The Pearl that broke its shell

What do I say about the book. A story of great women who challenge and win over toxic patriarchy. I liked the parallel plots of Bibi Shekiba the half burnt and Rahima the bachaposh. All the beautiful practices of Afghanistan are weaved into it. 

We Afghans mark both life and death with a forty-day period, as if we needed that much time to confirm either had truly happened. The protection from evil eye tactics - pin an amulet to my gown, whisper nam-e-khoda, look at her fingernails, and lovingly waft the espand over my head.

Glimpses of Afghani food with Rose water cookies and cumin-infused potato stew with bread. The making of litti for a new mother after delivery. On the sixth day, they celebrated the birth with a prayer and halwa.

An ancestor with a story and the friendship of an aunt. These are blessings for women. I want to be that ancestor and that aunt. The aunt that fights for them, for everything that she teaches, for the stories told, for the escape given. 

It’s sad to see such deplorable life of women in Afghanistan. The plight of women as wives, mothers daughters. It’s all the same. Author says - “That’s how it is for girls. A daughter doesn’t really belong to her parents. A daughter belongs to others,” I think men think women are their property. Uhh the cruelty. Not one man was mature enough to think of his wife as equal. The few good ones as father of Shekiba are dead. Are there really no good men? Not one decent man in the book except King Amanullah who we know nothing of. 

The desire for a male child, the politics of multiple wives, the restrictions on women, the evil mother in law, the jealous sister in laws, the harem of king, filled with concubines, wives and ugly games. The cruelty of own family, the child marriage, the beating of wives, the lecherous men, the afeem drugged and dieing.

“When the crime is adultery, the punishment is sangsaar. I will be stoned.”

The cruelest practice of stoning till death. The stones so big, bringing gashes of blood, the haunted moaning and the mourning. The scene is hell personified. Who decides adultry is crime. If you are an adult you are free to do consensual things you wish to do. Ideally the only person you need to be honest is your spouse. But where men are allowed four wives, women will be stoned for adultery. 

In summary, a brilliant book. It was lying in my kindle library for some time. I got a free download from zlibrary. What a deal! I like free gifts if you haven’t figured by now. I am glad I am a liberated woman living in a free country. Where I can eat my pringles on a sofa while typing away this book review and my thoughts. My first world problems lay heavy on me. I hope to help the world heal and provide justice to the emancipated women.