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There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I had expected "Caravans" to read like the only other Michener book I've read, "Hawaii": I can't remember the last time I wanted climb inside a novel. The prose is fluid and clean and perfect.
The exotic scenes are richly described, the characters layered and living. The relevance of this country has only increased in current times, which contributed to my fascination with his portrayal of life in the late s. Mark's desire to take vengeance but his ultimate ability to have compassion give rise to questions about the meaning of forgiveness.
Ultimately, her utter self absorption mars the reader's ability to empathize with her, but we are reassured that she will embrace whatever adventures come her way and land on her feet. Michener weaves a compelling tale and his fascination and love for the land come through vividly. A worthwhile read that is still relevant and carries universal themes-- a 'coming of age' novel set in a country with a dramatic history and people.
This is a good story, along with some geography lessons and history. Michener was witness to some of the last caravan culture that had crossed mountains, deserts and national borders for thousands of years. The story is set in That story is a bit dated, but also prescient. Educated Afghans are pitted against the stone age theology of rural mullahs. One of the leading characters has taken part in WW II atrocities; that and the coming civil rights battles in the U. She is a young American woman, a prototype hippie; a free spirit disgusted by her family and life in America.
She is repelled by any society with structure and believes the old saw of discovering freedom and independence in a simple life in a primitive, but noble culture. This all makes a good work of fiction, beyond that, Michener was optimistic that the educated class, independent minded Afghans especially nomad tribes and moderate mullahs would win out and begin to build a nation and relieve Afghan women from being shrouded, second class human beings.
Today we know the result for independent, free spirits who seek to find themselves in this part of the world. They start out attempting to assimilate into the local culture and end up being traded among groups until the most radical make them the star attraction in a horror video for cable news. As usual with Michener, the story line and writing are compelling. This epic is somewhat different from most of his others The Source, Hawaii,etc. But he has first-hand experience there to give the book veracity, The author traveled throughout the country for a year or so just after WWII.
As usual in his novels, history and geography are mixed with romance. In this book, a beautiful, young, blond college student runs off with a married Afghan man, disappears, and is the subject of a search by a young American man from the U. The author gives us an honest look at life in Central Asia and it is captivating, if not inviting. The only thing that is the least bit disappointing is his outlook for the future of the country as judged from pre-Taliban times ca.
While he accurately predicts the battle for the country's resources between the U. But then, who did?
One person found this helpful. Although the book did not start with a detailed chronicle of the geology of the region; through the eyes of one man, the influence of the geology on the many great armies that passed through it were noted along with the bits and pieces of cultures, religions and tongues that were drawn to it over millinea, took root and were reshaped by the harshness of the arid land and then rose into great cities and new civilizations sustained by the water that was tamed and brought down from the mountains and nourished by the vital overland trade routs that connected the Orient, Mediterranean, and Europe.
An amazing account of a little understood land and its many peoples. See all reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. Texas, Mitchener, https: The Caribbean, Mitchener, https: May 30, Ron Wroblewski rated it it was amazing Shelves: Got off to a slow start but once Miller started on his search for Ellen it really picked up, and I was anticipating what would happen next.
Learned a lot about Afghanistan and it's peoples in the s. Would have loved to see if Miller and Mira eventually got together - they were a good pair. This was a lovely read, and a short one relatively to his fat books. A single story here, unlike in his most other books. Michener has done a great job of portrayal of social and economic life in Afghanistan, along with integrating its history, culture, and most essentially the terrain.
In it was just emerging from the bronze age, a l 4. In it was just emerging from the bronze age, a land incredibly old, incredibly tied to an ancient past. Also a lot is written about the life of caravans and the people involved in it and their perceptions and opinions of life's essences. And much, much more!
The book also expresses ideas and opinions using opposing characters, about the 'unspoiled' and 'civilized' world of Afghanistan Vs the so-called 'civilized world of the West' and how we are destroying ourselves. Considering it is a smaller book than the author's other counterparts, this is a good book to start off with for those who wish to try James Michener's works.
Caravans by James A. Michener
Jun 22, Don Fannin rated it it was amazing. I first read this book in college 65 to And I am rereading it now. I almost never read a book. But as the US got involved in Afghanistan it framed the way I thought about the country. As with all of Michener's good novels this is a story, a travelogue, social and political commentary, and history.
