Caravans

Rating:
Summary: James Saw It Coming.
Review: In light of all the events that occurred around Sept 11th, I decided to read CARAVANS. In this book, Michener describes the landscape and the people who make up Afghanistan during the 1940's. Read this book If you would like to learn about the landscape of Kabul, and what the country was like in appearance.
What I found interesting was that Michener, wrote of the Afgan people. He considered them as brutal, crude and indifferent to change. Yet one of the main Afgan characters keeps explaining that his country will be modernized and come to it's own someday...providing that there be enough well educated Afgans to establish law an order.

Unfortunately, since the Rule of the Teliban Afganistan has sadly reversed itself from 1944, but 1844, in both its laws and tolerance to change. No TV, Radio...Even CHESS OR CHECKERS are not permitted. Amazingly, the way Michener wrote of Afghanistan then, is the way it is again. So to read this book and to see the News reels on TV create an understanding I feel a personal bond with. Michener, must of had a crystal ball, because he predicted the Communists coming to rule. But it is on page 212 of the paperback edition, where Michener wrote.

"Our major cities have been destroyed so many Do you know what
I expect...Seriously? When a thousand men like me have rebuilt Kabul and made it as great as The City once was, either the Russians or the Americans will come with there airplanes and bomb it to rubble."

WOW!

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Historical Fiction -A Lost Debutante In Afghanistan
Review: James Michner wrote "Caravans," a glorious romantic adventure of Afghanistan, long before the Soviet invasion, the Taliban and al Qaeda. However, it remains a pertinent work of historical fiction in its description of the people and their divergent cultures, the nature of the wild, majestic land, and insight into the political, economic and social dilemmas of post WWII Afghanistan.

A young American diplomat, Mark Miller, stationed in Kabul in 1946 is given an unusual assignment. He is directed to find a young American woman who had disappeared in Afghanistan. Ellen Jasper, formerly of Philadelphia high society, had married a westernized Afghani engineer, a graduate of the Wharton School, against her parents wishes. The couple returned to the groom's home in Kabul and, after a thirteen month period without correspondence from their daughter, the Jaspers were frantic with worry.

Miller's extraordinary journey across the forbidding, awe inspiring terrain of Afghanistan in search of the lost debutante makes for a riveting read. There are plot twists and surprises throughout and nothing is quite as it appears to be. I prefer Michner's early work and this is one his best books - especially in lieu of current events.
JANA

Rating:
Summary: Early Michener, evolving style of history and romance
Review: This is one of Michener's early books, when his style was still evolving. In it, we follow the sotry of an American woman who is lost in Afghanistan and the diplomat that seeks to find her.

I picked this book up after the US war on Afghanistan in order to try to better understand the history of the place without the more recent complications. It was a very good intorduction to the country and its people; we see the deep clash better the Kabul population, which is more "civilized" according to Western standards than the countryside, where the mullahs dominate. These happen to be the same mullahs that we get to see on CNN.

The story itself is told from the perspective of a westerner, so the striking nature of the local culture is highlighted. The mystical nature of caravans and local customs is dissected, which I found very interesting. Also there were many references to the country's history, enough to wet the appetite about reading further on Afghanistan, but not enough to make one knowledgeable about it.

Overall, it is clear this is an early Michener, and the author is evolving into the national novel model he adopts later on.