Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
Riverhead Books (2012), Edition: Reprint, 256 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:A haunting literary debut set in the forbidding remote tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Traditions that have lasted for centuries, both brutal and beautiful, create a rigid structure for life in the wild, astonishing place where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet-the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It is a formidable world, and the people who live there are constantly subjected to extremes-of place and of culture. The Wandering Falcon begins with a young couple, refugees from their tribe, who have traveled to the middle of nowhere to escape the cruel punishments meted out upon those who transgress the boundaries of marriage and family. Their son, Tor Baz, descended from both chiefs and outlaws, becomes "The Wandering Falcon," a character who travels among the tribes, over the mountains and the plains, into the towns and the tents that constitute the homes of the tribal people. The media today speak about this unimaginably remote region, a geopolitical hotbed of conspiracies, drone attacks, and conflict, but in the rich, dramatic tones of a master storyteller, this stunning, honor-bound culture is revealed from the inside. Jamil Ahmad has written an unforgettable portrait of a world of custom and compassion, of love and cruelty, of hardship and survival, a place fragile, unknown, and unforgiving..… (more)
Media reviews
Jamil Ahmad takes us to the high desert and mountains of a region crisscrossed by hundreds of nomadic tribes for thousands of years. We read of lovers fleeing the deadly punishment of their tribal group, of women desperate for affection, buried under customs and habits millenniums old, of men of
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honor living lives of crime, of tribal members returning from exile who must carefully navigate each clan and sub-clan in order to stay honorable and sometimes to stay alive.
Most of the nine roughly connected chapters of this narrative - one can't really call it a carefully shaped novel - partake of the power of myth and give back to the reader the ambiguities of antique culture alive and well in the world of contemporary national borders... Show Less
After a lifetime of service as a bureaucrat in the wild terrains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, 78-year-old Jamil Ahmad has the perfect understanding and insight into a place that vexes many a strategist around the world today. The Wandering Falcon, his debut novel, is a product gleaned from
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that experience, a record of individual tales of honour and desire among the tribes inhabiting Balochistan, Waziristan or the Swat Valley, people for whom “the terrible struggle for life makes it impossible for too much time to be wasted over thoughts for the dead”.
Tor Baz is the eponymous falcon, who is born and grows into adulthood during the course of the novel. In a region of fierce tribal identities, his origins remain amorphous. Nor is he useful in lending narrative cohesion but ends up loosely linking the stories of his parents who defied the tribal code of honour and eloped, the nomadic Kharot tribe trying to come to terms with the limitations of political boundaries or the way of life of the Wazirs, Mahsuds or Afridis.
Set in the mid-20th century, it is the changing life and mores of the nomadic tribes that Ahmad captures in clear, haunting prose: “One set of values, one way of life had to die … The new way of life triumphed over the old.” His keen observation is not lacking in humour either: a peek inside the Mahsud jirga reveals not just a dour assembly of bearded men but also intense discussions about “the safest smuggling routes, the most profitable items of contraband …and all the current social gossip and scandals in the area.” For the sheer humanising of a much-misunderstood people, the book is worth a read. Show Less
Jamil Ahmad, a Pakistani civil servant, began his career in Baluchistan in the 1950s. Most civil servants posted to such a remote area as Baluchistan, North Western Frontier Province, or the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border would lobby hard for a posting in the bigger cities of
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Pakistan, but Ahmad stayed on, spending several decades working as an administrator. Unlike most officials from the plains, Ahmad learned Pashto, the language most tribes along the dreaded frontier speak. Along the way, he took notes, and by 1974 had turned his impressions into a collection of inter-linked stories.
Ahmad stashed away his first draft, leaving it untouched for three decades. In 2008, he was 75, retired from the civil service, and living in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Two young Pakistani women, a Lahore-based bookseller, Aysha Raja, and a Karachi-based columnist and editor, Faiza Sultan Khan, called on Pakistani authors to submit stories for a competition. Ahmad's younger brother insisted that he must show them his work. After reworking the 35-year-old manuscript, Ahmad sent it to Khan, who championed it, and showed it to an editor at Penguin.
