A Fort of Nine Towers
A Fort of Nine Towers
An Afghan Family Story
By Qais Akbar Omar
My Rating: 5
Genre: Non fiction, Memoir, War
Finished on: Aug 9th. 2018
"I have long carried this load of griefs in the cage of my heart. Now I have given them to you. I hope you are strong enough to hold them."
- Qais Akbar Omar
I have no idea how strong I really was throughout the time I spend reading this wonderful piece. I picked this one up because Khaled Hosseini's review on the cover caught my eyes. And I knew, this is going to be equally as wonderful, amazing, and heartbreaking as Khaled Hosseini's books are. And honestly, this did not disappoint me.
Living in another country I almost got a first hand experience of how life in Afghanistan has been. And Qais very thoughtfully divided his memoir into parts, wherein each part will give the reader a different experience altogether.
Part one: The Holy Warriors
Describing their happiness of the arrivals of Mujahedeen who were supposed to bring them the freedom they have been dreaming of all along, only to find out they wanted to rule the land themselves. And their ruling included them shooting whichever human being they would like just for "fun".
Part two: The Flight.
Honestly this is the only part which I read without any tears in my tears. Everything was so beautiful. Got to learn about different cultures in different parts of Afghanistan. Qais's family camping for two weeks amidst their journey to Aunt's house in Mazar. Their tent was destroyed by a rock from a mini earthquake and they almost drowned in floods, but that didn't stop them from moving on at all. Their stop at Tashkurgan and him befriending Hamza and his kind father who taught them that everything which he owns is given by God, so he's not afraid if anyone loots them because it's just God's way of taking His things back.
Then moving on and stopping by at Bamyan and living in the mouth of a Monk's statue, that was a different and wonderful experience. Then moving to Paternal Uncle's place at Kunduz and eventually at Maternal Aunt's place at Mazar-e-Sharif where he met his Carpet weaving teacher who is solely responding for being the reason he could start his own Carpet weaving and selling business one day.
- Qais Akbar Omar
I have no idea how strong I really was throughout the time I spend reading this wonderful piece. I picked this one up because Khaled Hosseini's review on the cover caught my eyes. And I knew, this is going to be equally as wonderful, amazing, and heartbreaking as Khaled Hosseini's books are. And honestly, this did not disappoint me.
Living in another country I almost got a first hand experience of how life in Afghanistan has been. And Qais very thoughtfully divided his memoir into parts, wherein each part will give the reader a different experience altogether.
Part one: The Holy Warriors
Describing their happiness of the arrivals of Mujahedeen who were supposed to bring them the freedom they have been dreaming of all along, only to find out they wanted to rule the land themselves. And their ruling included them shooting whichever human being they would like just for "fun".
Part two: The Flight.
Honestly this is the only part which I read without any tears in my tears. Everything was so beautiful. Got to learn about different cultures in different parts of Afghanistan. Qais's family camping for two weeks amidst their journey to Aunt's house in Mazar. Their tent was destroyed by a rock from a mini earthquake and they almost drowned in floods, but that didn't stop them from moving on at all. Their stop at Tashkurgan and him befriending Hamza and his kind father who taught them that everything which he owns is given by God, so he's not afraid if anyone loots them because it's just God's way of taking His things back.
Then moving on and stopping by at Bamyan and living in the mouth of a Monk's statue, that was a different and wonderful experience. Then moving to Paternal Uncle's place at Kunduz and eventually at Maternal Aunt's place at Mazar-e-Sharif where he met his Carpet weaving teacher who is solely responding for being the reason he could start his own Carpet weaving and selling business one day.
Who was the reason he didn't give up and stood up on his feet to feed his family that one fine day.
And how can one forget the Kuchi nomads at Samangan. Their lifestyle, their fishing tricks, their food and their dance, I felt like a member of their family myself.
But Alas, all the good things needed to end.
Comes the Part 3: In the Time of Shaitan
In which the fighting between the factions just got worse. Them being not merciful had no bounds. The funny part which I noticed was people didn't care an ounce about humanity, it was all about factions to them. You'll almost be tortured to death by a person only to be freed after they realise you speak Pashto and hence you are a Pashtun. You'll almost be beheaded by one until they realise you're not an enemy of Hazaras. I couldn't even properly remember the names of them all who were mercilessly trying to just kill each other in the name of factions. No one was considering humanity. Why would they? Its war after all.
Wakeel's death in this part shattered me. I knew since he described his limitless love for Grandfather and Wakeel, the logical part of my mind deduced something is going to happen to them. I couldn't resume reading after Wakeel's death. I suddenly felt empty as if I lost someone of my own blood. Even now as I type when I recall Wakeel teaching Kite to his cousins, standing up to them, being a protective brother to them all (even in the last moments of his life), I'm close to tears.
And to think that there are/were many mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who lost their loved one in the brutal, brutal war makes it worse.
My heart couldn't take it.
Part 4: The triumph of madness
This part didn't involve any deaths, but we readers could still feel from every word we read what all the people in Afghanistan suffered. Their freedom was lost, their smile was lost. They lived in an unstable Afghanistan with its unstable rules set up by Taliban.
I cannot possibly fathom how lost and hopeless the people might have felt. Even the richest of rich person lost all his wealth. People were struggling to get the daily bread for their family. And even proper education wasn't possible for all.
I'm really glad I read this book. I laughed, cried, sobbed my heart out in different parts of the story. I wouldn't have been able to live if I had to ever see the horrors which was seen by the author.
A wonderful, wonderful read.
And how can one forget the Kuchi nomads at Samangan. Their lifestyle, their fishing tricks, their food and their dance, I felt like a member of their family myself.
But Alas, all the good things needed to end.
Comes the Part 3: In the Time of Shaitan
In which the fighting between the factions just got worse. Them being not merciful had no bounds. The funny part which I noticed was people didn't care an ounce about humanity, it was all about factions to them. You'll almost be tortured to death by a person only to be freed after they realise you speak Pashto and hence you are a Pashtun. You'll almost be beheaded by one until they realise you're not an enemy of Hazaras. I couldn't even properly remember the names of them all who were mercilessly trying to just kill each other in the name of factions. No one was considering humanity. Why would they? Its war after all.
Wakeel's death in this part shattered me. I knew since he described his limitless love for Grandfather and Wakeel, the logical part of my mind deduced something is going to happen to them. I couldn't resume reading after Wakeel's death. I suddenly felt empty as if I lost someone of my own blood. Even now as I type when I recall Wakeel teaching Kite to his cousins, standing up to them, being a protective brother to them all (even in the last moments of his life), I'm close to tears.
And to think that there are/were many mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who lost their loved one in the brutal, brutal war makes it worse.
My heart couldn't take it.
Part 4: The triumph of madness
This part didn't involve any deaths, but we readers could still feel from every word we read what all the people in Afghanistan suffered. Their freedom was lost, their smile was lost. They lived in an unstable Afghanistan with its unstable rules set up by Taliban.
I cannot possibly fathom how lost and hopeless the people might have felt. Even the richest of rich person lost all his wealth. People were struggling to get the daily bread for their family. And even proper education wasn't possible for all.
I'm really glad I read this book. I laughed, cried, sobbed my heart out in different parts of the story. I wouldn't have been able to live if I had to ever see the horrors which was seen by the author.
A wonderful, wonderful read.
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