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A Fort of Nine Towers
A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story | Qais Akbar Omar
8 posts | 8 read | 11 to read
One of the rare memoirs of Afghanistan to have been written by an Afghan, A Fort of Nine Towers reveals the richness and suffering of life in a country whose history has become deeply entwined with our own. For the young Qais Akbar Omar, Kabul was a city of gardens where he flew kites from his grandfather's roof with his cousin Wakeel while their parents, uncles, and aunts drank tea around a cloth spread in the grass. It was a time of telling stories, reciting poetry, selling carpets, and arranging marriages.Then civil war exploded. Their neighborhood found itself on the front line of a conflict that grew more savage by the day. With rockets falling around them, Omar's family fled, leaving behind everything they owned to take shelter in an old fort-only a few miles distant and yet a world away from the gunfire. As the violence escalated, Omar's father decided he must take his children out of the country to safety. On their perilous journey, they camped in caves behind the colossal Buddha statues in Bamyan, and took refuge with nomad cousins, herding their camels and sheep. While his father desperately sought smugglers to take them over the border, Omar grew up on the road, and met a deaf-mute carpet weaver who would show him his life's purpose. Later, as the Mujahedin war devolved into Taliban madness, Omar learned about quiet resistance. He survived a brutal and arbitrary imprisonment, and, at eighteen, opened a secret carpet factory to provide work for neighborhood girls, who were forbidden to go to school or even to leave their homes. As they tied knots at their looms, Omar's parents taught them literature and science. In this stunning coming-of-age memoir, Omar recounts terrifyingly narrow escapes and absurdist adventures, as well as moments of intense joy and beauty. In?ected with folktales, steeped in poetry, A Fort of Nine Towers is a life-affirming triumph. A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2013 A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013
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asterese
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Pretty ambitious April TBR considering all the studying I still have to do. 😂 #ForTheLoveofReading #NoRestfortheReader

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asterese
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This looked interesting. 😃 #fivefingerbookchallenge

👏 A book I love: Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
👉 A book I love to recommend: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
👎 A book I didn't like: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (definitely not his best)
💍 A character I'd like to marry: Rhun Korza from The Order of the Sanguines series by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell
🤞 A book I pinky promise to read soon: A Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar

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LisaAnne78
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Pickpick

Read Around the World Challenge Book #1: Afghanistan - review at https://theworldviabook.blogspot.com

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dontbignorant
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I have long carried this load of griefs in the cage of my heart. Now I have given them to you. I hope you are strong enough to hold them.
- Qais Akbar Omar
#memoir #afghanistan
A fort of nine towers is a memoir and it is written in a very beautiful way which I can't describe through words. It tells us a story of a Afghan family, their life before the invasion of soviets, life during the civil war, and their life during the taliban rule.

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KnjiskiZmaj
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Such a beautiful book! 😍
Story about war, destruction, social dissidence, but also family, love, friendship and hope.
Young Qais managed to survive war horrors with his family, only to tell us his story now.
Amazing!!!❤
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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ApoptyGina69
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This was an absolutely amazing memoir of a young man from Kabul and his life during the war. It can be quite graphic and brutal and even though many of us have followed the news over the last 30 years, I was not quite prepared. I only wish I could one day. Is it this amazing country, although it may be merely a shadow of its former self. Fans of The Kite Runner, etc. will love this story. #24in48

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Bibliophile.93
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Tvrđava sa devet kula je autobiografska priča Kais Akbar Omara, što joj daje posebnu težinu i vrednost. Autor nam u prvom licu prepričava svoje odrastanje u Avganistanu pogođenom građanskim ratom poslednjih godina 20-tog veka. Navodi nas na razmišljanje o važnosti nekih stvari koje uzimamo zdravo za gotovo, a koje mogu preko noći nestati. Ova priča je sirova, moćna, emotivna, detaljna i prelepo ispričana.
Ocena: ★★★★

Knjigoholicarka Cula sam sve najbolje o ovoj knjizi 😊😊 nadam se da cu je procitati ove zime 😉 8y
Bibliophile.93 @Knjigoholicarka Knjiga je dobra, puna intrigantnih događaja i patnje kroz koju prolazi porodica. Nešto što se jednostavno mora pročitati, a u fazonu je knjiga Khaleda Hosseini-ja. 😊 Nadam se da će ti se dopasti. 😊 8y
Knjigoholicarka @Sun3009 toliko knjiga imam na listi za citanje ove zime 😇😇😇😇 a imam osjecaj da ni pola necu uspjeti 😂😂😂😂 a svakim danom otkrivam jos i jos i nos knjiga i autora 😢😢😢😢😢 8y
Bibliophile.93 @Knjigoholicarka Isti slučaj. Mislim da dva života ne bi bila dovoljna. 😊 Slatke muke. 😊 8y
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Bibliophile.93
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"I have long carried this load of griefs in the cage of my heart. Now I have given them to you. I hope you are strong enough to hold them." Qais Akbar Omar