The Bookseller of Kabul

This is the book I am reading now.... I am halfway through it and would finish it tonight! It's a true life story of a book-seller and his family in Kabul, Afghanistan written by Åsne Seierstad a Norwegian journalist, who moved in with him and his family for three months with the primary aim of writing a book about them and Afghanistan as a whole.

In her book, she mirrors the traditional family life of the Afghans, their communal living, their religious and socio-political life, the rise and fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan and above all, the bookseller.

She wrote her book based on her take on the words and actions of the books' main character Sultan Khan, his wives Sharifa and Sonya, His sister Leila, His sons Mansur, Eqbal and Aimal and daughter Shabnam.

It's sad that although this book is the Norway's biggest Non-fiction bestseller in history, it also caused a lot of fury from the real Bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais and his family, the models upon whom the novel was based.

He described the book as containing "...defamations of myself, my family and my country contained in her book "The Bookseller of Kabul" involving questions of honour and truth that extend far beyond the lies and distortions committed in this particular case..." he also brought legal action against the author.

Whatever the verdict was, my take is this: Forget the book was based on "the book seller" - although that is the title. Just try to read the book. It is worth a thousand words.