Two years later, Jamil Ahmad made his debut as the 78-year-old writer of The Wandering Falcon, one of the finest collections of short stories to come out of south Asia in decades. Show Less
(This is a link to a story on NPR in which Steve Inskeep interviews the author in Islamabad, Pakistan about the book.)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kidzdoc
The Wandering Falcon is a moving collection of interconnected short stories set in the remote tribal areas that border Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, which all feature one character, Tor Baz, who began life as the child of two lovers who have fled from their village and spent his life as a
Despite these hardships and restrictions, the people portrayed in this book are full of life and pride in themselves and their tribes, and their stories are both unique and universal.
Jamil Ahmad began his career as a Pakistani civil servant in Balochistan, compiled notes about the people he met there, and originally wrote these stories in the mid-1970s. He retired, moved to Islamabad, and was inspired to rewrite them in 2008 at the age of 75, when the book was initially published. These regions, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, have gained more importance in recent years, as they are home to the Taliban and other insurgent groups that have waged war against the Pakistani and Afghan governments and their Western allies. Although these stories were written well before the onset of the wars in Afghanistan and the strife in Pakistan, Ahmad provides valuable insights into the people who live there, in an engaging manner that made for a quick and enticing read.
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wanderer throughout the region's villages, a man who belongs to no particular tribe but is able to gain the respect of those he encounters. Life in these areas is difficult, due to the harsh climate; the rough terrain; the sometimes brutal justice administered to those who break tribal customs and laws; the hostile relationships between neighboring tribes; and government officials, who draw and enforce fixed boundary lines between countries where none existed before, thus impeding the centuries old way of life of these nomadic tribes.Despite these hardships and restrictions, the people portrayed in this book are full of life and pride in themselves and their tribes, and their stories are both unique and universal.
Jamil Ahmad began his career as a Pakistani civil servant in Balochistan, compiled notes about the people he met there, and originally wrote these stories in the mid-1970s. He retired, moved to Islamabad, and was inspired to rewrite them in 2008 at the age of 75, when the book was initially published. These regions, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, have gained more importance in recent years, as they are home to the Taliban and other insurgent groups that have waged war against the Pakistani and Afghan governments and their Western allies. Although these stories were written well before the onset of the wars in Afghanistan and the strife in Pakistan, Ahmad provides valuable insights into the people who live there, in an engaging manner that made for a quick and enticing read.
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LibraryThing member labfs39
The remote corner of the world where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet has played a role in world affairs since the time of the British Empire, and yet it remains a mysterious place, a land of tribal loyalties and customs that are seemingly contradictory, aggressive, and disloyal. Current news
Ahmad knows this region well, having worked and lived in the area for decades. He attempts to distill his impressions in a series of vignettes, each depicting a particular tribe and/or social issue. Connecting the stories is a character known as Tor Baz, who is orphaned in the first chapter and moves amongst the tribes throughout the book. He is not, as I first thought, the protagonist of the novel. Rather he, as the perpetual outsider, is the means through which we are allowed access to the tribes.
The role of the chief, or Sardar, is explored in several stories: how they are chosen, the relationship they have with their tribesmen, and the various ways in which the Pakistani government has tried, over the years, to work with or abolish them. At times there is a disconnect between the government and the tribes, at other times there is an almost ritualized arrangement of actions and counteractions that are expected and performed as a means of maintaining the status quo. For some tribes, simply the existence of a nation state is enough to end their nomadic way of life forever. But most heart-wrenching of all is the treatment of women. From the first story to the last, the majority of women suffer. Simple survival is hard, requiring enormous effort in order to sustain a family, often while their husbands are away for years at a time. And harder still is the subjugation of women to the word of their fathers and husbands. Daughters can be sold for a pound of opium, unattached women are prey for slavers, and adultery, under any circumstances, is unforgivable. Yet there is also love and sacrifice, making even the treatment of women in the tribes a contradictory story.
A first-time novelist at the age of eighty, Jamil Ahmad has been trying to get this book published for years. Finally, its time has come, and how fortunate for us. His writing is clean and direct, and his characters seem to me to be the archetypes of people he may have actually known. He has the experience to write authentic fiction, and the distance needed to avoid prejudice. Without preaching or falling back on tired Western assumptions, Ahmad lets us see the complexity of the geopolitical area and its tribal relationships. I sincerely hope that Mr. Ahmad continues to write and be published, and that his present book achieves the readership it deserves.
