A vivid account of a journey through a distant, beautiful land.
British journalist Elliot chronicles his love affair with Afghanistan in this evocative, albeit somewhat long-winded, narrative.
The author first visited Afghanistan briefly when he was 19 and the country was in the midst of its long war with the Soviet Union. Here he writes of his extended visit some ten years later, when the country was torn by civil war. When he arrived in Kabul, it was under daily rocket attack by the Taliban but had not yet fallen. Traveling within the city was fraught with danger; traveling outside it was arduous, hazardous, and in some instances impossible. On foot, on horseback, jammed into overloaded jeeps and dilapidated open trucks, Elliot ventures out to the north through high mountain passes, attempts a trip to the center of the country, partly by taxi and bus, and goes by airplane to Taliban-occupied Herat. As he travels, seeking out shrines and little-known historic sites, he muses at length about the country’s past and its customs. Everywhere he is treated with unfailing hospitality and courtesy by the Afghans, who guide him, shelter him, and feed him under the most difficult of conditions. The author’s impressive knowledge of Afghanistan’s history, his seemingly boundless affection for its people, his understanding and respect for their culture and religion, and his flair for the language make this more than a casual travelogue. It is a plaintive love song whose discordant notes are provided by daily encounters with violence, hardship, and poverty. Readers may well be put off by a certain smugness that marks Elliot’s accounts of his sometimes less than felicitous encounters with other Europeans or Americans, but there is no mistaking the genuineness of his admiration for Afghans and their country.
A vivid account of a journey through a distant, beautiful land.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-27459-9
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Picador
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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