Rating: 
Summary: A portrait of a nation in crisis
Review: "The Swallows of Kabul," by Yasmina Khadra, is a novel that has been translated from the French by John Cullen. The book's dustcover notes that Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Mohammed Moulessehoul, an Algerian army officer who used the feminine pseudonym in order to avoid censorship.
"Swallows" is a gripping tale that takes place in Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban. The story revolves around the lives of the men and women who endured life under this religious fundamentalist regime. The author vividly depicts the cruelty and violence of the regime. The main characters include a jailer who guards the Taliban's victims and a female lawyer who chafes under the regime's sexist oppression.
The book is full of memorable details and scenes, such as a colorfully portrayed group of disabled war veterans who congregate around a mosque. Khadra's prose is at times grotesque, at times poetic. We see the hopes and frustrations of the individual characters. And we also see the possibility of compassion and redemption in a world of brutality, suffering, and injustice. As an American soldier, I served in Afghanistan and was deeply touched by the tragedy and beauty of that land and its people; I thank both the author and translator of this book for bringing this moving tale to life.
Rating: 
Summary: A Country in Fantastic Daydreams
Review: A Country in Fantastic Daydreams
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" In our Western Judeo-Christian society and culture this passage (from the Bible) holds great meaning. And typical Hollywood stories play off this verse-when a person sacrifices his or her life for a friend typically there is a happy ending where justice prevails. Not so with Yasmina Khadra's (the nom de plume of Mohammed Moulesshoul) Swallows of Kabul. The setting for the novel is in Taliban ruled Afghanistan and we follow four character's lives and their influences on each other. He creates for the reader a hellish world where love, justice, or God hold no power and the only outcome for placing faith on such ideals is death.
Khadra re-creates Kabul with all the dust, heat, squalor and confusion. The images from the reading are so shocking it's hard to believe the reality of it; it seems fantasy, more like a desolate plant from Star Wars. Under the Taliban rule the citizens of Afghanistan live in isolation and fear; their community drastically uprooted. We follow the lives of Atiq Shaukat and his wife Masuratt, and Moshen Ramat and his wife, Zunaira. The interactions of these four people's are a series of reactions catalyzed by the stoning of a woman caught in adultery. All of them attempt to make sense of their world where all life has been sucked out and threatens to suck the life out of them too. All of them fight against the city of Kabul turning them to something they are not. All of them watch as their partners succumb to hopeless, and they themselves wonder, "What is happening to me?" In the book, you can feel the characters loose touch of reality, become hardened, and lash out irrationally.
Khadra shows that in such a situation of hopelessness and ruin, there can be or is no good. When Zunaira, driven to the point of madness by the brutality towards women, accidentally kills her husband, she is sentenced to death in a political public execution. She is held in a jail where Atiq is the jailer. Her beauty awakens him and he is bent on saving her. His wife, already dying of cancer, substitutes her self for Zanaira in hopes that life and love might flourish. However, the outcome is quite the opposite. Evil is not overcome by good, good is overcome by evil. In the end there is no redemptive value for this great sacrifice. Atiq is ultimately undone by his own passion to save Zanaira and is stoned to death.
