Timeri Murari
Author of The Taliban Cricket Club
About the Author
Image credit: Timeri Murari. (Photograph from the web Site of Penguin India)
Series
Works by Timeri Murari
Se Min Älskade 2 copies
Taj Mahal 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1941-07-29
- Gender
- male
- Short biography
- Murari was born in Madras, India and studied at Bishop Cottons School, Bangalore. He left India for the UK when he was 18 years old to study electronic engineering. He later switched majors to History and Political Science at the McGill University, Montreal. While at university, he began writing for The Guardian and other international newspapers.
His first job was a reporter on the Kingston Whig Standard, in Kingston, Ontario. Murari moved to London, UK, and worked and wrote for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer and other newspapers and magazines before once again shifting base to New York. In the US, Murari wrote film documentaries and contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan among others. He is now living in India. - Nationality
- India
- Birthplace
- Madras, India
- Associated Place (for map)
- Madras, India
Members
Reviews
The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri Murari is set in Afghanistan during the years that the Taliban was in control of that country. Rukshana is a journalist who cannot work at her craft under this regime, they demand that women never be heard or seen outside of their own home. Women cannot hold jobs or go out on their own without a male guardian. Young, educated and ambitious, Rukshana feels like she has been caged. Her one hope is to get out of Afghanistan but family complications have kept show more her there far too long and she has attracted the attention of a high-ranking Taliban who has decided to marry her.
At the same time it is announced that the Taliban is going to allow cricket to be played and teams are to be formed and play matches that will determine which team gets to go to Pakistan for training. As her brother and cousins form a team with the hope of winning and escaping to Pakistan, Rukshana is chosen to be their coach. She played the game in college and now, burka discarded, disguised as a man, hiding from the Taliban and working on how to get both herself and her brother out of the country, she also becomes the team coach.
I absolutely loved this book, it combined the all too real horror of living under these terrorist thugs who place no value on life or decency with the feel-good atmosphere of training at cricket and finding a way for the group to leave the country and find a better life. The Taliban Cricket Club left me with a bitter-sweet feeling as I rooted for these characters but, at the same time, I am aware that the Taliban is still very much a part of Afghanistan life. show less
At the same time it is announced that the Taliban is going to allow cricket to be played and teams are to be formed and play matches that will determine which team gets to go to Pakistan for training. As her brother and cousins form a team with the hope of winning and escaping to Pakistan, Rukshana is chosen to be their coach. She played the game in college and now, burka discarded, disguised as a man, hiding from the Taliban and working on how to get both herself and her brother out of the country, she also becomes the team coach.
I absolutely loved this book, it combined the all too real horror of living under these terrorist thugs who place no value on life or decency with the feel-good atmosphere of training at cricket and finding a way for the group to leave the country and find a better life. The Taliban Cricket Club left me with a bitter-sweet feeling as I rooted for these characters but, at the same time, I am aware that the Taliban is still very much a part of Afghanistan life. show less
When I first read the title of this book, I wondered what on earth it could be about. From what I knew about the Taliban, they didn’t appear to have time to play cricket! But as you read this book, with its equal measures of repression, love, humour and intense sadness, you will understand exactly why this name is the perfect title. Murari writes a sensitive book that will have you laughing, crying and cheering in equal measures.
The main character of the novel is Rukshana, a former show more journalist who is now forced to write undercover using pseudonyms after not being allowed to work under the Taliban regime. Strangely, she is called to a press conference where it announced that Afghanistan will be holding a cricket tournament and the winners are allowed to travel out of the country – unheard of. Rukshana’s cousins decide to form a team for the ultimate prize – and if they win, they’re not coming back. One problem though: Rukshana’s the only person who knows how to play cricket. Enter watching banned cricket videos under the cover of darkness, some daring disguises and the boys begin to learn their new sport. However, the minister for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has now decided he wishes to marry Rukshana, putting her life at risk. How can Rukshana teach the team to win and evade a forced marriage?
If you loved A Thousand Splendid Suns, you’ll adore this book. Murari balances the descriptions of the severe restrictions forced on the women of Kabul with funny stories of the boys playing cricket and Rukshana’s happier days at university in India. I did have to put down the book several times to compose myself – the injustices that Rukshana faces just because of her sex are difficult to comprehend. Not being allowed to go to the letterbox without as escort is a small but essential freedom denied to her. (Would you rely on your younger brother to post your letters?) What is happier and more amusing, is the ways that the team try to thwart the tyrannies to achieve their freedom – from costumes to fake cousins to practising in the basement.