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reports struggle to give motivations to the tribal leaders whose actions sometimes help and sometimes hinder the Taliban and terrorists. In The Wandering Falcon, Jamil Ahmad gives us a window into this inaccessible land and its complicated history, tribal relationships, and belief systems. Ahmad knows this region well, having worked and lived in the area for decades. He attempts to distill his impressions in a series of vignettes, each depicting a particular tribe and/or social issue. Connecting the stories is a character known as Tor Baz, who is orphaned in the first chapter and moves amongst the tribes throughout the book. He is not, as I first thought, the protagonist of the novel. Rather he, as the perpetual outsider, is the means through which we are allowed access to the tribes.
The role of the chief, or Sardar, is explored in several stories: how they are chosen, the relationship they have with their tribesmen, and the various ways in which the Pakistani government has tried, over the years, to work with or abolish them. At times there is a disconnect between the government and the tribes, at other times there is an almost ritualized arrangement of actions and counteractions that are expected and performed as a means of maintaining the status quo. For some tribes, simply the existence of a nation state is enough to end their nomadic way of life forever. But most heart-wrenching of all is the treatment of women. From the first story to the last, the majority of women suffer. Simple survival is hard, requiring enormous effort in order to sustain a family, often while their husbands are away for years at a time. And harder still is the subjugation of women to the word of their fathers and husbands. Daughters can be sold for a pound of opium, unattached women are prey for slavers, and adultery, under any circumstances, is unforgivable. Yet there is also love and sacrifice, making even the treatment of women in the tribes a contradictory story.
A first-time novelist at the age of eighty, Jamil Ahmad has been trying to get this book published for years. Finally, its time has come, and how fortunate for us. His writing is clean and direct, and his characters seem to me to be the archetypes of people he may have actually known. He has the experience to write authentic fiction, and the distance needed to avoid prejudice. Without preaching or falling back on tired Western assumptions, Ahmad lets us see the complexity of the geopolitical area and its tribal relationships. I sincerely hope that Mr. Ahmad continues to write and be published, and that his present book achieves the readership it deserves.
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LibraryThing member cameling
The desert hills through which the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran cross are home to many nomadic tribes, each just wanting to roam the hills with their camels and sheep, maintaining the lifestyle of their ancestors.
A boy is orphaned when his parents are murdered in front of him by the
The stories are as fascinating as they are harshly beautiful.
A boy is orphaned when his parents are murdered in front of him by the
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woman's tribe. Left to die, the boy is found by another nomadic tribe and adopted by them, but later finds himself abandoned yet again when the men he travels with are tricked into going to a government fort and arrested. We follow the journey of the boy through his interaction with the different tribes and how they are gradually forced to change their cultural practices and means of supporting themselves over time as borders are more strictly patrolled and traveling documents required.The stories are as fascinating as they are harshly beautiful.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Wandering Falcon by Pakistani author Jamil Ahmad is a collection of inter-linked stories that are set in the remote tribal lands along the Pakistan-Afghan border. The stories all concern the life of these tribal people and are linked by one character who weaves in and out of most of the
We first meet Tor Baz, the black falcon, when as a young child his parents are killed by his mother’s relatives. She had run away from an impotent husband with one of her father’s servants. They had avoided being caught for many years, but were eventually discovered. From there the child is shuffled around, always wandering and never the main character of the story but instead appearing on the fringes. He is a guide, an informer, a smuggler and a slave trader. This is an unforgiving corner of the world and conditions are harsh. Through these stories the traditions and culture of these tribal people are revealed.
The author writes with great respect and empathy toward these people. Their lives are filled with harshness and cruelty as they wander with their herds. Eventually the political borders are called into play and their wandering lifestyle is curtailed. In one story, “The Death of Camels|”, the refusal of Pakistan to allow them to take their herds to fresh pasture across the border, means not only the death of their herds but brings their own lives into jeopardy as well.
Jamil Ahmad is a gifted storyteller and The Wandering Falcon is a moving account of a disappearing lifestyle.