To be honest the story is weak. It is good enough to keep you reading but not enthralling by any means. The travelogue is magnificent. Word pictures of a dusty dirty part of the world, primitive wh I first read this book in college 65 to Word pictures of a dusty dirty part of the world, primitive where a pack of wolves roam the streets of Kabul, hot dry deserts so dry that they suck the moisture from you and if you are in it for a couple of days with no relief it will mummify your body, the high green valleys of the Hindu Kush.
I think his understanding of the political environment was almost prescient, he commented on the Ultra-conservative Mullahs challenging the government, almost predicted the Russian incursion. But showed the country to be a collection of tribes and area that were not under the rule of the government in Kabul.
The history is mostly passing references to Alexander, the Mongols, Tamerlane, the British. If you like to take your knowledge in easy to read doses I highly recommend this book.
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Aug 05, Naeem rated it liked it. In the summer of , I was caught in an apartment in the middle of Bangkok. I think I read half a dozen of Michener's books. Including this one on Afghanistan. The book is, of course, outdated. It was published in But there is still a reason to read it. I think it reads well paired with Jason Elliot's An Unexpected Light -- the best travel book I In the summer of , I was caught in an apartment in the middle of Bangkok. I think it reads well paired with Jason Elliot's An Unexpected Light -- the best travel book I have read, the best book on Afghanistan I have read, and the best book on Western desire I have read.
His treatment of Afghanistan is really a statement of Western desire for Afghanistan. Compare that to Elliot's travel book. He risks life and limb as a twenty something to walk through Afghanistan -- during the heat of its post-soviet exit.
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The question of course is: We learn something about Western desire from Elliot. From Michener we learn how that desire -- the more real desire -- remains hidden in the glowing vapors of the Cold War. I can't remember the last time I wanted climb inside a novel. The prose is fluid and clean and perfect. The exotic scenes are richly described, the characters lay "One of the world's great cauldrons" I had expected "Caravans" to read like the only other Michener book I've read, "Hawaii": The exotic scenes are richly described, the characters layered and living.
Jul 01, Sean rated it it was ok. Definitely one of the lesser James Michener novels. An American embassy worker in Kabul, goes searching for a missing American girl who has run off with a Afghani. The book is vaguely interesting for its descriptions of an Afghanistan mostly untouched by Western influences, but little else. You're not going to remember any of the characters. There is exactly one gripping scene, when the protagonist witnesses a adulterous woman stoned to death by a mob in Kandahar.
Also, the book has a fairl Definitely one of the lesser James Michener novels. Also, the book has a fairly nuanced treatment of the Islamic mullahs, who are portrayed as the progressive element in Afghan culture - very unlike most modern depictions of the Taliban. It is funny to think Michener was considered shockingly liberal by the standards of the s. His books are completely retrograde by today's standards ask my wife about how Michener treats his female characters.
Literary qualities aside, Michener's novels particularly the early ones serve as a very interesting signpost in the development of Western thought over the past seventy-five years. This was what liberal, middlebrow literary culture looked like prior to the great cultural revolutions of the s and s. His books are totally free of the identity politics that dominates the cultural conversation today, for instance he has "Caravans"' protagonist refer to certain practices in Afghan culture as "disgusting sodomy" without blinking - try finding a modern New York Times bestseller that does that!
Moving on, one of the most interesting books Michener wrote was "The Drifters", which is about the emerging hippie and anti-war subculture in America and Europe. It's not a great book, but it is rather unique as a picture of the s youth culture from the perspective of someone we would now call a member of the WASP Establishment Michener was born in , so was sixty-one at the time he wrote The Drifters.
Although Michener was never a great writer, he was a pretty fair one, and attempted to record objectively what he saw as the new cultural consensus emerging from the death of the Establishment in s America. Post-Boomer generations in the West have grown up with that consensus, first expressed by the s youth culture and then the subsequent rights movements - sexual liberation, feminism, gay rights, etc. Almost all literature produced since then either takes these ideas and assumptions for granted or attacks them without quarter.
