The Patience Stone: Sang-E Saboor

by Atiq Rahimi

Book Overview

A young woman prays at her husband's bedside as he lies in a coma with a bullet in his neck. From outside come the sounds of tanks, gunshots, screaming and, most terrifying of all, silence. Inside,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590513444
• ISBN13: 9781590513446
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Other Press (NY)
• Length: 141 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.9" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

"Somewhere in Afghanistan or elsewhere"

This simple epigram sets the stage for this very unusual and powerful story: it is both personal, even intimate, and wide-reaching in substance and relevance. At the centre of all comings and goings is one room where a woman attends to her wounded husband. A photo of him on the wall identifies him as a combatant for one of the fighting factions in an ongoing war. The sounds of gunfire, of tanks near-by smashing house walls and of men shouting -far or close by - regularly break into the room's silence where the woman is also deep in thought and prayer. The woman goes about her nursing routines, leaves the room to speak to her young daughters somewhere down the passage, comes back, refreshes the feeding tube, washes her husband's motionless body and, settling back beside him, continues counting her prayer beads while reciting one of the ninety-nine names of God. If it were not for his quiet regular breathing, one would think the man had died already... In a language that is at the same time simple, spare and compressed, yet often poetic, Rahimi evokes the atmosphere in the room that is both calm and serene and, nonetheless, held in suspense by tensions lingering below the surface. As readers we feel like intimate observers of a domestic tragedy, yet at the same time, through the special lens that the room provides we can perceive the desolation and brutality of the outside world. Slowly, in sensitively conveyed step, the reader learns to understand the hard life of the woman, her family and background and also the intricacies of a society torn apart by tradition and power struggles. The woman opens her heart, expressing her deepest held thoughts to her man who cannot answer but might well hear her. She discovers a new strength in herself as she applies the symbolism of the black stone, "sang-e-sabour", the patience stone, to her situation: the stone that absorbs all the confessions of the believers... Encouraged by this new understanding, she makes her man such a silent listener, her very personal patience stone. The more she shares her thoughts aloud, the more she spells out all the sufferings, pain, anger, and suppressed wishes that women in her society have been experiencing. The reader empathizes with her as she gains in strength and confidence, finally revealing the deepest secrets of her life. She feels a burden lifting from her heart, freed from all the strains that held her down. Where does the story lead to? A conclusion that is both shocking and consistent. Much of what is conveyed is expressed as the woman's monologue, a tragic story, exquisitely and forcefully imagined by the author. Rahimi does not give the woman nor any other character a name to underline his intent of demonstrating general validity of his character's story. It is an indictment to women's suppression anywhere. Nevertheless, the story is very personable and as a reader we can relate to the woman's individuality and predicament. The events in the room and

Powerful and unsettling

It was difficult for me to think of a good word to describe this short novel, but "unsettling" seems to capture it. Great works of literature are great because they make us uncomfortable, challenge us, and broaden our horizons. "The Patience Stone" accomplishes this in a surprisingly short, but impactful book. I read through it in one sitting; it was so intense at times I wanted to pull away from it, but couldn't. It's the story of a nameless Afghan woman who is tending to her husband. He is suffering from a wound he endured, apparently, in one of the ongoing tribal conflicts in the country. He is considered a hero, a soldier of jihad. His wound has left him alive, but silent and unmoving. His wife tends to him and prays for him, but progressively becomes more frustrated with the hopelessness of her situation. The novel never leaves the room in which the man lies. The setting captures the narrow world of the Afghan woman as she is largely confined to the home. As the woman begins to lose her patience, she starts to confide in her husband as he becomes an embodiment of the legendary patience stone. She gradually unfastens the chains of expectation as she reveals her true thoughts and feelings to her husband for the first time-- sometimes sad, sometimes rageful, and sometimes with surprising secrets that she has kept. The volume of her emotion rises to a powerful crescendo and a climax that is ambiguous and thought-provoking. The author wastes no words; each sentence is written with grace and precision. It's a powerful novel that seeks to give voice to women in Afghanistan. Very highly recommended.

