The Places In Between (2006)

The author walked across Afghanistan! Yes, all the way on foot. The book covers his travels from Herat to Kabul over the mountains in the winter of 2001, after the US invasion. Rather foolhardy/dangerous, but I enjoyed hearing about his meetings with the Afghans of different ethnic groups. A Afghan mastiff became his companion, which added a heartfelt touch.

Completed April 13, 2013 ( )

I did not expect to enjoy this book. But it was chosen by our reading group and I felt obliged to read it. It was beautiful. I loved the vivid descriptions of the landscape and the people as well as the fascinating historical back ground.
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One wonders why Stewart took off across Afghanistan by foot, in winter. Yes, he says that he was walking across that swath of Asia and had to go back to fill in the part he missed, but never really says what the walk meant to him. Knowing its meaning might have mediated this and other readers' sentiment that Stewart's journey was conducted in a foolhardy manner. I think walking is sufficient unto itself, and requires no particular explanation. However, Stewart's timing and season put him at risk, and perhaps others as well.

That said, I can't agree with some of the criticisms I've read that all boil down to accusations of cultural improficiency. What's missing from Stewart's narrative that might have helped is more explanation of how the Taliban period and war many have changed some of the local customs. His attempts to accomplish this wind up sounding like querulous comparisons with other countries.

This is a narrative by a young person. I would like to see a comparable trek and story by Stewart 20 years later. In addition, it is a man's narrative. Rita Golden Gelman notwithstanding, in much of the world, a woman walks alone at peril. If she arrives unmolested or unarrested at a village, where will she stay? Not the headman's place, which would be inappropriate. Not at the mosque, or the wat--that is where men stay the night. While I don't fault Stewart for not articulating his privilege to complete such a journey, what I most take from this book is how little autonomy women have in much of the world. ( )

This was a reading group book. It should have been interesting but wasn't. I skipped large chunks of the history bits. And the whole walk to next village, manage not to be shot, walk to next village and repeat got old really quickly.
I didn't like the author and I didn't like the people he met. Could have been so much better.
The only positive point I would give is that he does manage to convey the total alienness of this world and that the West continues to meddle in things it does not understand.
Why are we any different from the 50 previous regimes who have tried to invade and change Afghanistan?
Maybe we should take the lessons of history to our arrogance. ( )

Overall this book was good and I learned some about Afghan culture. Over time though, the book became repetitive, one Afghan town was difficult to tell from another. I think if the author has time, he should out edit out some of the Afghan parts and add the other parts of the journey that he alludes to; Iran, Nepal, etc.
The author had courage to walk across Afghanistan right after the Taliban fell in 2001. He is accompanied part of the way by various Afghans. His companions don't understand why a Westerner wants to walk at all, let alone across the country. To the credit of the Afghan people, nearly all of them are hospitable and the headman at each village walk with him part of the way or send a proxy to do so. Almost everywhere he is offered lodging and food to eat in this impoverished and war-ravaged country.
As one would imagine, few women appear in this book. The exception to this is, the Hazara women, who belong to a Mongolian descended group that is Muslim, but who take a more liberal view towards women.
The most fascinating part of this book is about the Tower of Jam and the forgotten empire that built it. During his journey, the ruins of this empire were being ransacked by poor Afghans who sell the artifacts to dealers in the cities. It is a shame that all that history will be lost. Overall a well-written travel book, but as I mentioned I could have heard a bit less about Afghanistan and more about Iran, Pakistan, and Nepal which he also walked through. The British hardcover edition of this book has a beautiful cover of a ruined mosque. The American paperback edition, however, looks like a third-world ripoff of Reservoir Dogs. ( )