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stories.We first meet Tor Baz, the black falcon, when as a young child his parents are killed by his mother’s relatives. She had run away from an impotent husband with one of her father’s servants. They had avoided being caught for many years, but were eventually discovered. From there the child is shuffled around, always wandering and never the main character of the story but instead appearing on the fringes. He is a guide, an informer, a smuggler and a slave trader. This is an unforgiving corner of the world and conditions are harsh. Through these stories the traditions and culture of these tribal people are revealed.
The author writes with great respect and empathy toward these people. Their lives are filled with harshness and cruelty as they wander with their herds. Eventually the political borders are called into play and their wandering lifestyle is curtailed. In one story, “The Death of Camels|”, the refusal of Pakistan to allow them to take their herds to fresh pasture across the border, means not only the death of their herds but brings their own lives into jeopardy as well.
Jamil Ahmad is a gifted storyteller and The Wandering Falcon is a moving account of a disappearing lifestyle.
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LibraryThing member mcelhra
The Wandering Falcon is the debut novel from eighty-year old Jamil Ahmad. The book is actually more like nine loosely connected short stories than a novel. The title character, Tor Baz, appears in most every story – briefly in some and as the main focus in others. Tor Baz was born to an
Each story explores some aspect of the tribal culture in the Afghan/Pakistani region in the period shortly after World War II, of which I had little knowledge before reading this book. I really appreciated learning more about the culture even if I could not always fully understand it. Ahmad writes without judgment which made the stories even more fascinating to me. Ahmad’s prose is stark but even so I found his characters, especially the women, haunting. The ending gave me chills (in a good way).
The story behind how this book came to be published is just as interesting as the book itself. Ahmad worked for many decades as a civil servant in Pakistan. He wrote the first draft of The Wandering Falcon in the 1970s and put it away. In 2008, his brother convinced him to enter it in a writing competition. Eventually it made its way into the hands of an editor at Penguin and the rest is history. Now The Wandering Falcon is long-listed for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. I hope that Jamil Ahmad keeps writing – I would love to read more from him.
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adulterous couple who are caught and killed when he is five years old. From that point on, he wanders from tribe to tribe, never identifying with one specific tribe. Because tribal culture is so important in this region, Tor Baz is both a suspicious and mysterious man to everyone he meets.Each story explores some aspect of the tribal culture in the Afghan/Pakistani region in the period shortly after World War II, of which I had little knowledge before reading this book. I really appreciated learning more about the culture even if I could not always fully understand it. Ahmad writes without judgment which made the stories even more fascinating to me. Ahmad’s prose is stark but even so I found his characters, especially the women, haunting. The ending gave me chills (in a good way).
The story behind how this book came to be published is just as interesting as the book itself. Ahmad worked for many decades as a civil servant in Pakistan. He wrote the first draft of The Wandering Falcon in the 1970s and put it away. In 2008, his brother convinced him to enter it in a writing competition. Eventually it made its way into the hands of an editor at Penguin and the rest is history. Now The Wandering Falcon is long-listed for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. I hope that Jamil Ahmad keeps writing – I would love to read more from him.
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LibraryThing member auntmarge64
These linked short stories provide glimpses of tribal life in the remote area where Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran meet. They are bleak and depressing, showing a land where life is valued lightly and everyone lives on the brink of destitution. The reality presented here is so alien I had a hard
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time figuring out whether the characters had the same reaction I did to the cruelty and meanness of their lives. Interesting to read but offering little emotional connection to outsiders. Show Less
LibraryThing member cuicocha
This volume is written with an honesty and a clarity that opens up a world that has not been easily accessible to the Western reader. The author shares his story of Tor Baz and his journey from childhood to maturity in the world of the tribes along the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.
The
The
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harshness of the environment is often matched by the actions of the characters, yet a beauty exists in the relationships between many of the characters. This is an eye opening book that opens the window to another culture. May the author, Jamil Ahmad, have another eighty years to regale us with more tales from a land and a culture that he knows and shares with an evident love and a deep understanding. Show Less
LibraryThing member kybunnies
This is such a wonderful book. The author offers in-site into a land and culture that is relatively unknown. This would be a wonderful book for a book club to read.
The book starts out with two people wandering in the desert searching for refuge. Although the people do not last through out the
I hope to read additional work by this author in the future.
This book was received from a contest on Goodreads.com from Riverhead Books. This was a first read book. The actualy book is suppose to be on-sale in October.
