Unexpected Light: Amazon.co.uk: Jason Elliot: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1978, this mysterious, romantic country has been shrouded in obscurity. As the Soviets forbade western reporters to enter the war zone and the Afghan fighters, the mujaheddin, found themselves inaccurately portrayed as savage, religious zealots, Afghanistan quietly slipped off the front page and into media obscurity. This veiled the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who lost their lives and the third of the population that fled into exile. However, in the schoolboy imagination of Jason Elliot back in the late 1970s, Afghanistan took a profound hold: "The Afghans seemed to belong to a different world, for which I was developing an inarticulate hunger; a people of prototypical human dignity, with Old Testament faces, who with guns almost as ancient as themselves were trying (and succeeding) to shoot down the latest in helicopter gunships". Still in his teens, Elliot set off for Kabul and the result, nearly 20 years later, is An Unexpected Light, the remarkable account of Elliot's travels in this extraordinary country, first in the midst of Soviet occupation and then in the face of the rise of the Taliban to power in the 1990s.

An Unexpected Light takes its title from Elliot's enduring wonder at his first encounter with Kabul, where "even as we stepped into its unaccustomed brightness that first morning, it seemed probable we had entered a world in some way enchanted, for which we lacked the proper measure". It is this inability to completely capture a country and a people with which Elliot falls in love that characterises this ambitious, sprawling book. Elliot's travels are truly extraordinary, from his teenage experiences with the mujaheddin in their campaigns against the Soviets to his truly hair-raising travels to the north of the country and often very funny evocation of the expatriate community of war-torn Kabul. However, in describing his travels Elliot also meditates among other things on the significance of travel, the tortured multicultural history of Afghanistan, "the results of successive clashings together of an impressive list of civilisations" and the worldly mysticism of Sufism. At times Elliot takes on too much, the prose becomes too lush and poetically congested and the book could have done with sharp editorial pruning, as it feels at least 50 pages too long at its close. Nevertheless, it is this diffuse nature that makes An Unexpected Light such a vivid and original piece of travel writing, based on a series of dramatic adventures. What emerges throughout is the remarkable generosity and placidity of a people who have been more accidentally enmeshed in violent conflict than congenitally predisposed towards embracing warfare.

Elliot recalls that prior to his first departure in the late 1970s, an amused Afghan diplomat suggested that "maybe one day you'll write a book about Afghanistan". In An Unexpected Light Afghanistan has finally received the loving, sympathetic and poetic book that it deserves. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Amazon.co.uk Review

Ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1978, this mysterious, romantic country has been shrouded in obscurity. As the Soviets forbade western reporters into the war zone and the Afghan fighters, the mujaheddin, found themselves inaccurately portrayed as savage, religious zealots, Afghanistan quietly slipped off the front page and into a media obscurity. This veiled the hundreds of thousands of Afghans who lost their lives and the third of the population which fled into exile. However, in the schoolboy imagination of Jason Elliot back in the late 70s, Afghanistan took a profound hold: "The Afghans seemed to belong to a different world, for which I was developing an inarticulate hunger; a people of prototypical human dignity, with Old Testament faces, who with guns almost as ancient as themselves were trying (and succeeding) to shoot down the latest in helicopter gunships." Still in his teens, Elliot set off for Kabul and the result, nearly 20 years later, is An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan, the remarkable account of Elliot's travels in this extraordinary country, first in the midst of Soviet occupation and then in the face of the rise of the Taliban to power in the 1990s.

An Unexpected Light takes its title from Elliot's enduring wonder at his first encounter with Kabul, where "even as we stepped into its unaccustomed brightness that first morning, it seemed probable we had entered a world in some way enchanted, for which we lacked the proper measure." It is this inability to completely capture a country and a people with which Elliot falls in love that characterises this ambitious, sprawling book. Elliot's travels are truly extraordinary, from his teenage experiences with the mujaheddin in their campaigns against the Soviets to his truly hair-raising travels to the north of the country and often very funny evocation of the expatriate community of war-torn Kabul. However, in describing his travels Elliot also meditates amongst other things on the significance of travel, the tortured multicultural history of Afghanistan, "the results of successive clashings together of an impressive list of civilisations" and the worldly mysticism of Sufism. At times Elliot takes on too much, the prose becomes too lush and poetically congested and the book could have done with sharp editorial pruning, as it feels at least 50 pages too long at its close. Nevertheless, it is this diffuse nature that makes An Unexpected Light such a vivid and original piece of travel writing, based on a series of dramatic adventures. What emerges throughout is the remarkable generosity and placidity of a people who have been more accidentally enmeshed in violent conflict than congenitally predisposed towards embracing warfare.

