Born Under a Million Shadows
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Review
This beautifully told tale will capture the reader's heart...powerful and moving. --The Sun
Review
Beautifully written, touching and laced with humour, it's a stunningly assured debut.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was a pleasure to read. Combining the foreign characters with the locals is very well done, and is true to the actual reality. The statements that Fawad comes out with, and his exchanges with the local shop owner is so very amusing. Born Under a Million Shadows is about the day to day life of Afghans, and Ms Busfield demonstrates that she truly understands the culture and family traits. The story line is delightful despite the shadow of sorrow, and it was enjoyable to read a book about real people "on the floor" with only minimal politics to help set the "scene".
I greatly look forward to the release of Ms. Busfield's second book.
I greatly look forward to the release of Ms. Busfield's second book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read many books about Afghanistan and wasnt sure that this one would offer a new perspective to the tragic ones i have read so far .. I was wrong. This story manages to be a tragic, sad and despairing story full of hope, joy, laughter and the wonder of the human spirit. It is a short story, told from the persepctive of a poor, Fatherless Afghani boy who lives with his loving but strict Mother (alone now that his father and brother are dead and his sister was kidnapped). They find their lives change dramatically as their mother becomes house keeper to 3 westerners and they move in with them. One is 'Georgia' a beautiful and kind woman who is in love with a wealthy 'drugs barren', one is 'May' a lesbian who rarely has much to smile about and the other is 'James' a journalist who loves to drink and sleep. The lives of these and other characters (including a blind shopkeeper, a cheeky card seller and a love struck security guard) become intertwined in a sweet tale of love and friendship.
This is a heart warming tale and gives a unique viewpoint on Afghanistan and the people who call this place home.
This is a heart warming tale and gives a unique viewpoint on Afghanistan and the people who call this place home.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful book, easy to get into and hard to put down. The news we hear of Afghanistan, full of military operations, casualties, opium harvests and fraudulent elections, makes it hard to imagine growing up there. Andrea Busfield achieves this on our behalf. Her narrator an eleven - or perhaps twelve - year old boy opens with: "My name is Fawad and my mother tells me I was born under the shadow of the Taliban."
Taking this literally he thinks of her, `stepping out of the sunshine and into the dark', and this child's way of seeing the puzzling world around him sets the tone. We encounter the horrors and hardships through his innocent eyes and although he speaks of his fear and his sadness there is also humour and joy.
At the start of the book Fawad's father and brother have been killed, his sister abducted and their home burnt down. They live without welcome or comfort with his aunt and young cousins who beg from and hustle foreigners. Life improves overnight when Farad's mother gets a position as housekeeper to three foreigners living in a wealthy suburb of Kabul. Georgie, James and May are all trying to improve life for local people while sorting out their own problems and destinies, struggles viewed by Fawad with a wonderful mixture of sympathy, insight and perplexity.
Fawad is a Muslim and it is one of the strengths of this book that it portrays the acceptance of his own religion and a respect for the cultural Christianity of his employers as a fact of everyday life.
Although life is briefly peaceful after the move things don't stand still and the story unfolds with drama and tragedy but enough of a happy ending to leave the reader feeling uplifted and hopeful.
Taking this literally he thinks of her, `stepping out of the sunshine and into the dark', and this child's way of seeing the puzzling world around him sets the tone. We encounter the horrors and hardships through his innocent eyes and although he speaks of his fear and his sadness there is also humour and joy.
At the start of the book Fawad's father and brother have been killed, his sister abducted and their home burnt down. They live without welcome or comfort with his aunt and young cousins who beg from and hustle foreigners. Life improves overnight when Farad's mother gets a position as housekeeper to three foreigners living in a wealthy suburb of Kabul. Georgie, James and May are all trying to improve life for local people while sorting out their own problems and destinies, struggles viewed by Fawad with a wonderful mixture of sympathy, insight and perplexity.
Fawad is a Muslim and it is one of the strengths of this book that it portrays the acceptance of his own religion and a respect for the cultural Christianity of his employers as a fact of everyday life.
Although life is briefly peaceful after the move things don't stand still and the story unfolds with drama and tragedy but enough of a happy ending to leave the reader feeling uplifted and hopeful.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing Book
This is easily one of the best books I've read this year. I've read a few books based in Afghanistan but few have the humour & emotion of this book. Read more
Published 6 months ago by SamGC
A wondeful read!
I read/listened to this book last Summer and was so moved by this story, that I just wanted to know more about the author. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Michelle Caulkett
This is a horrible book!
-> Please note that I may include spoilers, so read at your own risk.
I have never written a book review here, but I read this book while on holiday last Summer, then... Read more
I have never written a book review here, but I read this book while on holiday last Summer, then... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ingrid M.
Life in Modern Day Afghanistan
Fawad is an 11 year old boy living in Kabul after the fall of the Taliban. Having lost his father, brother and sister, he lives with his mother, Mariya, who works as a servant for... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Julia Flyte
The lighter side of life in Afghanistan
At last a lighter look at life in Afghanistan. This novel is a lightweight, easy to read and hard to put down story about a cheeky young man called Fawad and his friends and... Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. Ambrose
A stunning must-read book
Fawad is a young boy living with his mother in Afghanistan, the rest of his family dead or disappeared. Read more
Published 18 months ago by SusieH
Wonderfully balanced book
I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book during a recent long journey and the miles flew by. Read more
Published 19 months ago by DubaiReader
A little bit of the same
It is a very engaging story but very much the same kind of thing as many books about Afghanistan and it's society.
Published 20 months ago by Mr. Alan W. Budd
Brilliant read
I loved this book from first line. It intrigued me from the start and as I read on I had trouble putting it down. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2010 by P. Hopper
Too Many Shadows
I quite enjoyed this novel told from the point of view of Fawad, a young Afghan boy whose father and brother have been killed and their home burnt. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by Gareth Hayes
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