- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Icon Books Ltd (1 July 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1848311494
- ISBN-13: 978-1848311497
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
211,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #54 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Asia > Central Asia
A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.30
Trade in A Carpet Ride to Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.30, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'An enjoyable account of the seven years the author spent living in the remote desert oasis of Khiva in Uzbekistan' Editors Pick, Travel, Bookseller
Product Description
This is a unique, beautiful and moving account of seven years living in the remote Uzbek desert. "The Silk Road" conjures images of the exotic and the unknown. Most travellers simply pass along it. Brit Chris Alexander chose to live there. Ostensibly writing a guidebook, Alexander found life at the heart of the glittering madrassahs, mosques and minarets of the walled city of Khiva - a remote desert oasis in Uzbekistan - immensely alluring, and stayed. Immersing himself in the language and rich cultural traditions Alexander discovers a world torn between Marx and Mohammed - a place where veils and vodka, pork and polygamy freely mingle - against a backdrop of forgotten carpet designs, crumbling but magnificent Islamic architecture and scenes drawn straight from "The Arabian Nights". Accompanied by a large green parrot, a ginger cat and his adoptive Uzbek family, Alexander recounts his efforts to rediscover the lost art of traditional weaving and dyeing, and the process establishing a self-sufficient carpet workshop, employing local women and disabled people to train as apprentices. "A Carpet Ride to Khiva" sees Alexander being stripped naked at a former Soviet youth camp, crawling through silkworm droppings in an attempt to record their life-cycle, holed up in the British Museum discovering carpet designs dormant for half a millennia, tackling a carpet-thieving mayor, distinguishing natural dyes from sacks of opium in Northern Afghanistan, bluffing his way through an impromptu version of "My Heart Will Go On" for national Uzbek TV and seeking sanctuary as an anti-Western riot consumed the Kabul carpet bazaar. It is an unforgettable true travel story of a journey to the heart of the unknown and the unexpected friendship one man found there.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This was my first foray into the "travel" genre, knowing next to nothing about Central Asia in general or Khiva in particular. Although carpets aren't really my thing I admit I was engaged from the first page, chuckling and snorting every couple of pages at Alexander's amusing anecdotes and lively writing style. And I learnt a whole lot about Silk worms too! The book reads like a humorous and informative conversation, departing every now and again from Alexander's personal experiences into juicy little cultural tidbits, observations and relevant Silk Route history and politics.
Alexander is obviously lively company and my favourite minor episodes include him baffling a hawker by referring to 'International Pomegranate Day' and successfully teaching a downtrodden blind lad macrame. The chief thing that drew me in, however was how the relationships developed as he mastered the language and settled into the culture with his beloved host family, despite his ginger kitten and vegetarianism.
There is also the darker gut-wrenching reality of life lived behind the president's mass propaganda, including wife-beating and the awful Andijan Massacre.
There was slightly more about the donkey-related sexual proclivities of local men than was my taste, but I guess that is part of the cross-cultural education.
He doesn't dwell on this aspect, but it is clear that his presence in Khiva benfitted those around him hugely, with his blend of creativity and enterprising business sense bringing income-generation and discovery of hidden talents not only to employees of the carpet and Suzani workshops, but to many others along the way.
The colour plates are engrossing and authenticate the whole narrative. It's great putting faces to the names and being able to examine some of the authentic works of art that inspired the carpet designs.
I recommend this book very highly and feel much the richer in understanding.
Alexander is obviously lively company and my favourite minor episodes include him baffling a hawker by referring to 'International Pomegranate Day' and successfully teaching a downtrodden blind lad macrame. The chief thing that drew me in, however was how the relationships developed as he mastered the language and settled into the culture with his beloved host family, despite his ginger kitten and vegetarianism.
There is also the darker gut-wrenching reality of life lived behind the president's mass propaganda, including wife-beating and the awful Andijan Massacre.
There was slightly more about the donkey-related sexual proclivities of local men than was my taste, but I guess that is part of the cross-cultural education.
He doesn't dwell on this aspect, but it is clear that his presence in Khiva benfitted those around him hugely, with his blend of creativity and enterprising business sense bringing income-generation and discovery of hidden talents not only to employees of the carpet and Suzani workshops, but to many others along the way.
The colour plates are engrossing and authenticate the whole narrative. It's great putting faces to the names and being able to examine some of the authentic works of art that inspired the carpet designs.
I recommend this book very highly and feel much the richer in understanding.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Its all there, the happiness and the sadness, the achievements and the frustrations, the facts and the fables, the sites and the smells as Chris Alexander tells us about his seven years living and working in a World Heritage site in the deserts of Uzbekistan. The book takes you from from the humble beginings of going out there to write a guide book for tourists through to the stage where his workshop was the largest non state employer in he city hand making silk rugs using designs from the time of Tamberlaine.
You to meet the women and disabled who work there, others who are jealous of the enterprise and try to spoil it and the bureaucrats who ultimately lead to Chris`s expulsion. His writing shows how a travel book should be, interesting, amusing, informative and with pace. The reader learns about history, silk, design and the people who live and work in a city where a hundred year ago there were still slaves.
Read it and enjoy your own magic carpet ride to Khiva
You to meet the women and disabled who work there, others who are jealous of the enterprise and try to spoil it and the bureaucrats who ultimately lead to Chris`s expulsion. His writing shows how a travel book should be, interesting, amusing, informative and with pace. The reader learns about history, silk, design and the people who live and work in a city where a hundred year ago there were still slaves.
