Dancing with Darkness by Magsie Hamilton Little
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm giving this a 2-1/2 stars in my Reading Log. It was OK, but I found it hard to reconcile many of the realities of Afghan culture and life in Afghanistan with the author's purported stories. There was obviously a deep connection forged with one particular Afghan family--through the introduction of an intermediary from the UK--and the author spent good time with this family. There was a lot left unsaid in why the fiancee of a daughter of the family was kidnapped--and a lot of seemingly impossible & ineffective trips to secure his freedom (which, ultimately, came about in what seemed like a very typical Afghan power play). The whole issue of the adopted dog--and then its pups--rankled me, as 1) the author who is a student of Islam should have known better, and 2) a rather poor Afghan family wouldn't have been as enthusiastic/helpful as reported with such a "dirty/unclean" creature. The author just makes too much out of this and it tilts into an unrealistic & soppy rescued-puppy story that would be fine in the UK or the US, but not in Afghanistan. There were other things that Afghans wouldn't have normally done with or allowed for a woman to be involved in--but, as she was a young foreign woman with no protection/cover... I did like the Afghan proverbs that headed each chapter.


View all my reviews