais, the Kabul bookseller with whom Seierstad lived while being a journalist in Kabul, was and remains outraged by Seierstad's supposed defamation of his character. Nevertheless, THE BOOKSELLER OF KABUL is the all time bestselling non-fiction book in Norway.Seierstad highlights what the west has already stereotyped; women in Afghanistan have no power and the men are cruel. Unfortunately this book reaffirms stereotypes and puts a human face on them. Khan is a polygomist who neglects his first wife and ignores the short-comings of men in his family. At the same time, he provided Afghanistan with books during the Taliban's strong hold, which he hid between his houses and at homes of friends, thus making him a rather Renaissance hero, bringing the written word and pictures of beauty available to the citizens of Afghanistan when the Taliban dissallowed most books excepting the Koran. This is a real portrayal of a real family through a first-hand account in a country where few Americans have been. Because of that, I think it is an important book for those who want to know more about the middle east and about the relations between men and women. If Afghanistan both pre and post Taliban interest you, I would highly suggest reading Khaled Hosseini's THE KITE RUNNER, a truely amazing piece of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This book details the daily life of a middle-class family in Kabul, the family of Sultan Khan, a bookseller in Kabul. Sultan has lived through several represive regimes, all of which burned and censored his beloved books. Now with the Taliban gone, he is free to pursue his business and his dreams of turning his large collection into a library for Afghanistan. However, this story isn't all roses and sunshine. The dark secret of his family (and of many others in the region) is the horrible mistreatment of the women in his family. The lives of women are completely controlled by men in his society. The women have to wera very restrictive clothing even after the fall of the Taliban. They can't leave home by themselves and they have no say in who they marry. They often have to marry men many years older than they are. In one situation, a girl secretly spent 30 minutes alone with a boy just walking in the park. As a result, she was severely beaten almost to the point of death, and she was locked in a room for more than a month. After reading this book, you'll cry for the women in Afghanistan. It's a little heavy, but I recommend this book for everyone, and especially for those who are concerned about the well-being of women around the world.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is depressing-
Review: This book is written by a journalist who was able to live with an Afghanie family in Kabhul, Afganistan. She was able to witness the entire workings of a "regular" family.
The man, Sultan, has two wives and many children and how this affects the family structure, plus, how it affects the two women. The family also lives with Sultan's mother, sisters, and brothers and how the women have to take care of the family.
Sultan owns a book shop where he keeps books of old Afghan culture and stories. The story takes place right after the Taliban's regime crumbled. The women still wear their burkas in town and how even though the Taliban has left, how some old habits from them still stay the same.
The book is mostly stories and common events that go on within this family.
I thought the book was good, and the places and events were well defined.
Ellen
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, riveting story about Afghanistan and its culture
Review: This book presents a fascinating study of how, despite the pervasiveness of Western culture, Afghanistan is still a very different culture that defies assimilation. The title character, the bookseller Sultan, is the perfect example of this. He believes in books and education and prides himself on his cosmopolitan Westernized persona, yet he is the lord and master of his family, making all decisions and even preventing his children from reaching their potential through education. His daughter, Leila, has a particularly poignant story. Being the youngest, she is the virtual slave of the family, ordered around by all the male members of the family and forced to suppress her ambition to become a teacher. Her tentative efforts to free herself from the grasp of her demanding family are painful to read. Yet, throughout this book, the author is careful not to simply condemn the attitude of Sultan towards the women in his family, but simply tells their stories as a journalist should, without judgement or interpretation. It would certainly be easy to dismiss the attitudes and mores of Afghan society as archaic, but that would not lead to understanding the complexities of this fascinating culture. And only through understanding these complexities will we begin to appreciate the similarities and differences with our own way of life.
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Summary: One disclaimer for a noble effort
Review: This book represents a noble effort and discusses a subject which should uplift our hearts, but you may want to read Alan Riding's 29 October 2003 article entitled "The Bookseller of Kabul versus the Journalist of Oslo" along with this book. Apparently, the hero of the story (the bookseller) has expressed outrage over certain aspects of the book and is contemplating a lawsuit.
