The Age of Orphans

by Laleh Khadivi

The story of a Kurdish boy forced to betray his people in service of the new Iranian nation, and the tragic consequences as he grows into manhood.

Before following his father into battle, he had been like any other Kurdish boy: in love with his Maman, fascinated by birds and the rugged Zagros Mountains, dutiful to his stern and powerful Baba. But after he is orphaned in a massacre by the armies of Iran's new shah, he is taken in by the very army that has killed his parents, renamed Reza Khourdi, and indoctrinated into the modern, seductive ways of the newly minted nation, careful to hide his Kurdish origins with every step.

The Age of Orphans follows Reza through his meteoric rise in rank, his marriage to a proud Tehrani woman, and his eventual deployment, as a colonel, back to the Zagros Mountains and the ever-defiant Kurds. Here Reza is responsible for policing, and sometimes killing, his own people, and his carefully crafted persona begins to crack.

Told with an evocative richness of language that recalls Michael Ondaatje or Anita Desai, the story of Reza Khourdi is that of the twentieth-century everyman, cast out from the clan in the name of nation, progress, and modernity, who cannot help but yearn for the impossible dreams of love, land, and home.

Genres: Fiction, Iran, Historical Fiction, Middle East, War, Asia, Novels

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Laleh Khadivi was born in Esfahan, Iran, in 1977. She received her MFA from Mills College and was a Creative Writing Fellow at Emory University. She has been awarded a Whiting Award, a Pushcart Prize, and an NEA Literature Fellowship. She has also worked as a director, producer, and cinematographer of documentary films. Khadivi lives in Northern California.

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reza follows like his sons and daughters: dutifully, arms and legs loose with exhaustion and mind clear of everything but the memories he will make of this day, ingredients to mix with imagination and longing when he needs to cook himself a pot of happy dreams.

I'm not sure what it is about these authors/settings, but I can struggle sometimes with the meaning of the story they are trying to tell. I like to pick one up in a while to get a sense of the people of the middle east, but after two now I just realized will likely be taking a break for the rest of the year.

A good story, just a little complicated and somewhat abstract.

[Trishnyc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of a hard book to review. There were times while reading it that I nearly stopped because it got a bit hard to swallow. But I persevered and I believe the effort was worth it.

Reza Pejman Khourdi is a Kurdish young boy who is violently conscripted into the Iranian army after his father and other male relatives are brutally slain in battle. For two years he drifts in a haze of service to his village's murderers, carrying out their every whim. He is the plaything of the soldiers who use him in every manner imaginable. Through it all he longs for his mother with whom he shared a close if strange bond. But his past life is now dead and buried and he must forge a new existence out of the life he is given. A brotherhood begins to form amongst the young soldiers who are all weapons in training for the shah. They share their loneliness and need to make sense of this new life alongside their hopes for the future. But that brotherhood quickly evaporates with one visit from the shah who extols the willing enlistees (usually boys from Tehran) over the conscripts(usually Kurds). The boys go from being allies to being competitors and adversaries.

Reza realizes the status quo very quickly and distinguishes himself as hardworking, brutal and willing to do anything to climb the military ladder. He disavows his Kurdish self, in one instance very violently, and does everything to show his superiors that he regards the Kurds with even more contempt than they could muster. His reward for this is his promotion to the rank of captain and being given charge of Kermanshah, a Kurdish region. He is tasked with controlling the people and bringing them firmly under the yoke of the shah. He gladly carries out the shah's vision of a new nation, Iran, built on veneration of the shah, centralization of the language and destruction of any dissenting voices. But in Reza's later years, there is a softening of his grip, it is as if he loses the struggle between his Kurdish and Iranian self and is lost from both identities.

There is so much violence, savagery and brutality in this book. Women are raped, children are killed and lives are destroyed. The language is many times very crass and that coupled with the aforementioned made me want to stop reading. But despite these facts there is something poetic in the way that the author uses language. You sometimes feel like you are reading a poem written in ancient times. The story is sad and speaks to a loss of identity in the face of a dominant culture. What effect does forced assimilation have on a people? At some point after denying your true self for so long, does this destroy you? This is definitely not a book for everyone. Some will take to it and some will be repulsed by it. This book is apparently the first in a trilogy about three generations of Kurdish men.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book of loss: of land, of mother, and of identity. This is a book of forging ahead in order to construct one's manhood in the shadow of this new country that is also being constructed by the Shah. It's not often that a book makes you remember differently; Khadivi's images and yes, lyrical language transformed my memories of place, made me remember in a fresh way the sights and sounds and habits of my own people. I was engaged with the text, and moved enough to want to read it again and again. Her gift is for storytelling and poetry, and thank god that she is completely unapologetic in how she utilizes her talents. Persian literature is traditionally ornate and lyrical and Khadivi makes her ancestors proud by following in their footsteps. Affareen!

