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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Man is thrown into a zoo bc people think he’s a monkey, he leads the monkeys to violently revolt against the zookeepers and become freedom fighters in the sewers of baghdad
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is an emotional read as it details the impact of war as it takes you through several hauntings experienced by the impact of the violence experienced by Afghan refugees or descendants. My favorite stories in the collection were "Return to Sender," "The Haunting of Hajji Hotak" and the. Tale of Dully's Reversion" because I felt like they had the most character and plot development.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
loved the utter weirdness of these stories. I would love to read more from this author, hopefully a novel one day!
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Beautiful writing, explores intergenerational trauma from Russian and American occupation of Afghanistan
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
"The Haunting of Haji Hotak and Other Stories" is definitely out of my reading comfort zone, which I love. I am not usually a short-story reader, but after seeing the acclaim for this book and loving both "The Crane Wife" and "Shit Cassandra Saw' I figured why not ride the short-story trend. The author's perspective and the narrative perspective of this book definitely challenged my perceived ideals and thinking. There was a story that challenged the "freedom fighter v. terrorist" dichotomy. It was well written. Where this book lost points for me was the organization. Though I know it is a collection of short stories, I wanted a little more flow to the order of the stories and the organization made me feel off-kilter as a reader. Still a very interesting read.
highly recommend
Riveting debut collection by an author to pay attention to. These short stories shine with brilliance of voice that is often ignored by the west. Captures the diaspora and those living still in Afghanistan in a long and drawn a conflict and I only traumatizes the survivors and the dead but also the west itself
Riveting debut collection by an author to pay attention to. These short stories shine with brilliance of voice that is often ignored by the west. Captures the diaspora and those living still in Afghanistan in a long and drawn a conflict and I only traumatizes the survivors and the dead but also the west itself
challenging
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
When I read that this collection was a finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, I moved it up my to read list. Jamil Jan Kochai has written a collection of short stories focusing on Afghanistan- either in country, or Afghans who have left the country. This is country greatly affected by conflict over much of their recent history- first the British, then the Russians, and then the American coalition. As with many short story collections, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. And with some other recent collections I've read, there is some overlap in characters in some of the stories, leaving me wishing we either stayed with them for an entire book, or made the stories completely separate. Overall, it's a thought-provoking collection about the legacy of war and the mental hauntings that occur aftewards.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just an absolutely amazing set of stories with a variety of characters from across the Afghan diaspora.