The most horrifying aspect of this novel is the characters inability to maintain a sense of reality. All the characters are painfully self aware and realize the impact of their world on their psyche. As much as they resist they end up losing their humanity in the process of losing their country. We would like to think that if we, as Americans, were placed in the same desperate situation that we would not react such a manner. But, Khadra creates such a powerful sense of cyclic violence and despair that maintaining any rational thought would be impossible. We are left with a sense of despair; in Taliban ruled Kabul there is no hope, no happy ending, and no justice. There are awkward places in the book where it seems if Khadra is trying too hard. It is as if Khadra is attempting to make sure that you "get it." This can be overlooked though. Ultimately, we are left with the longing of a broken nation mourning their loss. A man fleeing the city encapsulates this essence, "He wants to go to the county he's seen in fantastic daydreams, the one he's built with his sighs and his prayers and his dearest wishes." (106)
Rating:
Summary: The Swallows of Kabul.....An astonishing work
Review: A sad, painful, haunting novel by Yasmina Khadra.This is the story of 4 people who live in Kabul: A Kabul that has degenerated into an urban economic and psychological wasteland under the Taliban. Then one event changes the course of the lives of these 4 people: bringing them into contact with one another and making all of them reflect and focus not only on the past but also what is happening to their somewhat "safe" present existence. The narrative is powerful, the story is exquisitely told. It will keep you turning the pages until you reach the conclusion. Highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Personalizing the Tragedy of Society: The Swallows of Kabul
Review: A tragic piece of literature that forces readers to stare atrocities and oppression in the face!!! Yasmina Khadra's The Swallows of Kabul is a heart-wrenching tragedy that dramatizes a society under the control of the Taliban. Khadra tells the story of a society that most readers wish had no factual basis whatsoever. The book is short and easy-to-read but some readers may find it difficult to read due to its depressing subject matter and negative outlook on life. The four main characters are imaginary, but the struggles and internal conflicts they face are a part of the human condition. The book addresses the horrors of war, oppression, poverty, murder, and a sort of unseen genocide that is spreading in Kabul. The images in Khadra's work should not be new to any reader. American society is bombarded by images of tragedies on the televised news and in newspapers on a daily basis. Many individuals in society shut these images and sound bites out as a coping mechanism to numb the pain associated with such atrocities. Unlike the news, Khadra personalizes the tragedy for readers. His story is not about seventy nameless victims who died last night. Khadra's story is about four distinctly different individuals who are trying to cope and survive in their society. Khadra is trying to educate, enlighten, and challenge readers to think about horrible injustices within society.
The four main characters are the lynchpins of the novel. The story is somewhat melodramatic but this technique forces readers to hope for a positive resolution and develop empathy for characters who are trapped in a situation with no easy way out. Atiq, Moshen, Mussarat, and Zunaira are prisoners to a society that thrives on the actual and emotional death of its people. There lives are being impacted by the societal forces that alter who they are and what they are capable of. The powers of society have created a situation in which the people have no freedom or control. This situation takes an emotional toll on the behavior of the characters. Atiq is suffering with depression and disenchantment. Khadra writes, "Left to his own devices, Atiq has lost his ability to manage a situation that's steadily growing more and more complicated. If the doctor has thrown in the towel, what's left except for a miracle? And do miracles still have any currency in Kabul? Sometimes when he fears his nerves may crack under the pressure, Atiq clasps a fatihah in his trembling hands and implores Heaven..." (21). Moshen has been transformed from a pacifist to a man of violence. Moshen tells Zunaira, "I don't know how, but I joined the crowd of degenerates who were clamoring for her blood. It was as though I'd been taken up by a whirlwind. I, too, wanted to be in a good position to watch the impure beast perish" (36). Mussarat's body is decomposing and fading away to nothingness. Her illness is a metaphor of the passive genocide that is spreading through the land like a cancer. Khadra writes, "[Mussarat] is decomposing faster than her prayers. Her face is nothing but a fleshless skull with furrowed cheeks and pinched lips. Her eyes are glazed, icy, glimmering with a faint, deathly light, as though shreds of glass lie deep in her pupils"(120). Zunaira has lost her identity. When describing her experience wearing a burqa Zunaira states, "The Shirt of Nessus wouldn't do as much damage to my dignity as that wretched getup. It cancels my face and takes away my identity and turns me into an object. Here at least, I'm me, Zunaira..." (77). A major topic in the novel is whether or not there is hope in the gloomy society the characters live. Readers are given glimmers of hope throughout the book for the characters' futures. The ending suggests that societies that entrap its occupants, strip them of their identity, and have no freedom of emotional expression are destroying its people and inevitably crippling the society.
Khadra's The Swallows of Kabul has two levels of meaning. The first level is the literal or superficial meaning to the book. The book educates readers about the oppression of the Taliban and its impact on individuals in the world. The book can be viewed as anti-Taliban propaganda. However, readers must be careful not to assume that the solution to the problems of a fundamental society would be the introduction of American democracy. It is biased and narrow minded to believe that American democracy is the sole and best form of government in the world. The second level is the figurative or insightful meaning to the book. The book warns against any governmental or societal power that oppresses the people by limiting emotional expression or individuality. Khadra is challenging all readers to contemplate the governmental system they live in. The irony of the situation is that all governments control its people in one way or another. Thankfully, unlike the society Khadra presents in The Swallows of Kabul, all world governments do not go to extreme measures to limit and control the individuality of its people. Works like The Swallows of Kabul inform and warn the world of oppressive societies that seek to destroy uniqueness.