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated on whether to give this three or four stars. The meaning of the star system doesn't seem to fit this book for me. I can't say that I liked it OR I really liked it. It's such a bleak story that I found it difficult to read. On the other hand, Laleh Khadivi's writing is lush and beautiful. It's poetic. It's just that often, that poetic language is describing overwhelming loneliness, unspeakable brutality, violent sexual encounters, humiliation, and inhumanity.

I'll definitely read other books by this author. I hope to see more of her beautiful writing, but would love to see it in a less unforgiving setting.

[colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetic, tough, epic. Laleh can turn a phrase, braid history into character, paint powerful images.

I know Laleh. She is smart, witty, inquisitive. She's a filmmaker as well as an author.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reza Khourdi is a typical Kurdish boy: traipsing among the rooftops of his hometown, wishing he were following in the footsteps of the older men of the tribe and longing for the comfort of his mother. All that changes when Reza joins the elder men on a trip out to the far desert for his circumcision. The procedure is normal for boys of his age, and Reza feels the typical conflicting emotions about it. What happens next in the boy's life is not so typical. Traveling back towards home in the dark, his people are attacked and killed by the Shah's men, leaving Reza to be captured and conscripted into the Shah's army. Reza must now be taught to fight against his own people and tribes, pushing them into submission and taking over their land and crops. As the boy becomes a man, his emotions and inhibitions begin to die, turning him into the perfect soldier: a man who is dead to his feelings and reactions, who willingly and almost fawningly strives to do the bidding of his commanders. As Reza catapults into higher and higher ranks, his loyalties to his army and to his former people are constantly in opposition to each other. He must forget everything about himself to push forward and destroy the Kurd enemy, an enemy that was once himself. After many years of the soldier's life, it is suggested to Reza that he take a Tehrani wife, which he does just as obediently as he can. Reza and his new bride struggle in more ways than one. Her hatred for his Kurdish roots and his silence are only some of the things that begin to cause problems. Soon Reza is promoted to Captain, and although his rank keeps advancing, his status in his household and among his men begins to plummet. He begins to find pockets of resistance within himself that he cannot expose, so he must try to alleviate the unhappiness and emotional clash in other ways. Reza's story is both disturbing and dark, a story of Iran that many have not yet heard, in a voice as trembling and horrifying as the events that surround his life.

This book was almost too much for me. The graphic violence was portrayed with such a dearth of emotion and such coarseness that I felt my spirit plummet every few pages. There were some instances of horrible child abuse in the book, such as the terrible way the soldiers treated young Reza when he was captured. It was almost terrifying to think about what a child's mind would do under those circumstances, and indeed those reactions manifested themselves all over the page in Reza's reactions. I also had a hard time with Reza's relationship with his mother before she died. I thought it was odd that a child of 7 or 8 was still so focused on suckling from his mother. I agree that different cultures have different timetables for most things, but his intense and insatiable desire for her milk seemed strange and a bit malevolent.

In addition there were many instances of vulgar imagery. The human body and all its sexual functions seemed almost completely devoid of taboo, which was strange, seeing as though other areas of the book were so reserved and cautious. On the other hand, once I got past the shocking aspects of the plot, I thought the book was very well written. At times the writing had a touch of stream of consciousness, and at times it arranged itself like good poetry, full of arresting and intricate imagery. The imagery was especially well done because it evoked a great sense of place. You could feel the aridness and brightness that surrounded the characters, and could see the barrenness of the desert in which they lived.

