Favourite Quotes
“He loved the fact that he was the one to help with her first step, to gasp at her first uttered word. This was his purpose, he believed, the reason God had made him, so he would be there to take care of Pari when He took away their mother.” p. 31
Short Summary
- this books spans many generations and many years. Overall there are lots of stories within this book.
- it follows a boy named Abdullah whose father, Saboor, a poor farmer, has to sell his daughter Pari to a wealthy childless couple in Kabul. Pari is about 3
- Abdullah is distraught since he was really close with Pari and basically raised her since their mom died
- he collects a box of feathers for her but doesn’t have time to give it to Pari before they are separated
- this couple, Mr. Wahdati and his half-French wife Nila, have a butler named Nabi, who is actually the brother-in-law of Saboor, which is how the arrangement took place.
- Mr. Wahdati suffers a stroke and his wife leaves for Paris with Pari.
- It’s revealed the Mr. Wahdati is actually gay and loves Nabi. Later on Mr. Wahdati convinces Nabi to help him commit suicide. They kiss and Nabi suffocates him with a pillow
- Some years go by and Nila is living in France with Pari. She is deeply unhappy, taking on many lovers over the years.
- eventually Nila kills herself
- Pari suspects she isn’t Nila’s biological daughter (Pari was only 3 when she was adopted so she doesn’t remember). She intends on going to Afghanistan to explore her roots and find out her heritage but life gets in the way - she marries and has 3 kids. She becomes a widow at age 48
- in 2010, Pari receives a posthumous letter from Nabi detailing how she was adopted
- at the end of the book, Pari is finally reunited with her brother Abdullah after 50 years apart. This is narrated by Abdullah’s daughter, also named Pari
- Abdullah has Alzheimer’s so he doesn’t really remember much.
- Pari (daughter) gifts the box of feathers to Pari (sister). She doesn’t remember the significance of it but she is touched regardless by the fact that Abdullah has kept her in his memories all these years
Reflections
I liked the book, but it wasn’t as good as Khaled’s other books. There were too many stories in this book that were very loosely connected and it took away from the power and depth from the main story (Abdullah and Pari). .