Monday 11 April 2011

Shakib, Siba "Samira and Samir"

Shakib, Siba "Samira and Samir: The Heartrending Story of Love and Oppression in Afghanistan" (German: Samira und Samir) - 2004

After reading "Afghanistan, Where God Only Comes To Weep" (Nach Afghanistan kommt Gott nur noch zum Weinen), I wanted to read more of this author.

I am always amazed about the challenges women go through in order to live their lives as a man. But then I grew up in a culture where the difference isn't that large any more, I have the same human rights as men etc.

The author was born in Iran but has lived in the Western world, mainly in Germany. Her books are written in German and this is a translation (I read the original so cannot vouch for the English version).

Anyway, the book is very interesting. Read it.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"When the young Afghanistanian girl Samira is born, her father, a commander fighting in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, decides to raise her as a boy called Samir. The fact that Samir is really a girl is soon forgotton as Samir learns to fight, ride and shoot as well as any boy and when her father is killed she becomes the head of the family. As an adult, she falls in love with the male friend of her youth and is forced to reveal her true identity. In order to marry Bashir, she must relinquish the freedom she is afforded as a man. Samira follows her heart but hates wearing the veil. Eventually, the torment becomes too great and she decides that there must be a third way to live, as a confident woman not confined by the rules of her culture. This is her story."

German books by Siba Shakib.

No comments:

Post a Comment