Another thing I liked was the way that various chapters were told from differing viewpoints. Though each narrator was only heard from once, this technique allowed a fuller picture of the story to be revealed and for more of a wholeness and fullness to exist in the narrative. I especially enjoyed the chapters from the women's point of view, because this remained mostly a masculine story, and these chapters exposed more of what the other side of the population was experiencing at the time. Reza himself as a character was a little hard to get used to. He didn't showcase any internal monologue, and it was only by outward factors that I could decipher just was must have been going on in his head. This wasn't really a problem in the beginning of the book, for as a child he was much more prone to display some types of behaviors and reactions, but when I reached the second half of the book, Reza's adulthood, it became very hard to know why he did most things and what his thoughts were surrounding the greater issues of his life. I can only think of one time in the latter half of the book when it was clear to me why Reza was behaving the way that he was. There is no denying that this was Reza's book; the other narrators and characters only really existed to showcase other aspects of his life and his military service. I also felt that the second half of the book was slightly superior to the first half. Maybe it was the fact that I had been holding the book at arm's length in the beginning due to it's graphic nature, or maybe I just engaged more with the more mature Reza's character. Whatever the reason, I felt that the first half of the book was slightly less well-shaped and polished than the latter half, though it didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the story.

Although there were some eyebrow raising moments in the book, I did ultimately enjoy the story that was told and very much appreciated the craftsmanship of the writing. I think that before reading this book, it may be important to some readers to know that the story is sometimes explicit and disquieting because it may hamper the enjoyment of some to come to these scenes unaware. By no means does this book delve into the disgusting or atrocious, but some may find the ideas inside a bit perverse. I admit, there were times when the book became disquieting, but I also freely admit that I think the author wasn't just pushing the envelope to be avant garde. I think that this story, in this form, needed to be told. I think the point of it all was not to make us squirm in discomfort, but to make us aware of the lives that may be lead on the other side of the world, and perhaps it was an attempt to explain the plight of those nameless Kurdish orphans who are so wholly sucked into the circumstances that envelop them. An interesting and thought provoking read, recommended.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful writing, a brutal story at times, softened toward the end. I read it because I want to read the next two books in her Kurdish trilogy. 1 3.5

[Colleen Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, beautifully written (in English, not translated), timely and timeless.

I don't remember exactly where or when I picked this up, probably in one of my local bookstores. But I have no doubt why. Having lived in a mostly Kurdish area of Turkey when I was a PC Volunteer English teacher in the 1960's I have maintained an interest in the whole Middle East, and especially in the Kurdish people who live, as the novel says, in the mountainous area where Turkey, Iraq, and Iran come together. There are also Kurds in Syria. And as the novel also says, the Kurds are the largest ethnic/language group in the world without their own country. There are probably between 30 and 40 million of them. (see the Wikipedia article, probably as good a quick source of information as any.)

I read this partly as a political novel - the politics of the Kurds especially in the three countries where the bulk of them live - Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In Iraq there are two semi-autonomous states in the north. In Turkey the Kurds are almost completely politically suppressed, sometimes their very existence being officially denied and the right to use Kurdish in public, much less to print books prohibited. This has led to an ongoing violent separatist movement - the PKK - which has wreaked havoc in the extreme southeast and has had an on and off war with the Turkish army. The leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, has been imprisoned since 1999 but has not been executed, contrary to the expectation of many. (There is a separate Wikipedia article on Iranian Kurdistan).

I'm mentioning all this because it's useful background for understanding this novel in its context that also includes the history of the Pahlavi family, Reza Shah and his son, eventually replaced by Khomenei and all that has come after. I don't think there have been any bright spots for the Kurds.

The whole story is brutal - from "the boy's" life in his village to his being taken with the men, now that he has been circumcised, on a useless and ultimately suicidal raid against the Iranian army. The soldiers that adopt him show him no tenderness or mercy. He's a useful conscript without family or connections.

The novel is suffused with Reza's unrequited and only partly acknowledged longing to return to his childhood and his village. He cannot connect with his Tehrani Iranian wife nor she with him, though initially they appear to long for it.

A sad and brutal tale like much of both ancient and modern history.

I will keep my eyes peeled for the next book in the trilogy. Khadivi is tender and insightful. I imagine she too longs for her Iranian home.

"Now he is fifteen...not his fifteen years...they are pen and ink years....It is an orphan age, as declared by the spurious newlyweds Baba Shah and Maman Iran. It is their fifteen years. For this specious upbringing he should loathe and fear them, these false fathers and artificial brethren, but it is too late; the fontanel is nearly formed, ossified into a solid, stiff knot at the base of the neck, where boys are soft with memory and possibility and men are hard with hate and fear." (pp 114-5)

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary novel. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything quite like it. Khadivi weaves a tale that is horrifying, with poetic language that mesmerizes. I am shocked and enthralled at the same time as she tells the story of a young Kurdish boy in the 1920s who is captured and conscripted into the Shah’s army, and eventually transformed into the hated enemy. This story tugs at you with every page. Love doesn’t exist here—only the desire for it. I kept asking myself while reading, how does one write of evil, selfishness, brutality and hopelessness in language that lifts the reader with its beauty, then crushes the reader with its message.

