Un livre que j'ai beaucoup de temps à ouvrir; et qui est une merveille d'humanité, de force, de dureté et de douceur. Assurément une grande œuvre. ( )

En la mitología persa, sangue sabur, la piedra de la paciencia, es una piedra mágica a la que uno le cuenta sus desgracias, sus sufrimientos, sus miserias, para confiarle todo lo que no nos atrevemos a revelar a los demás. La piedra escucha, absorbe como una esponja todas las palabras, todos los secretos, hasta que un buen día explota. Y ese día, uno queda liberado.

Ik twijfel tussen 3,5 en 4 sterren. Het boek kwam naar mijn gevoel wat traag op gang (maar ik las het ook in stukken en brokken), maar de 2e helft van het boek vond ik echt goed. ( )

An unnamed woman attends to her husband in a room of their house somewhere in Afghanistan. He has been shot in the neck by a fellow fighter and is unconscious. Shells from tanks fall around their house and gunfire erupts even during a purported ceasefire. At first the woman is tender in her ministrations and prays continually for his deliverance. But as the days pass with no change in her husband, she begins to find relief in confessing all her secrets to him, as though he were the fabled patience stone, which according to Persian folklore absorbs all the speaker's grievances until it explodes, taking all the speaker's worries with it.

Although the writing is very sparse (some have likened it to a play script), the emotions evoked by the woman's revelations are complex and layered. Like many Afghani woman, her life has been subjugated to the strictures of her father, her husband, society, and religious politics. Her attempts to exert control over her life, even by giving voice to her feelings and thoughts, have met with violence, so she has learned to remain silent. It is only now, with her husband unconscious and hostage to her ministrations, does she feel free to reveal her innermost secrets. ( )

This is a quick, emotionally powerful read. The novel takes place entirely in one room where the main character is caring for her injured and comatose husband, which gives it the feel of a play. It's a little simplistic, and I'm not sure how to parse the ending, but overall an interesting look at relationships, power, and autonomy. ( )