I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, but please allow yourself adequate time to read and read because you won’t be able to put this down!
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less
The main character of the novel is Rukshana, a former show more journalist who is now forced to write undercover using pseudonyms after not being allowed to work under the Taliban regime. Strangely, she is called to a press conference where it announced that Afghanistan will be holding a cricket tournament and the winners are allowed to travel out of the country – unheard of. Rukshana’s cousins decide to form a team for the ultimate prize – and if they win, they’re not coming back. One problem though: Rukshana’s the only person who knows how to play cricket. Enter watching banned cricket videos under the cover of darkness, some daring disguises and the boys begin to learn their new sport. However, the minister for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has now decided he wishes to marry Rukshana, putting her life at risk. How can Rukshana teach the team to win and evade a forced marriage?
If you loved A Thousand Splendid Suns, you’ll adore this book. Murari balances the descriptions of the severe restrictions forced on the women of Kabul with funny stories of the boys playing cricket and Rukshana’s happier days at university in India. I did have to put down the book several times to compose myself – the injustices that Rukshana faces just because of her sex are difficult to comprehend. Not being allowed to go to the letterbox without as escort is a small but essential freedom denied to her. (Would you rely on your younger brother to post your letters?) What is happier and more amusing, is the ways that the team try to thwart the tyrannies to achieve their freedom – from costumes to fake cousins to practising in the basement.
I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, but please allow yourself adequate time to read and read because you won’t be able to put this down!
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less
Set in Afghanistan during the years (1996-2001) that the Taliban was in complete control, this novel rivals the scariest dystopian fiction. But its protagonist -- a young, well-educated, ambitious and athletic woman-- gives it heart and soul. Beyond the horror of what the Taliban did to women is the story of likable, real-seeming people who just want to live their lives in freedom and in peace. Rukshana is a journalist who, despite being caged and covered-- like all Afghani women at the show more time-- manages to become the coach and trainer of a cricket team consisting of her brother and male cousins. All of the characters rang true to me, and I really loved this book. show less
Burkas. Beatings. Beastliness. Balls!
Reading ‘The Taliban Cricket Club’ one concludes that its author, Timera M. Murari is a rather better journalist than he is a novelist.
The book is set in Kabul, after the rise of the Taliban. Essentially the plot is simple; anyone who is not a religious fundamentalist nutter is trying to get the hell out of Afghanistan. Usually this involves bribing border guards and bumping to freedom in the back of a lorry. This is now the accepted way of escaping show more Afghanistan rather than the traditional method of going over the mountain passes in winter and eating frostbitten toes until you arrive in Pakistan. The twist here is that a free flight to Pakistan is offered to the winners of a cricket tournament. Step forward, every young man who wants to get out of Afghanistan.
Life in Kabul is colourfully depicted, if that colour is brown. Kabul is dusty, and full of potholes, the former possibly a result of the climate, the latter definitely the result of the war.
This is a story of life in the ruins, of inner lives. The heroine lives in the family home that is, typically for a middle class family in Kabul, set in a compound. Outside the walls, she must wear the burka. Within the walls of the compound she can be herself. Within the house sits the secret room. As the book explains, these are not uncommon and where in England at one point you may have found a catholic priest holed up, in Kabul the secret rooms are refuges from toleration brutality where families watch Bollywood musicals.
The burka too, it transpires, can conceal hidden rebellion.
Rukhsana is a newspaper journalist, until the Taliban take over, at which point she becomes a stay-at-home woman. Then the Taliban government announce that there will be a cricket tournament and that the winning team will go to Pakistan to play there. Obviously, all Rukhsana, who was a student in Delhi and played cricket there, has to do is to disguise herself as a boy, coach her brother and numerous cousins, win the tournament and escape.
So far, so panto. But among all the false beards, there’s quite a bit going on about what life must have been like in Kabul at that time.
The Taliban and the religious police roam the streets like insane monsters, accountable to nobody, wielding absolute power and lengths of electrical cable they use to beat people with. The Taliban are depicted as illiterate thugs, the religious police as young thugs from Pakistan. When they make an appearance on the page, it is truly terrifying. Women have a very, very rough time. Even with their secret defiance of make-up and mini-skirts underneath the burka, they have rather less rights than a donkey.