Rating: 
Summary: Not quite three dimensional
Review: As other reviewers have noted, this is not by any means a slight novel. But I found the Swallows of Kabul to be less than satisfying. The translation from the French is, to my ears, a little clunky. And the characters that Khadra has created do not seem to me to be three dimensional.
Rating:
Summary: "It's up to us... to keep hope alive."
Review: Don't let the compact size of THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL deter you; packed inside this small book is a beautiful yet startling story of life under Taliban rule. Originally published in French in 2002 and only recently translated into English this book captures the imagination and doesn't let go until the last page. At the center of this tale are two men who are otherwise strangers with the exception of frequently coming into contact with each other in public. Atiq Shaukat is a jailor for the condemned. He watches over the prisoners until they are hauled off to the Kabul stadium to their execution. Atiq's commanders along with others express their concerns about Atiq's mental health and stability. Atiq is frequently seen wondering the streets of Kabul muttering to himself and being transfixed by his wife's failing health. On the other hand Mohsen Ramat is undergoing is own internal crisis. Although he defines himself as a conscientious objector and opposed to the Taliban he is shocked when he finds that he relished delight during a public stoning of a woman. Not only is Mohsen shocked with himself by his behavior but also he regrets the actions of his beloved wife after he confides in her. The trials and tribulations of these two men become forever intertwined as the novel progresses to a climatic ending. Yasmina Khadra's sense of Kabul is brutal and unrelenting. The descriptions of the arid weather, the relentless dust, and the powerful force of the scorching sun make one grateful to be in the shade. He successfully brought to life the rugged and dry landscape of Afghanistan and the city of Kabul high in the mountains. In addition to the physical descriptions of the land, Khadra's focus on the plight of the women and men are superb and insightful. He adequately describes the dire affect that Taliban rule had on the moral consciences of ordinary individuals. While the main characters are male, I believe the main focus is the plight of Mohsen and Atiq's wives under harsh religious rule that places no value on the feminine gender. The swallows in the title are a euphemism for the faded blue and golden yellow burqas that erase all individual characteristics of women and renders them objects. They are the sparrows of Kabul, and the spirit of this novel. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Rather Trite Story Marred Even More By Its Prose
Review: I had mixed feelings about THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL. The story is interesting, though a bit trite, and I found the prose more than a bit overblown, so much so that it detracted from the story, something prose should never do. THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL is set in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban and concerns two couples, the Shaukats and the Ramats. Atiq and Musaarat Shaukat have had little joy in their lives or in their marriage. Atiq, a former soldier, now works as a jailkeeper. When he was injured in combat, it was Musarrat who nursed him back to health. Now, however, Musarrat is ill with cancer. Mohsen and Zunaira Ramat are quite different. They're far wealthier and better educated than are the Shaukats. Mohsen was a diplomat and Zunaira had once been a lawyer, but now, under Taliban rule, she languishes at home because she refuses to wear a burqa. Eventually, however, because of tragic events, the lives of Atiq and Musarrat and Mohsen and Zunaira all intersect. THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL is written in present tense interior monologues that give the story a wonderful immediacy, but, as I mentioned previously, the prose is so overblown it actually detracts from the story. It felt to me as though Khadra was trying very hard to be poetic, but if this was the case, it didn't work, at least for me. The subject matter in this book is very dark and tragic but many of Khadra's images were so overblown, they almost made me laugh out loud. THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL is a story of lives that have, in all probability, been destroyed beyond redemption. While this certainly isn't a "bad" book, I didn't find anything new in it, nothing that was really thought provoking. The book caused me to feel sympathy for the people of Afghanistan in general, but not for Khadra's fictional characters. When I think of the book, the thing I remember most is Khadra's horribly overblown prose, and that's certainly not good.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep looking
Review: I heard an interview with the author on NPR which piqued my interest in this story. I requested it at my local library. When I curled up to read, I was shocked and actually appalled by the first sentence, which I'll reproduce here: "In the middle of nowhere, a whirlwind spins like a sorceress flinging out her skirts in a macabre dance; yet not even this hysteria serves to blow the dust off the calcified palm trees thrust against the sky like beseeching arms" (1). If this sentence doesn't make you roll your eyes and check your calendar to see if it's overuse of adjectives and bad similie day, then you may like this book. I don't know if it's was "lost in translation," but I couldn't get past the distracted writing.