The book starts out with two people wandering in the desert searching for refuge. Although the people do not last through out the
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whole novel they are made vivid through the writing. While the author only carries one character though out the whole novel, the character rises above the short-comings that have befallen on him. This one character proves to all that no matter what we can all rise up in life and overcome anything in our past. I hope to read additional work by this author in the future.
This book was received from a contest on Goodreads.com from Riverhead Books. This was a first read book. The actualy book is suppose to be on-sale in October.
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LibraryThing member mohitgoel
This review is for an ARC so the final published version may be different...
The Wandering Falcon is a collection of interconnected stories with Tor Baz as the titular character linking them all together. The stories are set in the remote tribal areas where the international borders of Afghanistan,
Overall a great debut effort. The stories meander a bit at times but this book is a very quick read.
The Wandering Falcon is a collection of interconnected stories with Tor Baz as the titular character linking them all together. The stories are set in the remote tribal areas where the international borders of Afghanistan,
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Pakistan and Iran meet. The author paints a vivid picture of what it is like to be living in these areas. The people living there are bound by a very different code of honor and ethics and the author depicts how their lives are affected by some of the changes happening around themOverall a great debut effort. The stories meander a bit at times but this book is a very quick read.
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LibraryThing member s.kaosar
"The Wandering Falcon" by Jamil Ahmad is a relatively short work about the nomadic tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan, who really belong to no one nation but rather are bound to the laws and traditions of their own tribe. The main character, Tor Baz, is the result of forbidden union for which his
I could have used some clarification on the language at times but besides that [The Wandering Falcon] is a well written novel that delves with candid detail into the lives of the nomadic tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan painting a familiar face of humanity upon each life encountered. The best aspect of the novel is it's illustration of how history and the enacting of borders between nations impacted the very existence of many of these tribes.
An important work based on it's subject matter but a bit hard to get into.
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parents are mercilessly slaughtered by their own tribesmen. Left in the desert after witnessing his parents murder Tor Baz grows up wandering from one tribe to another at first adopted by a General, then a crazed Mullah, then tribal family until finally he takes off on his own doing odd-end jobs. We follow him on this wandering journey with no destination learning the history and encountering the tales of this tribe or that, this person or that. While Tor Baz a link between all the tales we encounter within "The Wandering Falcon" he is not always the narrator or the center of the tale. Ahmad's writing presents Tor Baz as just a presence in most tales, thus because this is not Tor Baz's tale. "The Wandering Falcon" really has no plot which one can point as saying this is the story's beginning, the middle, and this is the end. While, this aspect of the novel did make me lose some interest slowing down my reading progress considerably, the fact that this novel is a multitude of tales strung together is also its strongest quality. I could have used some clarification on the language at times but besides that [The Wandering Falcon] is a well written novel that delves with candid detail into the lives of the nomadic tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan painting a familiar face of humanity upon each life encountered. The best aspect of the novel is it's illustration of how history and the enacting of borders between nations impacted the very existence of many of these tribes.
An important work based on it's subject matter but a bit hard to get into.
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LibraryThing member mexicangerry
For the first half of the book, I felt it was really my kind of book. I enjoy books like "The Kite Runner" which take me into worlds I have not experienced previously. But they also need to tell a compelling story. For the first half the reader follows a child in the tribal societies on the border
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between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a child whose parents are killed because they dared to love each other and produce a child without the blessings of the mother's family. The child is passed from one family to another, from one tribe to another, as he grows. Then about halfway through, the child is dropped, and the book continues with short stories with a variety of protagonists and their conflicts in, and between, various tribes. The names of the characters, all unfamiliar to a western reader, and the various tribes, also meaningless, make the book, while always interesting, certainly not compelling reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member SignoraEdie
I have taken a number of classes on Afghanistan and Pakistan…it’s history, the people, the culture, the conflict. It continues to come down to a bottom line that these countries are tribal in nature and that unless you understand the tribal culture, you can never understand the country. Because
I was very happy to receive the ARC of the “The Wandering Falcon” written by Jamil Ahmad, someone who was very “inside” the tribal culture. Ahmad is a Pakistani civil servant who worked for decades in the Northwest Tribal region. His first posting was in Baluchistan. In 1970, at the urging of his wife, he began to write stories based on his experiences. The result is the fictional account of “The Wandering Falcon,” which is a collection of stories that take place in the mountainous region along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The stories’ characters are members of the nomadic tribes that are in constant flow between the high mountainous areas and the plains, as they take their sheep and goats to grazing areas. They are loosely tied together by the character of Tor Baz, a young boy who was orphaned when his parents, an adulterous couple, were killed according to tribal law when he was 5 years old. He was adopted by Baluch rebels who were fighting the Pakistani government and over time becomes the wandering falcon.
