Akram Osman's immense novel Kuche-ye ma, which might be translated as 'Our Street', spans four decades of Kabul's recent history, but stops before the worst bits.[*] I started it when I was in Afghanistan in July, and soon found that reading a few pages became vital to my after-work equilibrium, enabling me to feel optimistic again.

LRB 7 October 2010 | PDF Download