Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5435 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 324 pages

Telegraph
Tragic, touching and terrifying

Giles Foden
[Stewart] must have balls of steel, but he writes like and angel all the same

Herald
A unique, fascinating journey

Customer Reviews

The missing link?
I enjoyed the book, for Stewart's eye to detail and his ability to convey so well the challenges facing the people of Afghanistan. As someone who has worked occasionally in Afghanistan (and with much less insight than Stewart), I felt that he really captured the realities of Afghanistan in 2002 and it made me wonder how much the same region has changed today, if at all. Stewart has an impressive knowledge of Islamic history and culture and uses it well to provide understanding of the people and the book is worth reading just for that.

Other reviewers have commented on his prose, and it has a simpleness to it, but lacks real depth, it has a repetitive quality, not unlike the steps he took on his journey. The missing link is his reason for the journey. Of course there doesn't have to be reason, but compared to many other travel writers his lack of sharing about who he is, why he does what he does, means the prose takes you along as if watching a travel documentary, rather than making you feel as if you are there experiencing every step.

Excellent writing that leaves the reader wanting more
This is a good book. I wouldn't put it in my top ten, but it's left me thinking that Stewart's other book will make it to my top ten.

The problem isn't Stewart's writing by any means. He has an incredible ability to characterise people and places with minute but not superfluous detail. He feels and breathes where he visits with a passion that is apparent in every sentence. His writing style is educated, intellectual and involved without being academic. It is a good read.

The problem is the material. This wasn't a reconstructive journey, or one inspired by lust, death or politics. There is history - but one gets the impression Stewart wanted to immerse himself in Afghanistan before he found out the history. And the walk just doesn't give him enough time to immerse himself in any single place.

He has such a gift at reporting on people that giving most characters and places only a page or two scarcely does justice to the potential of this book. And then...well...the sequence of events in most towns appears to be the same: struggle to get accommodated, get questioned, avoid the sharks, be treated without deference.

Stewart does bring in culture - particularly with regards to the Hazara: but I wish this was more of a guide - not literally - but with a little more third person narrative about the people, a little more history than observation. This would have given the reader more to bite off at each interlude - a full education, and a sense of familiarity. Alternatively, a more pacey, less educated style might have brought the reader into the sense of danger without interrupting the tension to detail the tribal hierarchies of the region.

Alternating between an abbreviated history of the people and the tension of a walk through hostile territory didn't do it for me. If this had been any old book, I'd have just moved on to another one half way through: but I stuck with it and became frustrated because Stewart writes so well.

All this said, the book would be highly enjoyable to somebody who already understands Afghanistan and for whom the brief histories were a soothing stroke of the traveller's spine, an allusion to familiarity rather than their entire knowledge of Afghanistan.

This book describes a walk that I would love to have done. And as someone incapable of writing I am in no position to critique a book this good so harshly. I just wish he had given us something more. It's cheeky to ask - but a few minor additions would have gone a long way to easing the reader into relating to the places visited.

Stewart has the gift, and the walk had the potential. This should have been an amazing book but for the simple omissions of pictures of the journey, coloured route maps, coloured terrain and ethnic maps; pictures of the Baburs, and some standlone chapter introductions...

Nevertheless, I'm afraid to say I'd have to recommend you at least start the book and form your own opinion; because if you enjoy the writing of genuine adventurers, this is the best writing I've found this Millenium.

Informative and Entertaining
Rory Stewart layers his narrative in THE PLACES IN BETWEEN so that every event and impression has numerous interpretations, as well as a rich undercurrent of contradiction. Rory achieves this layering primarily through continual reference to three narrative presences.

First, there is Rory himself, an informed westerner familiar with Afghan culture, history, and religion, who is on what the Afghans view as an odd and dangerous quest to walk across their country. This presence is the vulnerable, but by no means helpless, European traveler.

Next, there is Babur, an unwanted semi-domesticated mastiff that becomes Rory's companion for most of his journey. Here, the relationship is the key, with Rory, the Westerner, developing an affectionate dependence on Babur, his dog. But in Afghanistan, such a dog is valued for its ability to fight and to make money for its wagering owner. It's more complicated than this. But, the presence of Babur enables Rory to explore the tension between his Western expectations and the gladiatorial expectations that have arisen in impoverished Afghanistan, which has been brutalized by 25 years of continuing warfare.

Finally, there is Babur, a king and warrior who fought with his army across Afghanistan in the early 1500s. This Babur left an elegant narrative poem describing his adventures as he passed through a succession of cultures, some wealthy, where there were generous social customs and a diversity of religions.

See how it works? At any time in the narrative, there is the informed and resourceful Rory, Babur the dog and shabby warrior, and Babur, the king, warrior, and cultural historian. Thanks to this technique, Rory Stewart always has lots to say as he makes his fascinating journey from Herat to Kabul.

Two quick final points:

First, the implicit question posed by this book is: Does our nation building in Afghanistan stand a chance? Based on Rory's narrative, I'd say there is no foundation in remote central Afghanistan for the creation of, in the words of the UN Assistance mission, "a centralized, broad-based, multi-ethnic government committed to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law." Instead, let's first try something practical, like re-supplying the country with sheep, which have been lost over 25 years of war or slaughtered by the Taliban.

Second, the lawless fragmentation and continual warfare in Afghanistan is a tragedy from multiple perspectives. But one is that this chaos has enabled the plunder of the country's archeological heritage. Everyone, read Rory's amazing chapters on the Minaret of Jam. You'll see why artifacts from lost civilizations in Central Asia are now available at auction in Paris.