The Toyota Landcruiser also comes in for something of a pasting. The sales department at Toyota would probably love for the dominant image of their 4x4 to be delivering feed to sheep in winter, or even vaccine to people. No, as is confirmed in this book, Landcruisers are the favoured vehicles of arseholes who like to ride around in the tail section, then jump out and beat the shit out of somebody. And that’s true in this book, lending it a certain authenticity.
What’s not authentic is the romantic element of the plot. Rukhsana is lined up for an arranged marriage but falls in love with another bloke. The romantic scenes are so sickly sweet I was examining the cover for one of those warnings they put on food packaging – ‘contains 1000% of your daily need for saccharine bollocks’. What was somewhat disconcerting was Ruksana’s following the family line to avoid bringing ‘dishonour’ on her family. One almost wondered if one day she herself might be the one jumping out of the back of a Landcruiser to thrash her own daughter.
This was compelling stuff, although laughable in places it was deadly serious, and sometimes shocking, in others. The redeeming quality to the book is the depiction of the strength of family ties. In a country as fractured as Afghanistan, family is all. So strap on a false beard and add another batsman. show less
Reading ‘The Taliban Cricket Club’ one concludes that its author, Timera M. Murari is a rather better journalist than he is a novelist.
The book is set in Kabul, after the rise of the Taliban. Essentially the plot is simple; anyone who is not a religious fundamentalist nutter is trying to get the hell out of Afghanistan. Usually this involves bribing border guards and bumping to freedom in the back of a lorry. This is now the accepted way of escaping show more Afghanistan rather than the traditional method of going over the mountain passes in winter and eating frostbitten toes until you arrive in Pakistan. The twist here is that a free flight to Pakistan is offered to the winners of a cricket tournament. Step forward, every young man who wants to get out of Afghanistan.
Life in Kabul is colourfully depicted, if that colour is brown. Kabul is dusty, and full of potholes, the former possibly a result of the climate, the latter definitely the result of the war.
This is a story of life in the ruins, of inner lives. The heroine lives in the family home that is, typically for a middle class family in Kabul, set in a compound. Outside the walls, she must wear the burka. Within the walls of the compound she can be herself. Within the house sits the secret room. As the book explains, these are not uncommon and where in England at one point you may have found a catholic priest holed up, in Kabul the secret rooms are refuges from toleration brutality where families watch Bollywood musicals.
The burka too, it transpires, can conceal hidden rebellion.
Rukhsana is a newspaper journalist, until the Taliban take over, at which point she becomes a stay-at-home woman. Then the Taliban government announce that there will be a cricket tournament and that the winning team will go to Pakistan to play there. Obviously, all Rukhsana, who was a student in Delhi and played cricket there, has to do is to disguise herself as a boy, coach her brother and numerous cousins, win the tournament and escape.
So far, so panto. But among all the false beards, there’s quite a bit going on about what life must have been like in Kabul at that time.
The Taliban and the religious police roam the streets like insane monsters, accountable to nobody, wielding absolute power and lengths of electrical cable they use to beat people with. The Taliban are depicted as illiterate thugs, the religious police as young thugs from Pakistan. When they make an appearance on the page, it is truly terrifying. Women have a very, very rough time. Even with their secret defiance of make-up and mini-skirts underneath the burka, they have rather less rights than a donkey.
The Toyota Landcruiser also comes in for something of a pasting. The sales department at Toyota would probably love for the dominant image of their 4x4 to be delivering feed to sheep in winter, or even vaccine to people. No, as is confirmed in this book, Landcruisers are the favoured vehicles of arseholes who like to ride around in the tail section, then jump out and beat the shit out of somebody. And that’s true in this book, lending it a certain authenticity.
What’s not authentic is the romantic element of the plot. Rukhsana is lined up for an arranged marriage but falls in love with another bloke. The romantic scenes are so sickly sweet I was examining the cover for one of those warnings they put on food packaging – ‘contains 1000% of your daily need for saccharine bollocks’. What was somewhat disconcerting was Ruksana’s following the family line to avoid bringing ‘dishonour’ on her family. One almost wondered if one day she herself might be the one jumping out of the back of a Landcruiser to thrash her own daughter.
This was compelling stuff, although laughable in places it was deadly serious, and sometimes shocking, in others. The redeeming quality to the book is the depiction of the strength of family ties. In a country as fractured as Afghanistan, family is all. So strap on a false beard and add another batsman. show less
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- Works
- 29
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- 1
- Members
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- Popularity
- #49,588
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 19
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- 96
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