The book is small and is an easy read…and I could not put it down. It is stark and it is brutal as it describes the struggles and life of the people, the interactions between characters and the resolving of life’s issues and conflicts according to tribal law. And yet, embedded in the brutality is a beauty and an empathy for the people that creates a sense of humanity in the telling. Tribal law is something that I cannot understand. I was struck with how black and white it is. There are no gray areas. There is a clear dividing line between right and wrong and there is no hesitation in acting according to the dictates of it.
Ahmed completed the book in 1973 but no one was willing to publish it until 2008 when two young Pakistani women, a Lahore-based bookseller, Aysha Raja, and a Karachi-based columnist and editor, Faiza Sultan Khan, called on Pakistani authors to submit stories for a competition. Ahmad's younger brother insisted that he must show them his work. After reworking the 35-year-old manuscript, Ahmad sent it to Khan, who championed it, and showed it to an editor at Penguin. (source: Basharat Peer, The Guardian).
I am glad that I read the book and while I will never understand how the characters can live as they do and choose as they do, I have a greater appreciation for their life and their struggle. It has also clarified my thoughts and opinions about the Western involvement in this area. I highly recommend the book to anyone who appreciates the beautiful use of words to describe an unknown entity, which Jamil Ahmad did…beautifully!
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we look at life “through our eyes” it is impossible for someone who is not “inside” the culture to see it in its entirety and to convey it authentically.I was very happy to receive the ARC of the “The Wandering Falcon” written by Jamil Ahmad, someone who was very “inside” the tribal culture. Ahmad is a Pakistani civil servant who worked for decades in the Northwest Tribal region. His first posting was in Baluchistan. In 1970, at the urging of his wife, he began to write stories based on his experiences. The result is the fictional account of “The Wandering Falcon,” which is a collection of stories that take place in the mountainous region along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The stories’ characters are members of the nomadic tribes that are in constant flow between the high mountainous areas and the plains, as they take their sheep and goats to grazing areas. They are loosely tied together by the character of Tor Baz, a young boy who was orphaned when his parents, an adulterous couple, were killed according to tribal law when he was 5 years old. He was adopted by Baluch rebels who were fighting the Pakistani government and over time becomes the wandering falcon.
The book is small and is an easy read…and I could not put it down. It is stark and it is brutal as it describes the struggles and life of the people, the interactions between characters and the resolving of life’s issues and conflicts according to tribal law. And yet, embedded in the brutality is a beauty and an empathy for the people that creates a sense of humanity in the telling. Tribal law is something that I cannot understand. I was struck with how black and white it is. There are no gray areas. There is a clear dividing line between right and wrong and there is no hesitation in acting according to the dictates of it.
Ahmed completed the book in 1973 but no one was willing to publish it until 2008 when two young Pakistani women, a Lahore-based bookseller, Aysha Raja, and a Karachi-based columnist and editor, Faiza Sultan Khan, called on Pakistani authors to submit stories for a competition. Ahmad's younger brother insisted that he must show them his work. After reworking the 35-year-old manuscript, Ahmad sent it to Khan, who championed it, and showed it to an editor at Penguin. (source: Basharat Peer, The Guardian).
I am glad that I read the book and while I will never understand how the characters can live as they do and choose as they do, I have a greater appreciation for their life and their struggle. It has also clarified my thoughts and opinions about the Western involvement in this area. I highly recommend the book to anyone who appreciates the beautiful use of words to describe an unknown entity, which Jamil Ahmad did…beautifully!