For intelligent members of the Millennial generation, who have grown up in a world of rape culture, Whiteness Studies departments in universities, and Presidential proclamations celebrating GLBT Pride Month, reading Michener's books can help us realize that once upon a time, not so long ago, such cultural events would have been considered not just wrong, but totally unthinkable.
Reading Michener's books, among others, can help us critically look at our own unquestioned assumptions about how the world should work. That's a lot to take out of middlebrow novels like "Caravans", but since the plot and characterization is so thin, you might as well focus on their place in recent history rather than their actual literary quality. Apr 19, Katherine Gypson rated it liked it. Caravans, James Michener's novel about the then-largely unknown country of Afghanistan, is a historical novel in more ways than one. Written sixteen years before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that would spark three decades of war, Caravans takes the reader even farther back than Michener's own time to the U.
Part of what makes this novel so fascinating is that the reader knows more about Afghan history than Michener did Caravans, James Michener's novel about the then-largely unknown country of Afghanistan, is a historical novel in more ways than one. Part of what makes this novel so fascinating is that the reader knows more about Afghan history than Michener did while writing it and Michener knows more than the characters because he has placed a year gap between them and his own time.
The layers of history almost spread out before the readers' eyes, lending a poignant depth to the story. Michener traveled extensively in Afghanistan and when asked, often said that it was the country he most wanted to return to. His love for the Afghan people and culture shines through in this book.
I wrote my college thesis on Afghanistan, have produced several television series that have aired there and traveled to Kabul last spring. I could not find a single error in Michener's work and loved the way he was able to incorporate so much fascinating history and culture into the novel while still keeping up with the fast-paced plot. I enjoyed the opening chapters in Kabul the most - Michener brilliantly captures the feelings of his main character Mark Miller, a young State Department employee.
Miller experiences a mixture of awe, fear, confusion and excitement as he discovers Afghanistan. There are some beautiful moments when Miller pauses and looks out at the mountains surrounding Kabul and feels a sense of timelessness that I remember experiencing during my own time there. But Caravans isn't just a history lesson or a travel essay - it also has an engaging plot set in motion by a young American girl named Ellen Jaspar who meets an Afghan student, falls in love and marries him against her parents' wishes. After returning to Afghanistan, Ellen disappears and it's Miller's job to trek across the deserts and mountains to find her.
Ellen is a kind of proto-hippie, rebelling against the structures of modern society. Placing her within the context of Afghan culture makes for some very interesting moral and sociological questions. Michener doesn't entirely overcome the gender bias of his own time - he makes it clear that Ellen is a flighty, manipulative girl while Miller, who seduces a nomad girl and then abandons her with barely a look backwards, is just doing what men do.
There are also some disturbing moments early on when Miller seems excited rather than repelled by seeing women in burkas. From a historical perspective, it's interesting to see how people viewed the question of women wearing hijab prior to major US involvement in the region but I was turned off by Miller's obvious "Oriental" fantasies.
Despite these reservations, I would strongly urge readers to give Caravans a try - you'll barely notice how much you're learning about Afghanistan in the course of an exciting story. Jan 22, Hock Tjoa rated it really liked it. Published in and set in before the Partition of India , this book reminds us what a great investigator and thoughtful writer Michener was. The story itself is outmoded and Michener does not show great insight into the psychology of his characters. The author described Kab Published in and set in before the Partition of India , this book reminds us what a great investigator and thoughtful writer Michener was.
The author described Kabul as resembling Palestine in Jesus' day, of death by stoning, of an eye for an eye and a life for a life, of the fate of the country to be determined when Afghanistan was left to itself, by the struggle between the many bearded men led by mullahs from the hills and the few young experts with degrees from Oxford, Sorbonne or MIT, the former making up 99 percent of the country. There are striking descriptions of a violent and very different society that has very likely not changed much except that the munitions have multiplied, the mullahs reinforced with money and ideology from an even more fundamentalist source, and the young experts very likely all corrupted or disenchanted.
It is a quiet book and does not address itself to the political issues. Nov 22, Christine Lynch rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the second Michener book that I've read and the only thing stopping me from racing ahead with more is the daunting length of nearly all of his other book. Caravans was a nice, short 13 hours on audible.
