This book is a very short book and, it’s possible, if it
had been longer it would have been able to add more nuance which would have
saved it from some very problematic issues. Fleurette, on the run from vampire hunters
in France, has fled to a boat to Afghanistan (a landlocked nation…) where she
encounters Ruhee. Ruhee is a 13 year old girl who has been sold by her family
into a loveless marriage to pay gambling debts. Her husband and his family are
abusive – and Fleurette slaughters them and takes Ruhee to safety. They live
together as Ruhee ages and tries to find her dreams in a country torn by war,
corruption, religious fanaticism and surrounded by predators who want to
exploit them and, in turn, become meals for Fleurette. The book is grim and
painful, full of abuse after abuse even as Rhee tries to get an education,
finds love and tries to make a life for herself. And it all comes crashing down
when the hunters catch up with Fleurette
The book is, primarily, set in Afghanistan. In this short
book the setting can be considered grim, nightmarish even, Afghanistan is a
hellhole, little more. But more, there is nothing good here and that includes
people. With, at most, 2 exceptions every Afghan person we meet is corrupt, a
brutal religious fanatic and/or a rapist, paedophile or child abuser. The last
is especially highlighted, from the parents who sell their 13 year old daughter
to be a wife to pay gambling debts, to the number of men attracted to Fleurette
and despite they’re being so young. This grimness
is only underscored and exacerbated by the last chapter taking the story to the
Congo where the same story is repeated – grim, dark, brutal barbaric land where
a poor, oppressed girl is saved by a foreign intervening vampire.
The shortness of the book also leads to a rather
disjointed feel with things rushed or washed over. We have no idea how
Fleurette and Ruhee live or why or how they developed such a close bond. We
have no depth to the hunters. We have no real impact or development of the
relationship between Ruhee and Batan, he just goes from being a Taliban fighter
who is just less unpleasant than the others to suddenly becoming Ruhee’s love.
She hardly even knows him but will fight to heal his wounds even though it puts
them all at risk.
The characters are also so undeveloped that their losses,
their pain, their fear, their relationships – it just doesn’t get adequately
portrayed or presented in a way that allows me to identify with any of them.
This book tried to pack in a lot of things – things requiring
development, things requiring nuance, things requiring more explanation, things
requiring more background, things requiring more counter examples to prevent
sweeping generalisations – so much more was needed to make this a good book
with decent messages.
There could have been depth and nuance to this book –
instead we had a white saviour move into Afghanistan – a nation of wall-to-wall
grimness, populated by terrorists, religious fanatics, paedophiles and the
corrupt. There wasn’t enough depth, nuance or analysis for there to be more. I
think it was supposed to be an indictment of western foreign policy in
Afghanistan and I think it was supposed to shine a light on the plight of
women. And there are certainly mentions of the former and stark portrayal of
the latter. But the lack of balance and depth also leads to a strong sense of
contempt and patronising of the nation and the people – I left the book with a
feeling of “look at these barbarians, aren’t they brutal and primitive” far
more than any sense of “look at what has happened to this nation.”
It also is a minor complaint compared to the rest – but if
you’re going to have a French character speak French, it would help a lot if
the author spoke French as well.
An interesting concept – but it sorely needed more
development.
A copy of this book was provided by the author for review
