Sunday, February 08, 2009
Description in "Bookseller"
I'm only about fifteen pages into "The Bookseller of Kabul," but I already love the author's simple style of writing. Before starting the book, I was expecting to be bombarded with all-too-descriptive adjectives and adverbs meant to enchant the reader to Afghanistan's "exotic" culture. I am so happy that the author decided to focus on conveying descriptions that are simple so the reader can take an active role in reading and develop a stronger interest in the issues addressed indirectly in "Bookseller." My favorite two sentences so far, both in Chapter 1, are "Sonya looked down at the floor" (5) and "Sharifa cried for twenty days" (7). Seierstad could not have written sentences more stripped of literary description, but with these sentences she creates impressions more lasting and profound than if she had devoted a full page to either topic. There is always something beautiful about simplicity, and especially when one wishes to encourage active thinking in readers, there's often no better road to take.
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2 comments:
Maybe the writing is simple, but the book bombards the reader with pages of crucial information about the conflict in Afghanistan- the Taliban, the Mujahadeen, the Soviet. This information is critical to understand the whatever situation that the Khan family is at any point in the book. Furthermore, Asne's writing can be deceptive, because often, she anticipates what a character might be thinking, and then writes that thought as if it were that of the character. Example- pg 100- Asne writes, "Shakila would rather fall over than be seen without a burka". First of all, the information about Afghani life that Asne provides is critical to understanding the importance of the burka. Secondly, how does Asne know what Shakila's thought's are? She DOESN'T know. This takes away from how much of the book is documentary and how much is added as "extra spice" by Asne.
I agree that the description is simplistic. Often times, writers get into trouble when they give simple descriptions because they don't give the reader the slightest clue of what the scene looks like. With Bookseller, this is not the case. Though her descriptions are simple and not overly-long, they give the reader a vivid picture of the world being written about. It's beauty is in its simplicity.
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