A review by sasuke
Manaschi by Hamid Ismailov

4.0

This is a hard book to follow if you, like me, go in completely ignorant of the cultural and social context of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and all the various ethnic and religious groups for whom that border is a contentious place and between whom there are historical tensions  underlying complex relationships in modern times. Even so it was an interesting read to get a sense of the above, even without a deep understanding, and to interrogate the power of narrative, oral history and storytelling, parables, and idioms.