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Summary: Bookseller Of Kabul
Review: This book was an easy read and could be read by teens interested in other cultures.
It details the life of a family in Kabul and shows the complete domination of the senior male which is the cultural tradition. It is not only the females, including his two wives, but also his sons who are completely stifled by his rule. I'm sure he doesn't perceive himself to be a bad man or even regard that he is ruining so many lives.He is simply folowing cultural tradition. But one cannot help but share their despair.
I understand the bookseller is contemplating a lawsuit. I think the author was extremely fair to him. I think the real problem is that this was the first time that anyone in his personal life did not submit to his control. And it was a woman! His honor and the imperative that he not appear weak have been severely threatened in his eyes.
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Summary: Wonderful Book!
Review: This turned out to be a wonderful book. I bought it without knowing a lot of its contents but reading The Bookseller of Kabul was entirely satisfying. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand and lived with a couple of Thai families. I can identify with being the outside observer and could relate to the anger I felt when there was a clash of a cultural beliefs. I was never more hopping mad in my life. There is something totally disorienting about living with people from another culture in their country. Most people who visit other countries do nothing more than hang out in tourist areas and have little contact with the people who live there. Anse Sierstad has provided Westerners with her valuable experience.
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Summary: THE MISOGYNIST OF KABUL
Review: This weekend I was able to read two books that take place in Kabul, Afghanistan; the first, "The Swallows of Kabul," and the second, "The Bookseller of Kabul." The first is a novel, the second a work of non-fiction; the first concurrent with the reign of the Taliban, the second post-Taliban. Together they provide an interesting look at the horrors of religious fundamentalism in both its extreme and slightly more moderate aspects. I've reviewed, "The Swallows of Kabul," on its page. "The Bookseller of Kabul," is an interesting piece of non-fiction that seems to have been touched by the author's imagination in a way that allows it to move like a novel rather than a pure piece of reportage. The author, Asne Seierstad, spent three months with Sultan Khan, the title's self-same bookseller, and if more factual than imaginative, became privy to the life and secrets of a family that though somewhat liberal should have kept their secrets a bit more private. Of course, it's to our benefit they didn't. It may also be to Ms. Seierstad's dismay as she faces Mr. Khan's (actual name: Shah Mohammed Rais) legal wrath. Mr. Khan/Rais is upset that his guest chose to portray the family, especially himself, in such a negative light. He has double reason to be upset: whether or not, or how much Ms. Seierstadt embellished, Mr. Khan/Rais is going to come out looking like household tyrant - it's only a matter of degrees. For all its novelistic impulses and rhythms, "The Bookseller of Kabul," is less a psychological portrait than a soap-operatic gloss of "three months in the life." We discover very little "why," but quite a bit of "what," and the "what" is less than pretty. Whether it's the rape of a teenage beggar, or the marginalization of Mr.Khan/Rais's number one wife it seems that Ms. Seierstad's purpose is more to shine a light on Afghan misogynation than anything else, and in this she succeeds. Whether pre or post-Taliban the Islam Westerners are only just beginning to view, (a cultural benefit of war?) treats women as a distinctly lower form of life - meant to be kept literally in the shadows. In fact, the omnipresent burqua ostensibly meant to protect women's and men's virtue, and whether in blue or black, reduces the wearer to the status of a shadow, neither to be viewed, acknowledged nor addressed. Interesting that women are objectified in the heightened fashion of the West as well as in the reductio of the burqua. As far as it goes, "The Bookseller of Kabul," is a quick and interesting read, and another addition to the literature of the horrors of Afghanistan. But what would really be interesting would be some insight into love's survival because what we're being told of Islam is that if love survives at all it's in a stunted form. If true it's sad, and if not it's sadder still that we haven't heard differently.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating says Jean Sasson
Review: This well written book is worth the money and the time. I was a little distressed at the author's disregard of her host's feelings about doing this book, but all in all, I don't regret buying it, or reading it.
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