It is particularly good at highlighting and exploring the Taliban’s subjugation of women.įor example, Zunaira refuses to leave the house, because she doesn’t want to wear the compulsory burqua. They are: Mohsen Ramat, an educated young man who once wanted to be a diplomat his beautiful wife, Zunaira, who has had to give up her career as a magistrate because women are no longer allowed to work Atiq Shaukat, a jailer who guards prisoners who have been sentenced to death and his wife, Musarrat, who is dying of an unspecified, incurable illness.Īs a portrait of life under a frightening and oppressive regime, Swallows of Kabul is an illuminating and often distressing read. In between, we meet two very different couples whose lives become intertwined in an inexplicably cruel and unusual way. When the book opens we are immediately thrust into the dark reality of a public execution and by the time the narrative comes full circle, just 195 pages later, we are back in the stadium to see another condemned person put to death by the state.

This is the third novel by Yasmina Khadra that I have read: the first, The Attack, was set in war-torn Israel the second, The Sirens of Baghdad, was set in war-torn Iraq and this, Swallows of Kabul, was set in war-torn Afghanistan.Īll three books explore long-established cultures being torn apart at the seams, usually from within - and while considered and intelligent, all are unbearably bleak with little joy in the narratives.įirst published in 2002, Swallows of Kabul examines what it is like for ordinary citizens to live under brutal Taliban rule before the American invasion in the wake of 9/11. Translated from the French by John Cullen. Fiction – paperback Vintage 195 pages 2005.

The swallows of kabul book