The Last Name of God

The Patience Stone is a story-poem about an unnamed Afghani woman (everywoman) who reveals her identity as a messenger of God. Like Mohammed, she fights off her fear of possession by demons to get to the more frightening but liberating personal truth within her. She learns by self-exploration, with the help of the Koran, that revelation is the foundation of Mohammed's teachings and the teachings of hundreds of thousands of other prophets across religions and across times who have spoken of the human spirit. Rahimi presents the reader with a dilemma: How can a Muslim woman who is subjugated by patriarchal tribal Muslim law, identifies with her mother's submission to a morality of inferiority, and uses repression to create a degrading self regard learn the power of the revelation of her own truth? It is as simple as the recurring cycle of the lives of prophets. She must reject the tribal laws of the father, deny the false morality of the mother, and give up her own socially distorted self regard. The novel describes how she solves this dilemma. The woman's husband, a casualty of jihad, gives her the opportunity to experience the wisdom of folklore concerning sang-e saboor, the patience stone. The fable describes a smooth black stone that absorbs the words, thoughts and emotions of a person describing her personal trials, pain, disappointments, guilt, denials of the body, hatred of war, helplessness, abandonment, and victimization. Absolute trust in the privileged acceptance by the stone is required. When the catharsis is complete and the stone has actively absorbed all, it explodes revealing to the person not just the name of God, but the truth of God. The woman's wounded husband is her sang-e saboor. The novel also puts the reader in the position of the patience stone absorbing the confessions of the woman and allows us to reach a point of disintegration, allowing us to accept God's truth in her. This is not possible for tribal Muslim men who focus only on the soul, denying in themselves and in their women the sexual demands of the body. They can blindly fight a jihad without regard for the life of the body on earth. Women must try to live a soulless life of the body to create sons who can continue the propagation of the faith. They are impure unless they deny their own independent satisfactions and focus only on the performance of the man's ability to play his part in conception. This suppression is harmful because clues about the truth are given through the body. We learn in the novel that it is through the integration of body and soul that revelation of truth occurs for Muslim women. This is the teaching of the Koran for all people, and it is not an authorization for the abuse of women by fathers and husbands. With this interpretation, comes the understanding that the body will out, repression is a denial of the teachings of Mohammed. It is not immoral to have bodily desires in addition and connected to desires of the soul. In spea

Hard to Put Down. A Gem

Only pick-up this book if you have time to read it in one sitting, because once you start reading you won't be able to put it down until you have read the last sentence. This is a remarkable story that captures your attention from beginning to end. There is never a dull moment. A Syngue Sabor is a magical black stone that absorbs the troubles and difficulties of the person who confides in it. It is said that the stone will explode when it has reached its limit and can no longer contain the pain it harbors. Set in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, we find a wife taking care of her comatose husband. As the days and weeks go by and he does not improve, the wife begins to share with him her disappointments, anger, resentments, betrayals, and desires- he becomes her "magical black stone" the keeper of her pain. In fear, excitement, and often times relief, she shares of herself, and her life, never knowing if her husband can hear. All the while risking her life if he can. This is a beautiful story. It's almost poetic. Definitely worth the read. Highly recommended.

Rising tension kept my eyes wide and my heart beating. I loved it!

This little gem of a book is only 142 pages long and once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. It was originally written in French in 2008 and just recently translated. And Khaled Hosseini, who wrote The Kite Runner, wrote the introduction. Its theme is based on the Persian myth of a magical black stone that absorbs the troubles of those who confide in it. But in this book, this stone is a human being, an Afghani man who is lying comatose in his home while his wife of 10 years and mother of his two young daughters, is taking care of him. In a long monologue she opens her heart to him and reveals truths that she has kept inside of her for too long. She resents him, resents the war that has immobilized him, resents her whole life which has been one of subterfuge and lies. Slowly, she reveals the truth and slowly we get to know her, understand her, and identify with her, especially as some of her revelations are of an explicit nature as she talks about their marital relations. In the meantime, their world is exploding around them. There is an unnamed petty war going on, soldiers bent on death and destruction and their safety is at risk in general. I loved the voice of the woman. I identified with her and felt real chills as she quietly cared for the man and told him her innermost secrets which kept getting deeper and more profound as the book moved along, creating a rising tension that kept my eyes wide and my heart beating until the inevitable conclusion. I loved this book and highly recommend it.