Farsang

About 3 am (my sleep is really messed up this week) I finally finished this book. It's not a difficult read, it's just that I'm so tired my eyes wander down the spaces between the words like the author's trip across Afghanistan.

This is one of the NY Times top ten books of 2006. At first I was disappointed in the writing style. It wasn't spectacular at all. Indeed, there are some awkward sentences. But this is a haunting book. It gets under your skin.

I don't recall ever reading a travel narrative before. Now I see the appeal. Very much takes you to a place you've never been to before. Walking across Afghanistan, dealing with the post-Taliban chaos (2002), the mountain passes, the cold and hunger, the crushing isolation and implosion of cultures (not to mention land mines, wolves, and dysentery) makes working in my shirt sleeves, kicking out sleepers, and microwave burritos for lunch, a walk in the park.

What Rory has accomplished in his writing is to get out of the way of his own adventure. He lets us in by staying out. It's a detached point of view, but very effective. I both couldn't wait for the next farsang* to the next mud village, but also to finally get to Kabul, home to Scotland, to safety; home.

*Farsang: Persian word; the distance a man could walk in a day. Same as the French word, Journeé, or ancient English, Journey.