The story itself was very straightforward. A young Jewish American named Mark Miller, working in diplomatic relations at the US Embassy in Kabul in the late s finds himself assigned the Ellen Jasper case - an American girl, from a connected family in small-town Pennsylvania, runs away This is the second Michener book that I've read and the only thing stopping me from racing ahead with more is the daunting length of nearly all of his other book.
A young Jewish American named Mark Miller, working in diplomatic relations at the US Embassy in Kabul in the late s finds himself assigned the Ellen Jasper case - an American girl, from a connected family in small-town Pennsylvania, runs away from college to Afghanistan to marry her boyfriend Nazrullah. She now, not having written to her parents in 13 months, has been reported missing. As Miller journeys through Afghanistan in search of, and eventually with, Ellen he comes to a deeper understanding of the complexities and nuances of contemporary Afghan life.
Yet you are not sufficiently committed to anything to forge new ones for yourself. Jun 04, LemonLinda rated it really liked it. I am never disappointed when I read a Michener book. For readers who enjoy a well researched, well written historical fiction with well developed characters, Michener is a good choice.
This one is set in Afghanistan immediately following WWII when the US and Russia are both vying to elevate their influence in this country where life is still very much as has been for centuries without change. First published in , this book offers insight into this culture, their history, their ways of living I am never disappointed when I read a Michener book.
First published in , this book offers insight into this culture, their history, their ways of living and thinking, the kinds of people who live there, why and how they survive in a very harsh climate and how those who try to modernize and change it really have an uphill climb against the many who want it to remain pretty much the same as it has for so long. I was really engaged with this story as it gave me at least a little more understanding of what has happened in this area more recently.
Jul 30, Johnny LeBon rated it it was amazing. This was one of Michener's early books. Set in Afghanistan in ,it follows one Mark Miller. A Jew who works for the U. He is asked to find the whereabouts of Ellen Jaspar. His journey starts in Kabul, where he is stationed, and ends up This is a very relevant book in regards to Afghanistan.
If you This was one of Michener's early books. If you love history and geography, this is a book for you. Jul 13, Elliot rated it really liked it Shelves: I enjoyed this book, despite its rather poor writing and characters that I really couldn't like. That might seem odd, but it was interesting to read about Afghanistan even if fictionalized in the late 40s from a writer in the early 60s. Michener knew an enormous amount about Afghanistan from many trips here before he wrote the book, and it really shows in his descriptions.
Aug 29, Beverly Kent added it.
- Caravans By James A Michener | Book Reviews.
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- A Novel of Afghanistan.
When I read all the other Michner books, I don't know how I missed this one. I have a vague memory that it was made into a movie which wasn't very good , but the story has great appeal. A different time and surely a different place, but the plot is believable and a good summer read. Jun 16, Mary Reilly rated it it was amazing. Michener is a great writer and this book at a little over pages is way more manageable than his super long books. A more extensive review to follow Better story than characters The writing is good. I learned a lot abouthistory and geography of Afghanistan.
The ending was abrupt. It started slow, but I got swept up. I didn't like any of the characters which made it hard for me to stay engaged. Jul 11, Shawn rated it liked it. The Mystery of Selecting A Book? It is often quite remarkable how one ends up reading a particular book. Like other avid readers, I tend to accumulate books faster than I can read them. I probably have a hundred or more unread books sitting on my shelf, awaiting my attention. Certainly, Caravans is one of these. Retreating to Highlands, NC, and retiring at a quaint little place called The Main Street Inn , I set about reading it, enjoying the cool mountain air, excellent food, and interesting folks in the bar.
And as I was dining in the restaurant, I overhead a table of nearby Canadians inquire of the waitress about whether or not there was a bookstore in Highlands and the waitress responded that Highlands had no bookstore. A place like Highlands simply must have a bookstore! For those of you who may have never visited Highlands, you must know that it is a meditative sort of town, somehow simultaneously filled with tourists, but still remote, tucked away amidst the cloudy Appalachians. Finishing my meal, I embarked down the street, in search of the bookstore that I intuitively knew must exist.
I found it at the far side of town, just before the street-lined buildings dispersed into undeveloped, winding mountain road. Entering, I encountered the proprietor, a sweet, beautiful woman, about my age, reading intently. The beauty of her intelligence gleamed at me from the sun-filled room. Observing her obvious state of relaxation and her obvious emotion of profound enjoyment with reading, I added: I began to plunder about the many shelves of books. I immediately gravitated to the history and religion section, finding little, as the inventory consisted mostly of used and donated books. But then my eyes suddenly fell upon this James A.
