99 Nights in Logar

From this start, I realised this was going to be a unique novel. And I wasn’t sure if that was going to be in a good way or not. I mean, it’s about a boy who returns to Afghanistan with his mother. His family returns to teh village they are from but Marwand is of course American and has never really seen his homeland. Once back in his family’s country, the village dog takes the tip of his finger, then the dog disappears and he and his cousins go on a quest to find it. It’s a way of discovering every nook and cranny of a place I guess!

It was a good back to roots kind of read and these kind of stories always fascinate me. People are formed and made from their experiences, where they are born, raised and where they move to. I loved it how Marward at first struggled with his family’s mother tongues of Pashto and Farsi but then became almost fluent. If I had foreign born parents, I always like to think I would learn my mum and dad’s mother tongue even if I’d never lived there.

Looking back at Afghanistan in 2005 and through the eyes of a young boy was a cultural and language based treat. I think a glossary of the vocabulary would have been nice although most if not all can be guessed from context. I work with languages though so work with words in context all the time. Others ie most, don’t so might find some things a little unclear.

It’s not a straight forward coming of age story. It’s a story within a story within another story with tales and legends leading off from that like streams from a river. The novel flows well too which is good given that image I ‘ve just conjured up to describe it! An Arabian Nights style coming of age story?

There’s a lot to like here.

Set in 2005 on a family holiday home to Afghanistan, Marwand has come all the way from America to visit his family in Logar. Staying predominantly with his mother’s family because his father’s home and family were devastated during previous wars, Marwand is most looking forward to seeing the family dog. Since arriving in America, he has been taught that dogs should be trained with rewards and love and he carries with him guilt over torturing the dog when it was still a puppy.

The first thing he does is rush to the dog to make a amends, but Budabash is a fierce guard dog kept on a chain. Budabash eats off the tip of Marwand’s finger.

Told from Marwand’s perspective and in a way which moves backwards and forwards through the 99 nights of their stay, the novel uses myth, Koranic and storytelling traditions to turn one child’s summer into a complex record of Logar’s political, social, familial and religious relationships. The ghost of Marwand’s finger refuses to die so that we are constantly thinking about what it means to be whole, of what memory and damage do to identity.

At the heart of the novel is the search for Budabesh, who goes missing part way through those 99 nights. Finding him requires facing the maze of old Logar streets whose confusing alleyways provide a defence against invaders as well as a test for those seeking to navigate their paths.

There is real pleasure in all the layers that move through Marwand’s experience of his family and his environment. This is a coming of age journey that not only makes a war-torn landscape an ordinary every day location, it simultaneously elevates it through the myths and mysteries of past narratives whilst keeping that sense of childhood wonder.

99 Nights in Logar is a joy to read and though I’m sure I don’t get all of the references, this is a beautiful and challenging novel whose exploration of life, identity, belonging and belief makes you think afresh about the land and people of Afghanistan. It doesn’t come out until early next year, but I would recommend pre-ordering your copy now.

A captivating coming-of-age story set in 2005 Afghanistan to which twelve-year-old Marwand has just returned following 6 years in the United States. His return is both pleasure and pain as he rediscovers his former home, re-forges old friendships and loses the tip of his finger to the half-wild dog (Budubash) he mistreated as a child. When Budubash disappears Marwand and his friends spend 99 nights searching through the streets and stories of Logar to find him.

Kochai paints a wonderful, complex picture of Logar, drawing on traditions of Islamic storytelling to create a multi-layered story of the fantastical and mundane aspects of modern Afghanistan, revealing its culture and history in the wake of war and occupation. Lochar is a vibrant town of close family connections and adventure for the children, into which the reality of the occupation intrude unexpectedly. It is a shock when these background features suddenly appear in the forefront, to Marwand and to the reader, and maintains the awareness of danger always hovering around the edge of the story, both from the Taliban and from the occupying forces. Overheard conversations and half-understood stories from the older generation reveal the long history of conflict as they recall the invasion of the 1980s and earlier. These conversations reveal the real and vilent cost of war and its long-term consequences.

It’s also a story of identity. Marwand finds himself bridging two worlds and belonging wholly to neither. He holds his homeland in affection but misses the now-familiar luxuries of the West and find that his mother tongues have become rusty with disuse. He rediscovers his roots in all their grit and colour as he explores night-time Logar which is both everyday world and wonderland in the eyes of a child. The texture of the writing and the world it reveals is marvellous in its contrasts and reveals an Afghanistan which is much more than just a survivor of repressive regime, war, and occupation.