Earth and Ashes

by Atiq Rahimi

Book Overview

Earth and Ashes is a story of such spareness and power it leaves the reader reeling. Set during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, it is a fable about war, family, home and tradition. An old man... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151006989
• ISBN13: 9780151006984
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.5" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Earth And Ashes

First published in 2000, Atiq Rahimi's Earth And Ashes is a short novella set in his native Afghanistan (he's another one of those writers that run away to France, like Milan Kundera and Gao Xingjian when the going gets tough) during the time of the Russian occupation. Told in the second person, it puts the reader into the shoes - or should that be sandals? - of Dastaguir, and elderly man sitting at the roadside with his grandson, Yassin, for company. The story revolves around Dastaguir (that's you!) taking his grandson to see Murad, the link between their generations. Murad works in a mine out in the mountains, a barren landscape of loose rock and dust. His mother, wife, and brother have just been lost when their village has been razed to the ground by Russian bombs. Dastaguir, with Yassin, has travelled to the mine to inform his son of the fate which has befallen their family. The writing, like the landscape, is sparse but conveys much. The translator has brought a certain pathos to the words so that the losses of war imply tragic emotions without explicitly stating. Not only are family members lost but their homes are gone, the war seems to have beaten them, and, since Yassin has lost his hearing from a bomb blast, there is the hint of tradition being lost. Oral history is worthless when passing it down to a boy who cannot hear. Earth And Ashes is a great little tale, it's brevity in no way indicative of its power. Despite it's setting, the fable of Dastaguir, by inviting you to see with his eyes, opens it up to be more of an international affair. The landscapes are blank enough for you to fill in the details; the oppressors mentioned only in name for you to replace with your own.

Beautiful

This is a beautiful little (81 pages) story of grief and loss in a time of war and suffering. It is a moving narrative that I won't soon forget.

You have to read it!

This small book is fantastic! Wonderful and touching story. Go ahead, read it!

MASTERFUL ECONOMY OF WORDS

Atiq Rahimi's short novel set during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan compresses an amazing amount of emotion, pain and loss into its 81 pages. He gives us an incredible, ground-level view of what war can do to a nation that is already poor (in material things, that is - the spirit depicted here is stunning in its resilience) and lacking in the infrastructures and other benefits we tend to take for granted - running water, literacy, health services. The TV newscasts tend to take a view rather like some history books, speaking in terms of armies and generals and referring to people as nations, thereby depersonalizing the conflict.The author has done an astonishing job in conveying the experience of his elderly narrator, Dastaguir - the old man has seen his village destroyed by the Soviets, all of his family that lived there killed with the exception of his grandson Yassin, who has been left deafened by the explosions. Dastaguir, in his grief and desperation, sets off on a tortuous trek through a harsh landscape in order to find his son Murad, Yassin's father, and inform him of the death of the boy's mother and the destruction of the village. Along the way, Dastaguir wrestles with his grief (how to allow it to escape his heart); his conscience (how to tell Murad of the tragedy without destroying him); his sense of revenge and his hope for his nation and the world; nightmarish visions, hallucinations and memories that are too terrible to accept as reality. All the while, he must care for his grandson. The boy has no understanding of what has happened to him - he knows that most of his family is now dead, and he comprehends the destruction of the village, but he fails to grasp the reality of his own deafness. He thinks that the Russians have stolen the sounds from the world, and the voices from the people, in the attack. When Yassin finally asks `Grandfather, do I have a voice?', and the old man tells him `yes', it begins to sink it - his next question to Dastaguir is `So why am I alive?' It's a question that breaks the old man's heart - and one that he cannot answer.On his journey to find his son, Dastaguir encounters several amazing characters. Chief among these in kindness and wisdom is Mirza Qadir, a shopkeeper. The book makes the point that every single person has his or her own story - that these are individuals, not just a faceless `nation'. They laugh and cry and love and suffer pain and loss and grief - and all of these are brought to life vividly in this short but rich work.This is a story that will stand the test of time - and it is one that each of us should experience. I feel a heartfelt gratitude that Atiq Rahimi has focused what is obviously a formidable talent into blessing us with this precious gift.