[LM_NET] Book Review->SEC/ADULT->Come Back to Afghanistan by Said Hyder Akbar

[NHS Webmaster <nhswebmaster@COLLIER.K12.FL.US>]

It's been awhile since I wrote a book review, but since it is Spring Break for us 
here, I have been reading and thought I would share this one. It would be suitable 
for a book club, secondary or adult.

Just finished reading "Come Back to Afghanistan: Trying to Rebuild a Country with 
my Father, My Brother, My One-Eyed Uncle, Bearded Tribesmen, and President Karzai" 
by Said Hyder Akbar, a 20 year old, born in Afghanistan, but from a toddler, grew 
up in California. He journeyed back to Afghanistan during the summers when he was 
17 and 18 to be with his father who was first, the press spokesman for Karzai and 
then the governor of Kunar Province, from which his family originated.
 
I have been fascinated with Afghanistan ever since reading "The Kiterunner." I 
followed up with "The Bookseller of Kabul."
 
This just adds to my understanding of trying to build a nation which has seen a 
generation of war, the massive destruction, the complete annihalition of anything 
resembling a nation, and the attempts to rebuild with false promises of aid from 
the U.S. and the world. 
 
Here is a country with no viable exports except for opium! Promised the same amount 
of aid as we have to Iraq, which has immense potential oil wealth! With the same 
size population, with absolutely no infrastructure left as a result of Russian 
bombings, the Taliban destruction, and the American war that destroyed anything 
that was left. 
 
Fascinating reading.
 
I loved one quote by Benjamin Franklin mentioned in the book: "Those who would 
sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." How apropos to America today!
 
This morning I began "The Memory Keeper's Daugher" a novel about a doctor who 
delivers his wife's first born twins. The first a healthy boy, the second, a 
surprise, a daughter with Down's Syndrome. Set in 1964, he makes a split-second 
decision to have the nurse take the daughter away to an institution, only for the 
nurse to disappear with the child. Can't wait to see how this goes!


Adam Janowski
Library Media Specialist
Naples High School
1100 Golden Eagle Circle
Naples, FL 34102
E-mail: NHSWebmaster@collier.k12.fl.us
Phone: 239-377-2210
Fax: 239-377-2370
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School web site: http://collier.k12.fl.us/nhs/
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