I bought these books in
a bookstore’s bazaar (The reason why i really love bazaar and would always love
to drop by is they extremely cut the price off.....girl’s matter. Lol). I didn't pay my attention to its shelf at first, i
just walked randomly looking for a good book in the great number of unsold book
stacks. The shelf stand right in the corner of the bazaar, a place that couldn’t
attract any attention, no one came to touch or even took a peek on the books
there. If it wasn’t because of the crowd and because of my body kept telling me
to find a little peace, i wouldn’t be able to find these books in that untouched
area.
These books are not
that thick, for each book consist of less than 150 pages, the thinnest books
that i’ve ever read indeed. I always get doubt feeling when i read such thin
book, whether they have good content or not, how can a good story can be told
in such limited pages? But like always, i just give it a try. When i read the
summaries, it allured me to spend my money on them and bring them home right
away. But sadly these books had been forgotten and dusty for awhile, and after my
6 busy months, finally i had time to finish them all. The time when i read them
was a memorable time. word by word, scene by scene, my emotions were mixed
together; angry, sad, pity, and bunch of regret. So here’s my review, not just the
review actually but we’ll talk about the reality as well.
Parvana took a place in
Afghanistan. Once i mentioned that place i know what comes to your mind, yes it’s
all about war. These novels told us how the war has affected the children lifes
there, about how horrible it took their peaceful and happy childhood.
In the first book,
Parvana the breadwinner child, told us about the struggles that has been faced
by a little girl named Parvana. At that time her country was overrun by
Taliban, a big Afghanistan’s party. Taliban made many unreasonable rules such as
no night time, they should be home when the sun goes down, and every girl,
every woman should wearing burqa and accompanied by their male family whenever
they go. Women got a really less time outdoor.
And for general, Taliban
often punish the innocence, they thought that every adult was a threat, they don't
hesitate to kill them without knowing what they have done. Parvana’s father was
one of their victim. Her father was a teacher. Parvana said her dad is so intelligent,
he took his degree in America. But unfortunately, her father lost his job after
the school he had been working on got bombed by Taliban. Not just the school
and the job, it took her father’s foot as well. They had been struggling to
make a life after that.
Her father did a job as
a letter reader, many people there even Taliban were illiterate. Sometimes no
body needed their help, if there’s no customer, her family would sell anything
they have to get little money. Their life goal was so different from before,
now what they were thinking just how can they get food, that they need to
survive day by day. But it’s not done yet when all of sudden Taliban forcibly
came to their house and took her father to the prison for no reason. Since that
time, Parvana took over what’s her father responsibility, being the letter
reader to get money. But as a girl, Parvana shouldn’t stay outside without male
companion, it broke the Taliban’s rules. To solve this problem, her family came
out with an idea, Parvana should be disguise as a boy. Then Parvana’s story
began, she and her friend, Shauzia have to face the harsh reality. Kids in
their age normally go to school, studying and playing, but they need to get
money under the guns.
In the second novel,
Parvana the green valley, was all about Parvana journey in looking for her
family after they got separated. In her way, she met a baby boy and a same age boy.
They became a team walking aimlessly. Hide and seek with Taliban, gone starve everyday,
were their only choices till they arrived at the beautiful valley. It wasn’t
that beautiful, they still needed to work on it, but that place was the best
among the destroyed cities. They built the place along with their new dreams.
Parvana even forgot about war, and postponed her family search. But sadly, it
didn't stay long when Taliban bombed their little heaven, made them needed to go
and gone starve again.
In the last novel,
Parvana the mud city, was not about Parvana’s story anymore. The story was told
by Parvana’s friend, Shauzia along with her dog. Shauzia got no better
situation than Parvana. Beside she needed to be the breadwinner, her family
intended to sell her by marrying an old man. Feeling betrayed, she abandoned
her family and went to Pakistan through the dangerous border. She dreamed to
have better life there, collect much money and go to Paris, her dream land. She
faced many thrilling episodes there. How hard she tried to get and collect money,
and how she lost it all when somebody tried to kidnapped her but got betrayed by
the police. Her life was so up and down like hill. After those heart breaking scenes,
then she was adopted by a rich family even though they threw her away in the end
once she did a mistake.
These books don't have
the happy ending, because the war hasn’t finished yet. Many kids out there still
facing this terrible situation up till now.
Through these novels, It
seems like every child in war area shouldn’t make any dream, it just doesn’t fit
them. They mean to live in struggle, they mean to lose their happy childhood,
they mean to live between dying and dead. The grim rapper never goes too far
from their side. They will die eventually, if it’s not because of the gun, the
bomb, so it will be simply because of starvation. By its story, now we know there’s no
winner in a war. The innocent kids always be the victims. They know nothing
about fighting, they know nothing about power, they were born not to face such
harsh reality. They still need love, they need to grow up like how normally
kids do.
Let me summon your memory, when the world was
frightened by this accident. The syrian refugee tried to cross the border
through the sea. But unfortunatelly, the boat crashed. Can you imagine this
pity little corpse floating in the cold water alone till it reached the sea shore?
Even the sea couldn’t stop itself from helping the lifeless body. This three years old kid appalled
all decent people, talking about their disbelief. What this kid has done? It reminds us of Shauzia, the only reason
why they took such risk is to have a better place to live in, to reach a new life.
Look at that pity kid,
how cruel the adults towards him. The big guy there, arrogantly beat that
helpless kid. With that thin and weak body, what he can do? He just tried to
make a life by selling something, not stealing! How can an adult beat him roughly?
He dreamed that in this new place, the adults would treat him differently compared
to his country. He dreamed of acceptance. But as you can see, what’s the
difference?
We shouldn’t ignore
them. The children there are the same as our children here, they deserve to
have complete family, a shelter, good food, education, happy childhood, and the
bright future. It’s really our time to hug them tight, till they forget
everything that has happened to their lifes before. Keep it in our mind, that war always gone wrong.
I like the story from
these books, what i don't like just how thin they are. The story gone so fast,
move to one scene to another one in a rush. But i couldn't expect more from
translated book like this, it might have different style in delivering the
story compared to the original. So my conclusion is:
Storyline : 4/5
Flow : 2.5/5
Explanation : 3/5
Meanings : 5/5
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