Wednesday, June 28, 2006
WALK ABOUT
I have just finished reading
by Rory Stewart.
I got it because it got such a strong review in the NYT and I am greatly pleased that I did.
Stewart is a camera and a mirror at the same time. His encounters in Afghanistan tell me more than I have ever thought I would want to know about that poor benighted country.
I also like Stewart. The Times guy says that there is not a lot about himself in it but this is dead wrong.
He is all over it. He is the camera and the mirror.
There are at least five threads. There is the original walker, one Babur, a 15th Century warlord who ended up as an Emperor.
There is the story of the various 'nations' of Afghanistan, at least five, and their historic dissatisfactions with each other.
There is the story of the war. Well two of them. That is two stories; the Russian one and the American one. And the terrible aftermath.
He is walking through the country weeks after the Taliban has been thrown out.
Then there is the story of Stewart and his walk and what he is up to and how he experiences it.
Finally, it is the story of a wonderful fighting dog, a mastiff that he names Babur after the original walker. Babur the dog is a great companion and he is a consistent metaphor for the torn country. He has been mistreated and molested but has fun and love in his heart and is able to give himself to this strange man who is walking across his country.
It is a great book.
If there was a Netflix5 it would get a 7.