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LibraryThing member freddlerabbit
The Wandering Falcon, according to the description on the back cover (I have an ARC copy, and so the published version may change), is a novel/story collection that attempts to bring the reader into the life of nomads who live between Pakistan and Afghanistan but may properly said to belong to
Not only do the stories convey some of the details vividly convey what it may be like to live this sort of lifestyle, but the people themselves are caught in shifting geopolitics - new rules around borders that mean nothing to them, but mean quite a bit to the countries that are defining them. The stories are poignant and yet contain joy and goodness in the difficulty, too - an urban reader may find both compelling similarities and differences in the hearts of the people in the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes stories that are compelling in detail and yet feel lightly and cleanly written, to anyone who is compelled by the idea of different lives and an unusual perspective on boundary drawing.
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neither country, only to their own. Not only the stories' content, but also the style, conveys something of what that life must be like. The book is a series of stories about these nomads, each connected to others, but some more closely and some more loosely, as though the author were trying to pattern his words after shifting sand dunes and moving herds.Not only do the stories convey some of the details vividly convey what it may be like to live this sort of lifestyle, but the people themselves are caught in shifting geopolitics - new rules around borders that mean nothing to them, but mean quite a bit to the countries that are defining them. The stories are poignant and yet contain joy and goodness in the difficulty, too - an urban reader may find both compelling similarities and differences in the hearts of the people in the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes stories that are compelling in detail and yet feel lightly and cleanly written, to anyone who is compelled by the idea of different lives and an unusual perspective on boundary drawing.
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LibraryThing member greggchadwick
In his first work of fiction, "The Wandering Falcon", Jamil Ahmad depicts a world caught between timeless paths of migration and geo-political modernity. Ahmad knits together a series of short stories that cover the life arc of one young man, Tor Baz - the wandering falcon of the title, as he
Inspired by his time as a civil service worker in the tribal areas of Pakistan, Ahmad writes of a world governed by clan and custom. During his time as a powerful emissary of the Pakistani government under the tribal region's frontier governing system, Jamil Ahmad simultaneously served as politician, police chief, judge, jury and executioner. Bits of this personal history are woven within the stories, including hints of Jamil's wife's German heritage. Environmentalist and activist Helga Ahmad was instrumental in encouraging her husband Jamil to move from halting first attempts at poetry to richly crafted stories of people, place and borders.
The bleak landscapes in the book evoke a world of nomadic treks where human contact is brief and often violent, and where far western desert winds blow clouds of sand so thick that breath is priceless. The environment is unforgiving as is the justice doled out by tribe and government.
Jamil Ahmad finished "The Wandering Falcon" in 1973-74, but the stories did not find a publisher until this year. Penguin Books' decision to at last publish Jamil's stories is timely. Ahmad believes that his stories evoke a vanishing world of tribes that the modern world must resonate and harmonize with: "Because frankly speaking, I still think that each one of us has a tribal gene inside, embedded inside. I really think that way."
Jamil Ahmad hopes that deeper understanding of the tribes that once roamed freely between the far borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran could help end the wars that stain their mountains and valleys with blood. Reading "The Wandering Falcon" can help begin a process of understanding between the timeless nomadic life and the fragmenting borders of our post-modern society.
Our contemporary world has much to learn from the rhythms of the nomadic trail. I highly recommend Jamil Ahmad's magnificent book "The Wandering Falcon".
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journeys from infancy to manhood.Inspired by his time as a civil service worker in the tribal areas of Pakistan, Ahmad writes of a world governed by clan and custom. During his time as a powerful emissary of the Pakistani government under the tribal region's frontier governing system, Jamil Ahmad simultaneously served as politician, police chief, judge, jury and executioner. Bits of this personal history are woven within the stories, including hints of Jamil's wife's German heritage. Environmentalist and activist Helga Ahmad was instrumental in encouraging her husband Jamil to move from halting first attempts at poetry to richly crafted stories of people, place and borders.
The bleak landscapes in the book evoke a world of nomadic treks where human contact is brief and often violent, and where far western desert winds blow clouds of sand so thick that breath is priceless. The environment is unforgiving as is the justice doled out by tribe and government.
Jamil Ahmad finished "The Wandering Falcon" in 1973-74, but the stories did not find a publisher until this year. Penguin Books' decision to at last publish Jamil's stories is timely. Ahmad believes that his stories evoke a vanishing world of tribes that the modern world must resonate and harmonize with: "Because frankly speaking, I still think that each one of us has a tribal gene inside, embedded inside. I really think that way."