Rating:
Summary: (4.5)The disintegration of men¿s souls
Review: In the wild emptiness of the Afghan countryside, "erosion grinds away with complete impunity"; this is the land of the Pashtuns. After the Russian invasion, war comes to stay in Afghanistan, filling the skies with death and decay. This terrible episode is followed by the terrorist reign of the Taliban, continuing the brutalization of the Afghani people, rendering the streets of Kabul joyless and unsafe. Grown used to frequent executions under the Taliban, Mohsen Ramat's conscience no longer bothers him. The few women on the streets at any given time are specters, existing at the fringes of the crowd. Ramat and his wife have lost everything, their comfortable home and lifestyle, their freedom to wander through a marketplace that no longer exists. He wanders the city, while Zunaira stays inside, rather than endure the violence of the streets. Seduced by earlier, happy days, she agrees to walk with her husband. Accosted by the Taliban while on their walk, Zunaira is humiliated beyond endurance, her shame more painful because she understands the enormity of her loss. After the incident, Zunaira looks upon her young husband as the enemy, those who roam the streets with whips, attacking passersby indiscriminately. Mohsen is, like them, a man. Zunaira refuses to remove her burqa inside their house, although her husband begs her, "Your face is the only sun I have left." Implacable, Zunaira cannot forgive. When he tries to remove the burqa, she resists and they struggle. Tragedy ensues and Zunaira's fate is sealed by the dictates of the land. Atiq Shaukat, the jailer in charge of guarding prisoners before execution, nurses his own discontent under the deadening rule of the Taliban. Atiq drifts between his dingy office and home. The boredom of his daily life leeches out all feeling and memory, all desire. When Zunaira is brought into the prison, Atiq falls in love. Atiq is so warped by unhappiness that he doesn't realize the agony he is experiencing is love. It falls to his ailing wife to explain the meaning of his strange new emotion. The Swallows of Kabul is a scathing indictment of a world turned to stone, where life has become uninhabitable. With women's compassion extracted from their society, men's hearts have hardened, left with only despair, arrogance and religious extremism. This small book marks a rapid descent from discontent into hell. Like the missing swallows, the bearers of hope are sentenced to endless days of mourning, covered in colors of "fever and fear". (The author, Mohamed Moulessehoul, an Algerian army officer, used a pseudonym to avoid the oversight of his manuscript by the military censors.) Luan Gaines/2004.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally Well Done
Review: Khandra's books are simple with multiple levels of perception. More importantly, they are masterfully wordsmithed (the over-used term is well earned in this case). These are the kind of books that haunt you for years as they become part of your psyche.....and you see parallels to the writing all around you.......the writing truly provides you with a new perception of your own life.
Here are all the books to date, with a bit of info on each:
Swallows of Kabul (2004)
A bit hit in France, this story of 2 couples and their attempts to cope with the rule of the Taliban is mesmerizing.
Wolf Dreams (2003) 3rd of an Algerian trilogy
A story of a Moslem Jihadi, from sweet boy to fanatic fundamentalist has been recommended for insight into the driving force of suicidist youngsters.
Morituri (2003) 2nd of an Algerian trilogy
An Algerian kidnaping story that provides a compelling look at the definition of crime in a permanently impoverished society.
In The Name Of God (2000) 1st of an Algerian trilogy
A look at the phenomena of Moslem fundamentalism in Algeria, this book has strong parallels to Camu's "The Plague." In some ways it is a more modern variation on a theme of Camu's work.
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