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A review by nisah_books
The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya
4.0
'When you kill people and wipe out their families, strafe their homes and burn down their villages, litter their fields with fragmentation bombs and gun down their livestock, you've lost the whole battle for hearts and minds.'
This book was randomly selected out of many others during my visit to the BBW book sale around 2 years ago. Having watched my fair share of war films, especially those that sets around Afghanistan, the synopsis on the back cover was intriguing. And it proves to be an interesting read after all.
The Watch is a story of the war in Afghanistan, specifically sets around a combat outpost in Tarsandar, Kandahar Province. A crippled yet strong-willed Pashtun girl, Nizam, crawled all her way from her home in the mountains to claim her brother's corpse - who was killed in a firefight with the US army - for a proper burial. The US army - bewildered from losing their own men at war - was torn between revenge, humanity, morale and duty which further explicates the futility of war towards those who fights it and their families.
The whole story was engrossingly told from the narratives of those involved; Nizam the grieving sister, Masood the interpreter, the Lieutenant, the Medic, the Second Lieutenant, the First Sergeant and finally, the Captain. From each narrative, readers will be enthralled by their respective point of view regarding their given situation and how they choose to act upon it. Each of their psychological and emotional setbacks were exposed, which further explains their clouded judgements and arduous decision-making process.
The Watch offers a deeper and diverse view of heartbreak, grief and mental breakdowns of both the killers and killed. One would have thought that those who wield guns and shoot on sight upon orders are emotionless killers. But army personnel are not mere killing machines without feelings. The guilt, psychological and emotional setbacks of army veterans who've killed or witness countless deaths in the warzone are beyond the imagination of normal civilians.
This book was randomly selected out of many others during my visit to the BBW book sale around 2 years ago. Having watched my fair share of war films, especially those that sets around Afghanistan, the synopsis on the back cover was intriguing. And it proves to be an interesting read after all.
The Watch is a story of the war in Afghanistan, specifically sets around a combat outpost in Tarsandar, Kandahar Province. A crippled yet strong-willed Pashtun girl, Nizam, crawled all her way from her home in the mountains to claim her brother's corpse - who was killed in a firefight with the US army - for a proper burial. The US army - bewildered from losing their own men at war - was torn between revenge, humanity, morale and duty which further explicates the futility of war towards those who fights it and their families.
The whole story was engrossingly told from the narratives of those involved; Nizam the grieving sister, Masood the interpreter, the Lieutenant, the Medic, the Second Lieutenant, the First Sergeant and finally, the Captain. From each narrative, readers will be enthralled by their respective point of view regarding their given situation and how they choose to act upon it. Each of their psychological and emotional setbacks were exposed, which further explains their clouded judgements and arduous decision-making process.
The Watch offers a deeper and diverse view of heartbreak, grief and mental breakdowns of both the killers and killed. One would have thought that those who wield guns and shoot on sight upon orders are emotionless killers. But army personnel are not mere killing machines without feelings. The guilt, psychological and emotional setbacks of army veterans who've killed or witness countless deaths in the warzone are beyond the imagination of normal civilians.