Khadivi’s metaphor of birds throughout the story works well to represent hope, desire and freedom as the young Kurdish Boy yearns to fly. His innocence is palpable and helps the reader sympathize with him as he emerges through inflicted brutality—his wings clipped by the Shah—to become the epitomé of evil himself, a tethered ‘falcon’ in a cage of his own making.

With words that sing, Khadivi tells the story of part of Iran’s violent history. I was totally immersed, even if left after reading, with a hollow pit in my stomach.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Kurdish boy is orphaned at the age of ten after a battle between the Kurds and the Shah of Iran's military forces in the early 1900's. The policy at that time is to conscript the male orphans into the Shah's army, so our hero trades his old life and becomes Iranian, after witnessing the brutal death of all of his male relatives, including his father who is kicked to death in front of him. Though Reza is the main character, his life unfolds through a series of storytellers, each with their own vantage point. This is not a unique style, but this author uses it so incredibly skillfully that I found myself empathizing with just about everyone in the book, without regard for their actions. This book makes "KiteRunner" look tame. At the end of the book, I discovered that this is the first in a trilogy about several generations of Kurdish men and I eagerly await the next 2 books.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Age of Orphans: a Novel by Lileh Khadivi follows the life of a Kurdish boy from childhood to old age, while Iran grows to nationhood by swallowing the likes of his homeland and people. When the shah’s army massacres his tribe, the boy is orphaned and conscripted all in one. He grows to serve and compete and advance in the army, thus to condemn and purge the Kurd in himself. He grows into manhood desiring the privileges of an Iranian officer, a well-born Tehrani wife, a post in the provinces. Ironically, he is assigned to oversee martial law in the land of his birth where to recognize himself is to lose all he has achieved. Under the spell of Khadivi’s beautiful prose, a reader inhabits the man, yet simultaneously recalls the boy, his land, and his people.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi is an exceptional work of literature. The reader is taken back to 1920s, and is introduced to the Kurdish culture where a routine coming of age ritual changes the lives of many, when the group is intercepted by the Shah of Iran's army. The book will take the readers through a deep and rather emotional look at the life of a Kurdish boy, who is renamed Reza after he is conscripted into the Shah's army. Khadivi takes the reader through a beautifully written, yet heartbreaking story. The Age of Orphans is an exceptionally deep, complex, and at times rather graphic book, which will keep the reader intrigued until the end.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Age of Orphans, by Laleh Khadivi grabs you by the soul and leads you through a land of beauty and pain, wisdom and arrogance, histories lost and created. Where a boy’s journey is measured by stolen love, memories forgotten, maps that circle upon themselves and back again. I was taken to unknown worlds and misunderstood cultures and could not catch my breath. This book delights the heart and then tests its resilience. I found myself as conflicted as the leading character and I could not put this book down. I look forward to reading more of Khadivi’s work.

[Shrinkme2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing to be admired for its power and voice. This book blew me away. Sentences to be read, over and over, appreciating the mastery of language, prose and voice required to write so well. I am thrilled this book is to be part of a trilogy. I learned about a culture I didn't know much about (Kurds) and though the story is brutal and disturbing, if you like to be moved, this is the book for you.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This intended first in a trilogy presents a disquieting revelation of the brutalization of the Kurds by the Iranians. Even so, it is a lyrical and haunting reminder of the dark and the beauty of the human soul.

[Lee Gingras · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous book. The prose is delicate and exquisite, and the intimate story of a Kurd boy orphaned and taken by the Shah is heartbreaking to the very end. I'm definitely a picky reader, but I can't recommend this book enough.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. A stunning debut novel. The prose pulled me in right away with its lyricism. I enjoyed the changing narration, and the picture it painted of Iran at the moment of its creation through the lifespan of one man.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat of an educational read for me as well. As such, entertaining.

[Anna Cavallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young Kurdish boy, living in the Zagros Mountains in 1921, has always felt loved and protected, despite his family's "poverty." He enjoys "flying" from the roof of the family's hut, experiencing the soaring feelings of earth and heaven at the same time, and identifying with the falcons. In gorgeous and poetic language, author Laleh Khadivi, recreates the "gloried ground" to which the boy is connected by birth and culture. Soon after his initiation into manhood, at age seven, he accompanies the village men to a mountain lookout, where they wait for the shah's troops. In the ensuing massacre, the boy is orphaned, and he leaves the battlefield with the shah's army, without a backward glance, ultimately consoled by the fact that he will be getting boots, a whole new "family," and a new way of life.