Michener novel entitled Caravans. Certainly not since my teenage years, but Michener was once my favorite author. Pulling the worn paperback off the shelf, I began reading the back cover of Caravans , surprised that Michener would have ever written about such a desolate place as Afghanistan.
It occurred to me that reading Michener again would be a great exercise for assisting me with my own novel-writing efforts; and certainly Afghanistan is not entirely remote from my forthcoming destination, being situated on the eastern boundary of that geography most people recognize as the Middle East. So I departed the only bookstore in Highlands, bearing forth the warm disposition of the proprietor, and also the tattered and yellowed pages of this seemingly ancient novel tucked under my arm. But then I noticed Caravans was published only 3 or 4 years after I was born, so I must not call it ancient!
To my dismay, I later realized the novel is more than 50 years out of date in comparison to modern Afghanistan history. Perhaps it first dawned upon me how tremendously dated Caravans actually is when I encountered one of the characters consulting the Encyclopedia Britannica instead of the internet.
Of course, I can certainly remember doing the same as a child. This novel brought back pleasant memories, particularly of the leather-covered encyclopedia set my mother used to keep handy for us all in the hallway of my youth. I learned from Michener that a profound sense of place is vital to a novel. But people also want novels to transport them somewhere other than where they are. Glancing up from my reading, from time to time, I peered up and down the tourist laden streets, and quickly recognized how easily Michener magically transported me back and forth between Highlands and Afghanistan.
I may never get physically to a place like Afghanistan, but writers as skilled as Michener can take me there nevertheless. Expressing Themes Via Character Development Certainly Michener had little clue as to the sort of war-torn place modern Afghanistan would become and this novel is rather juvenile in its presentation of the history of that nation. I immediately became allured by the amorous character of the mysterious Ellen Jaspers. However if it is even possible to fall in love with a fictional character , Ellen is certainly no match of my first love: Nevertheless, Michener creates a deeply intriguing woman who strongly asserts her femininity against the Afghan backdrop of female suppression.
Michener was before his time in introducing womanhood in a context of equality with men, as Ellen gravitates from man to man, using them as she likes, and moving in her own direction against archaic cultural norms. It is also extremely dated. Additionally, the character mix that Michener deploys, with serious Jewish, Muslim, and Nazi-Christian components, is highly unrealistic in the modern sense, considering the contemporary animosity between Muslims and Jews.
It is a rather outlandish story-line to think of a Jewish person finding reconciliation with a Nazi war criminal, just after the war, as occurs in the novel. I see Michener endeavoring toward a latent theme that portrays particular religions as appropriate to particular places and times, as he has his German character, Dr.
Stiglitz, remark, about mid-way through the novel: Have you ever considered how your Christianity functioned in Germany? The total perversion of society it permitted? The horrible betrayal of humanity? Our tendency toward static definitions and rituals, for example, for how a woman should act, clothe herself, or incline herself toward submissiveness, become outmoded, archaic, and exploitive. Perhaps there was once a time for it, but that time has passed, as has the time for much other fundamentalist thinking, which endeavors to imprison us within our past.
Perhaps it takes people like Ellen Jaspers to break the mould? Michener obviously shares my sentiments, characterizing Ellen Jaspers in goddess-like fashion, against the harsh desert backdrop of Afghanistan. Expressing Themes Via Settings As in all of his novels, Michener is keen to point out prominent landmarks of the region of his setting, vividly describing the defunct German bridges of Afghanistan and, even more alluring, the thousand year old arch of Qala Bist, shown below.
Qala Bist Arch Michener describes the arch as mysteriously associated with a nearby deserted city of unknown origin. Michener parlays his descriptions of the ruins into another theme of the novel, which emerges out of the character conflict between Ellen Jaspers and her estranged husband, Nazrullah.
