Before the Soviet invasion of 1980, Enjeela Ahmadi remembers her home-Kabul, Afghanistan-as peaceful, prosperous, and filled with people from all walks of life. But after her mother, unsettled by growing political unrest, leaves for medical treatment in India, the civil war intensifies, changing young Enjeela's life forever. Amid the rumble of invading Soviet tanks, Enjeela and her family are thrust into chaos and fear when it becomes clear that her mother will not be coming home.
Thus begins an epic, reckless, and terrifying five-year journey of escape for Enjeela, her siblings, and their father to reconnect with her mother. In navigating the dangers ahead of them, and in looking back at the wilderness of her homeland, Enjeela discovers the spiritual and physical strength to find hope in the most desperate of circumstances.
A heart-stopping memoir of a girl shaken by the brutalities of war and empowered by the will to survive, The Broken Circle brilliantly illustrates that family is not defined by the borders of a country but by the bonds of the heart.
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[I had not thought of Afghanistan in years]
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(Little A, 1 March 2019, 246 pages, ebook, borrowed from @AmazonKindle, #KindleLendingLibrary)
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Oh well, that didn't go particularly well. I decided to read the book because I wanted something different, a memoir of a life completely different to my own. I have sketchy knowledge of Afghanistan, the place and culture so thought The Broken Circle fit the bill. I'm left baffled and not convinced this is a memoir. First off, it was written by a ghost writer so I was reading a third party's interpretation of Enjeela's story. Second of all, a lot just didn't sit right with me or ring true. Enjeela never states how old she was when it happened but using clues within the text I think she was about 7. There is so much detail in the book. That's not usually a bad thing but I had a hard time believing a 7 year old's memory would have such perfect recall. Also, Enjeela travels overland to escape Afghanistan and is helped along the way by some wonderful and kind people. Seriously? I find it hard to believe that everyone she met was so nice and helpful. I found a lot of events simply implausible. Also, Enjeela constantly shows off, pointing out how brave she was, and quick and how she was the first to do this or that in a sort of look at me and see how fabulous I am kind of way. There is a bragging tone that I found off-putting.