Read it and enjoy your own magic carpet ride to Khiva
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tricky to write this review since I know the author and I was initially reluctant to give it a 5. However, on its own merits the book probably deserves it, though I guess it would be difficult to find one reader who is able to appreciate everything it has to offer. For the book transcends categories, the book cover suggesting it is a travel/memoir but it is part also written for those with an interest in textiles and finally (and the stand out aspect for me) a powerful anthropological insight into the changes occurring in the post-socialist world and how development projects can make a small but significant difference.
As a travel book it wanders off into other parts of Uzbekistan as well as Afghanistan but is at its best when at home in Khiva. The author has a great eye of the absurd, and the book is chocked full of wonderful insights and the recounting of dramatic tales. However those wanting to find out more about, say, Bukhara, might need to know more than that is is the home of cunning competitors and human organ exporters. So it won't replace a good general guide book, but for the traveller whose itinerary would take in Khiva reading this book would enrich the experience enormously as it brings alive the history as well as the present realities of this fascinating city.
As a memoir it packs real emotional punch as the politics of the country cruelly cut short the love-affair with Khiva. To those interested in the history of textiles and the bringing of past designs back to life, this is a must read.
However for me, as someone interested in the development of society in Uzbekistan, the book's greatest value is as an insight into the plight of provincial towns in post-independence Uzbekistan. To spend seven years in a small town, and to make hugely impressive progress in mastering the language and the social norms, means that the author gained a level of trust and acceptance that opened up a window onto the sorrows but also the joys of everyday life. Accounts of domestic abuse and economic injustice are quite depressing, but then there are moments when acts of empathy and compassion deeply move both the author and reader - such as when the fellow weavers club together to buy their colleague a wedding dress. It is telling that while the minarets and murals grab the attention at the beginning, it is the personalities so vividly described that are mourned by the author who can't return, and for whom the reader also feels a sense of loss. For while the workshop projects are admittedly no panacea for the problems the town faces, they did bring both income and dignity to many of the downtrodden, and the project, shaped in part by the author's own stubbornness, was an irritant protest against the corruption that surrounded it. As such it should also be read by anyone conducting community based projects and interested in social change in Central Asia. The account of the project, honestly accepting mistakes made and bringing insight into the difficult choices to be made, make for a revealing, informative and stylishly written introduction.
As a travel book it wanders off into other parts of Uzbekistan as well as Afghanistan but is at its best when at home in Khiva. The author has a great eye of the absurd, and the book is chocked full of wonderful insights and the recounting of dramatic tales. However those wanting to find out more about, say, Bukhara, might need to know more than that is is the home of cunning competitors and human organ exporters. So it won't replace a good general guide book, but for the traveller whose itinerary would take in Khiva reading this book would enrich the experience enormously as it brings alive the history as well as the present realities of this fascinating city.
As a memoir it packs real emotional punch as the politics of the country cruelly cut short the love-affair with Khiva. To those interested in the history of textiles and the bringing of past designs back to life, this is a must read.
However for me, as someone interested in the development of society in Uzbekistan, the book's greatest value is as an insight into the plight of provincial towns in post-independence Uzbekistan. To spend seven years in a small town, and to make hugely impressive progress in mastering the language and the social norms, means that the author gained a level of trust and acceptance that opened up a window onto the sorrows but also the joys of everyday life. Accounts of domestic abuse and economic injustice are quite depressing, but then there are moments when acts of empathy and compassion deeply move both the author and reader - such as when the fellow weavers club together to buy their colleague a wedding dress. It is telling that while the minarets and murals grab the attention at the beginning, it is the personalities so vividly described that are mourned by the author who can't return, and for whom the reader also feels a sense of loss. For while the workshop projects are admittedly no panacea for the problems the town faces, they did bring both income and dignity to many of the downtrodden, and the project, shaped in part by the author's own stubbornness, was an irritant protest against the corruption that surrounded it. As such it should also be read by anyone conducting community based projects and interested in social change in Central Asia. The account of the project, honestly accepting mistakes made and bringing insight into the difficult choices to be made, make for a revealing, informative and stylishly written introduction.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Read this book!
The previous reviews have summed up all I would want to say about this book. It is the best read I have had for ages. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. Diana Rybinski
A Carper Ride to Khiva
A Carpet Ride to KhivaI chose this book to read on Kindle for the long flight from France to Western Australia. I loved it! Such an enterprising young Brit ? Read more
Published 3 months ago by azure blue
A Carpet ride to Khiva
I was recommended this book by a dear friend in the Oriental Rug Business as a book to read during my recovery time after an operation.
And i could not put it down. Read more
And i could not put it down. Read more
Published 8 months ago by seansdboro
a travel classic
I bought A Carpet Ride to Khiva because I plan to make a trip to Uzbekistan next spring and wanted some background - and I was riveted. Read more
Published 8 months ago by carolineski
Very enjoyable
This is a really nice book, sometimes it goes into too much detail about carpet patterns for my liking but that only happens a couple of times (so don't be dettered by this) and... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ana Pearson
Genius- I loved it!
This is a brilliant insight into the life of everyday people, on the other side of the world to me, in a country I'd barely given a thought to previously. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Gwen
By mercy and truth
Christopher Aslan Alexander has written an inspiring book about his second home in Khiva which he was forced to leave with a heavy heart. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Noel
The REAL Central Asia
Having lived among Uzbeks for the past 4 years, I have to say Chris Aslan Alexander has knocked it out of the park with "A Carpet Ride To Khiva: Seven Years on the Silk Road. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Steve Scott
An insightful and honest account of life in central Asia
Warning: This is no ordinary travel guide. Although the author describes the sights of Khiva with great enthusiasm, this book provides much deeper insight into local life and... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Black Sheep
Real aid can really work
It's easy to get cynical about aid and development work so it was refreshing to read about Christopher Alexander's work in Uzbekistan. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ian Cooper
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