Elliot recalls that prior to his first departure in the late 70s, an amused Afghan diplomat suggested that "maybe one day you'll write a book about Afghanistan." In An Unexpected Light Afghanistan has finally received the loving, sympathetic and poetic book that it deserves. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

An amazing voyage of discovery through a little-known land 25 Jun 2003

By Natasha

Format:Hardcover

Reading this book was akin to falling in love!...the only way this reader, at least, can describe the emotions generated by Jason Elliot's erudite, passionate account of his intense journey through Afghanistan. His journey is lyrically revealed and the reader drawn to share it with a vividness and understanding only a writer of such descriptive genius could engender. In tandem with his physical journey, Jason also reflects spiritually on his experiences which somehow lifts this personal journey into a universal context and pulls the reader even closer into feeling empathy and human brotherhood with not only the author, but the Afghanis themselves and their country.

I'd pick up this book every time with unfailing excitement, joy and curiosity as to where it would take me next, and what I would discover. The sense of warmth with which the author distills his story is overpowering and infectious. He clearly loves the country, its people, its culture and its language dearly, and much of this affection cannot but be rubbed off onto the reader. Alternatingly thoughtful, comical, scholarly and intimate, the spectrum of emotion and experience traversed is so wide, as to produce a true feeling of bonding between reader, author and subject-matter.

The book generated in me a two-pronged opening of the heart - one, to this amazingly beautiful and hospitable country, and two, to the author - whose erudition in the background of the country, its history, its language (even to the extent of reading and writing Persian) and culture left me with uncalculable respect for him. (Quite apart from being such a nice bloke and interesting companion, that it's a real pleasure to spend hours in his company!) The reader is imbued throughout with the sense of security that here, at last, is a travel book written from the point of view of someone who truly understands his subject and in my opinion, is as close to it as any foreigner could ever be. Only someone with this much familiarity with, and passion for, Afghanistan in its entirety, could have been able to travel so extensively under such conditions. Which is why another emotion insidiously joined the others as I read on - envy!

Most importantly, from my original position of ignorance due to a common shameless twinge of Western prejudice, I now feel I can understand and respect the richness of Islam and will never again judge this religion, or those who practise it, by the benchmark of the few extremists we Westerners are given a daily diet of on TV, which in itself I would say gives the book great social value.

Altogether an amazing read - or rather experience. I had a true feeling of wistful parting when I found to my dismay that the book was almost finished!

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

The human side of Afghanistan 31 May 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Thoroughly recommended to anyone with a sense of curiosity about a people shrouded in mystery. Jason Elliott has succeeded in revealing in an 'unexpected light' the multi-faceted character of Afghanistan and the Afghans. As a sympathetic, sensitive and often transparent traveller, he has been allowed access to even the most sacrosanct of Afghan rituals, and has even lived as a 'mujaheddin'. What is most affecting, however, is the sense of the Afghan spirit and humanity that Elliott conveys. In a country that continues to be shattered by the most inhumane of wars, I urge everyone with a sense of morality to read it and understand that Afghanistan is not simply an obscure Central Asian province that breeds so-called Holy Martyrs, but a beautiful, complex and characterful country which must surely have a happier future ahead of it.

intricate writing of a traveller in afghanistan 10 Dec 2001

By Mr. E. J. Lock

This book is a fascinating read... The author doesn't just give you a travelogue of Afghanistan, he ingratiates you into its culture, the people and the sheer hardship they endure whilst maintaining a friendly and generous attitude. Elliot struck me as a very brave chap, either that or he went native. Approaching the odd warlord, black turbaned Taliban soldier with a gun, or walking through mountain passes that had been mined from the Russian invasion was all part of his remit in writing this intensely interesting book. I must admit Afgan culture was not top of my reading list until I saw that this book had won the Thomas Cook/ Daily Telegraph travel book award (a feat in itself). Winning this award has been good recommendation in the past for other travel books i've read, and this is the case again.