Throughout the novel Iranian author Laleh Khadivi alternates points of view among the various characters, and, in the beginning of the novel, she even personifies nature--a tree, a falcon--in passages of great lyricism. With their echoing refrains and musical repetitions, some of these sections sound like psalms, a striking contrast to the brutality, bloodshed, and horrific rapes which follow soon after. Named Reza, for the shah, and Khourdi for his heritage, the boy conscript becomes an unthinking automaton, though he occasionally has moments in which his past overwhelms his present. Sent at fifteen to a Kurdish village, he and the army try to capture two Kurdish commanders, and they engage in terrifying brutality, Reza engaging in some of the most brutal acts of all to prove that he is one of the shah's men, rather than a "dirty Kurd."

As the action moves from the 1930s and into the period of 1940 - the 1970s, Khadivi shows Reza Khourdi continuing to be the perfect soldier, representing the wishes of the shah, but still suffering the inner conflicts of a brainwashed orphan. Khadivi's portrait of this man is intimate and carefully drawn, and she creates great empathy for him in his plight, despite his actions. His assignment to Kermanshah, a Kurdish city, in 1940, and his long residence there, bring his personal conflicts to a head.

The novel is primarily a story of character, well drawn and complete, and the violence and inhumanity are integrated as part of the author's thematic progression as "Reza" moves from an innocent childhood, through his attempts to find "family" within the killing machine of the army, his attempts to find love, and his final assessment of his own life. Reza represents many of the conflicts we read about today--specifically, the conflicts between Iran and the Kurds and between Turkey and the Kurds--and the novel is enlightening and absorbing, but Khadivi also includes broader themes--the use of boy soldiers, the brainwashing that takes place, and the reasons these boy soldiers are sometimes more brutal than their elders. Though the novel is not easy reading for people who live safe and comfortable lives, she opens such a world to examination and analysis.

[Ruby Jusoh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal and traumatising. The best book of 2021 so far. I was not expecting this to be soooo good after reading a series of underwhelming novels. Best way to describe it - Kurdish yearning for their motherland juxtaposed with violent and highly passionate imagery. The main character's constant pursuit of a mother's love in all its hideous glory dominates the narrative. I was absorbed and appalled at the same time, unable to look away.
.
Our main boy, an ethnic Kurd, was taken away from his village and turned into a soldier for the Shah of Iran. Having to constantly prove himself that he deserves to be where he is, he surrenders to acts of murder, assault and looting, destroying villages of the minorities one by one, demanding them to submit to the empire. Horrifying. He is a monster externally yet a boy crying for his mother's milk internally. Despite his wrongdoings, he will forever be deemed as a Kurd, a mountanside barbarian in the eyes of the majority.
.
So many impactful passages. It took me a while to finish this as I had to savour every sentence. All of the characters are complicated and consumed by madness. His mother, a child bride whose body had been violated since birth. To give meaning to her life, she breastfed our hero until his teenage tears. Our hero (or antihero) finds solace in a mother's bosom, incapable of accepting the oppressor he has become. He scoured the city of Tehran - the brothels and the taverns - to find women like the mother he has left behind.
.
5/5. Highly recommended. However, this will be an emotionally exhausting read. But oh so so rewarding. Laleh Khadevi, a Kurdish-American writer, wrote the story in a fairy-tale manner. I feel like reading her beautiful words out loud. Ah... I feel that my soul has changed forever.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hauntingly sad but brutal story of a young Kurdish boy so filled with joy, excitement and love of his small but beautiful world around the Zagros Mountains who is transformed by the after effects of WWI as Persia transforms into Iran. Spanning almost 60 years (1921-1979), this happy, innocent boy we meet on the first pages of the book is then orphaned on a battlefield, conscripted into the Shah’s army at 7, given a new identity, yet goes on to achieves great success in the army. The boy becomes Reza Khourdi, his Persian name, who is always seeking to ingratiate himself to his Persian superiors, striving to kill his Kurdish soul in this new world he has been thrust into to hopelessly strive to find a new self. He marries a Tehranian woman, though the marriage is loveless, it produces 6 half Kurd, half Tehranian children, which in Reza’s new world is scary. When Reza is assigned to his hometown, Kermanshah, old memories of his Kurdish life are rekindled but his fear of them threatens to crack the facade he has built up and diminish his authority, the only thing that has any meaning left for him. It is as if the love and connection has been stamped out of him and he is never able to recapture the love, joy or happiness he had a child. The bitterness in this story is unrivaled in any book I have ever read. Not knowing much about the Kurds except to know they have been a “homeless” people striving for a free independent state but being quashed continuously by the Iranians or the Turks in that desire. This resonates throughout the story as Reza tries to stamp out his Kurdish soul. While not an uplifting story, it is beautifully written.

[Lissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to like this book, but I didn't care for the author's writing style. I've heard it called "poetic," and I'd agree with that assessment; however, I didn't find it to be very engaging. It was easy for me to set aside this book and not return to it. I really had to force myself to finish this book.

The story told in the pages is worthwhile and interesting. I've read very little about the Kurdish people, fiction or non-fiction alike, and this is a fascinating and tragic era of history. But the author's writing style, or at least my aversion to it, really prevented me from delving into this story with anything more than a superficial reading.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of a young man coming of age from a Kurdish family and heading into his first battle with the Iranians. His entire family is slaughtered but he is taken as a captive and raised in the Iranian tradition. He becomes a fearless leader and rises through the ranks to become an important captain. But as he grows older he begins to miss his life in the mountains. His wife derides him constantly for being a Kurd. He grows more and more withdrawn. He longs for his roots....this is a sad story but one wrought with a lot more sexual innuendoes and activities than needed to be. The ending was sad but left me hanging...

[Cobygirl517 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated it. All of the characters are assholes, especially Reza. I kept waiting for him to do something redeemable, but no, he's just a POS. This book was one of the most disturbing books I've ever read, and I've read Lolita & Fifty Shades of Grey (ha). I understand that soldiers at war do despicable deeds, but had I known the acts done in this book, I never would have picked it up. (And that's saying something, coming from an avid holocaust reader.) Definitely not wasting my time on the other two books.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s really hard to review this book. The writing is lovely, so lyrical and the time period and location are fascinating. However it’s a brutal story, no gruesome detail is spared. The scenes and characters played on my mind and I couldn’t decide how I felt about the main character. I often struggled to justify his actions, however at the end you can’t help but feel desperately sad for him, a product of the society he lived in. The last chapter is lovely, the detail and the poetic language. A fitting ending and thank goodness a conclusion.

[Sinem Pamuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Twee jaar geleden kwam ik achter het bestaan van dit boek, toen ik graag meer wilde lezen van Koerdische schrijvers over Koerdistan. Goed, boek gehaald en nu in 2023 uit eindelijk gelezen. Ben zo teleurgesteld. Walgelijke hoofdstukken, nog erger als ik besef dat een Koerdische vrouw dit heeft geschreven. De Koerdische leed is pijnlijk dat is zo dit hoeft niet verkleint te worden en moet tuurlijk ook verteld worden. Echter, in een betere medium dan dit. Nee, sorry vond dit zo een naar boek, ik ben nog gul met 2/5 sterren.

[William Hendrickx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik kan het niet aan, vernedering, verkrachting, nodeloos geweld.
We zien dit elke dag in het ziekelijk medianieuws. Nieuws? Never ending story.
Heb het boek dan ook niet uitgelezen.

In "The Time of Our Singing" schrijft Richard Powers:
We slaan elkaar toch al een miljoen jaren de hersens in vanwege een stelletje waandenkbeelden?
Dus waarom zouden we daar dan nu opeens een punt achter zetten?

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: This book is painful. However, the masterful narration technique and the lessons it teaches make it worth the read. It makes my heart break for how people harm, kill and destroy others because of their own hurt and brokenness. I read The Walking before I read this book and am glad I did. I learned a lot from this book and am grateful to the author for her work.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of an Iranian Kurdish boy, who loses his family in the early 20th century, and grows up as a ward of the military. As an adult, he returns to the Kurdish area of Iran, now as an important military man. It is a really interesting story, but the author jumps back and forth between different narrators, which is somewhat confusing in places.

[Anni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brutal and heavy story of a Kurdish boy in Iran forced to fight his own people and promote Kurdish assimilation. Recruiting child soldiers has been historically widespread in Iran, especially from the persecuted minorities making this also relevant historical fiction read to better understand the Kurdish struggle for independence.