Ellen has left Nazrullah because he is intent to build Afghanistan into a modern civilization, while she has fled America for the purpose of rejecting civilization all together. Michener also uses the plight of the American negro, as another example, overworked and exploited to death in the name of economic progress. Additionally, Michener cites the deforestation that has desolated ancient places like Afghanistan, equating men to goats that maliciously devour natural resources in their quest for building civilizations. As the ruins of the ancient civilizations haunt the Afghan skyline, Michener makes the reader wonder if the ruined civilizations were lost to the current state of primitiveness because they were indeed an incorrect path forward.
Ellen thinks the proper way to battle the disease of civilization is to remain close to primitive things. Michener has her respond to the protagonist as follows: We are born free, like the nomads. But step by step we insist upon crawling into little prisons on little streets in mean little villages. Michener Michener makes his reader struggle to understand the passion of Ellen Jasper; of what it truly takes to free ourselves from the shackles of dependency and roam free.
Can the reader relate to Ellen? Or for that matter, can the reader relate to any position contrary to an America that makes herself constantly greater, when she already wallows in riches more outlandish than any country the world has ever seen? Does it make sense for Americans to perpetually mire themselves in relentless competition, social arrogance and open greed, when we already stand outlandishly far beyond that of the rest of the world?
Can Civilizations Be Sustained? But Michener does not choose to abandon civilization in the manner of the eccentric Ellen Jaspers, whom he ultimately reveals to be wanton in her disregard for others and her self-centered pursuit of sexual indulgence. As Michener portrays that certain religions only work in certain places and times; so he similarly asserts that civilizations must learn to adapt if they wish to be sustained and move forward in concert with the earth.
To remain static is to ultimately succumb to the harshness of the desert and return to the dust of desolation, as indicative in the Afghan ruins. Michener reveals in Ellen Jaspers that, in the same manner that we can become static in our industriousness, so we can become static in our slothfulness.
In describing the Caravanserai of the Tongues , Michener depicts an ancient pillar that Genghis Khan had built around a stack of his victims, thereby portraying how civilizations are typically built upon the backs of the exploited and ultimately become themselves victims of human violence. Similarly, in allowing his Jewish protagonist, Miller, to actually fight with the Nazi Stiglitz, Michener symbolizes the kind of conflicts that have persistently thwarted the sustaining of a single civilization throughout history. When we fail to synthesize the common truth from the midst of our conflicts, one position is destroyed and the other persists in the half-truth of its prejudices.
The ultimate result of this inability to synthesize truth is the eventual decline of civilizations, as has occurred many times throughout history. To underscore this point, Michener has Ellen remark to our protagonist as follows: They know that life, to replenish itself, must sometimes return to the dregs, to the primitive slime.
Michener The Theme of Feminism Michener depicts Ellen as one who refuses to allow herself to become a slave to possessions or to be possessed by anyone. She is a character that loves many men but detests the obligations that typically accompany relationships between men and women; for with these obligations there comes jealousy, strict social rules against interaction with others, and many other confining obligations.
Ellen understands that we are strengthened by love, not just spiritual love, but also physical love, which is as vital to us as air or nourishment. And just as food becomes stale, so Ellen thinks love needs to be renewed if it should become too confining. Michener describes Ellen in the days after she initiates a new affair with Stiglitz: Her smile grew more warm.
Her freedom of movement was enhanced. Even the manner in which she wore her long gray burnoose became more feminine and alluring, but I remember best the way her blue eyes sparkled during the long uphill hikes. It brings life in fullness, but we thwart it with our possessiveness, jealousies, and manipulations. Instead of rejoicing for those obviously captivated by the benefits of love, we too often envy lovers their joy and jealously seek one of the partners for ourselves.
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And lovers themselves become fearful of losing their joy and infatuation, becoming burdensomely oppressive in guarding their partner. Our greed, ego, and possessiveness too often turn something grand into a nasty affair. Michener sees the same thing happening, on a broader scale, with competing civilizations. It is a mistake to think that Michener is characterizing all American women in the frame of Ellen Jasper, for he is seeking to capture something much more profound in her character.
Ellen remains an enigma even in comparison to the typical American woman, who is herself an enigma when compared to the Afghan woman. In his characterizations of Ellen, Michener reaches much deeper than typical stereotypes and reveals for us a greater sense of individualism, freedom, and self determination than we have likely ever imagined.
This was a fun little read. Oct 10, Jeremy Mathiesen rated it it was amazing.