Jamil Ahmad hopes that deeper understanding of the tribes that once roamed freely between the far borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran could help end the wars that stain their mountains and valleys with blood. Reading "The Wandering Falcon" can help begin a process of understanding between the timeless nomadic life and the fragmenting borders of our post-modern society.
Our contemporary world has much to learn from the rhythms of the nomadic trail. I highly recommend Jamil Ahmad's magnificent book "The Wandering Falcon".
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LibraryThing member bandedtulip
Anyone interested in the reason why America (and if you read history, any other country before us) has not been getting anything but bogged down in Afghanistan and Pakistan, should read this book. However this is not a political treatise, far from it. It is simply a description of life and
Seemingly unconnected stories loosely follow the life of a boy born to a young couple, who has offended against tribal law and is mercilessly hunted down and destroyed. The five-year old Tor Baz, the falcon of the title, is left to his fate by his grandfather and his tribe, next to his shot dead camel at a desert water hole, where his dead mother and his stoned-to-death father had been buried under rocks piled up into two towers. The child is picked up by some members of another tribe, rebels, fugitives, who are tricked into coming to a parley, where they are summarily sentenced and executed. Again the boy survives and again someone takes him along as a matter of fact. There is no pity in this land. Things that need to be done are taken care of and further energy cannot be wasted on them. The tribes live an extremely harsh way of life. They endure on arid soil, beset by dangers all around. Their few pieces of land take back-breaking work by man and woman alike. The nomadic tribes drive their goats and camels from their mountain strongholds to the plains, their few goods, their children, their chickens on their backs, precariously from water hole to water hole. When in the course of history the once porous borders solidify and the lack of papers prevent migration, the animals die and the people starve.
Women, of course, are chattel, work horses who have no voice. They are sold in times of need by their fathers for maybe a pound of opium. They are beaten and discarded and even the lucky few, who find a husband, who is caring, may end up being kidnapped in a raid and sold into prostitution and virtual slavery.
Tribal elders guide their people through precarious times, political trap falls and perennial feuding amongst the tribes, and even within the tribes by the various clans, by following age old laws and wily maneuvering.
In often poetical language, but an emotionally detached voice, the author spreads out the many different regions from Baluchistan to the Swat Valley, before the reader, all the landscapes the wandering falcon passes through in his effort to survive.
This is a book well worth reading, a small book, yet very rich in what it conveys. The author loses not one word about recent history, present day politics or terror, yet anybody reading this book cannot but realize that our very efforts to bring about peace in this world, which seems so very removed from ours, must be doomed.
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conditions in a harsh land as the author experienced it over many years spent working among the tribes there. Seemingly unconnected stories loosely follow the life of a boy born to a young couple, who has offended against tribal law and is mercilessly hunted down and destroyed. The five-year old Tor Baz, the falcon of the title, is left to his fate by his grandfather and his tribe, next to his shot dead camel at a desert water hole, where his dead mother and his stoned-to-death father had been buried under rocks piled up into two towers. The child is picked up by some members of another tribe, rebels, fugitives, who are tricked into coming to a parley, where they are summarily sentenced and executed. Again the boy survives and again someone takes him along as a matter of fact. There is no pity in this land. Things that need to be done are taken care of and further energy cannot be wasted on them. The tribes live an extremely harsh way of life. They endure on arid soil, beset by dangers all around. Their few pieces of land take back-breaking work by man and woman alike. The nomadic tribes drive their goats and camels from their mountain strongholds to the plains, their few goods, their children, their chickens on their backs, precariously from water hole to water hole. When in the course of history the once porous borders solidify and the lack of papers prevent migration, the animals die and the people starve.
Women, of course, are chattel, work horses who have no voice. They are sold in times of need by their fathers for maybe a pound of opium. They are beaten and discarded and even the lucky few, who find a husband, who is caring, may end up being kidnapped in a raid and sold into prostitution and virtual slavery.
Tribal elders guide their people through precarious times, political trap falls and perennial feuding amongst the tribes, and even within the tribes by the various clans, by following age old laws and wily maneuvering.
In often poetical language, but an emotionally detached voice, the author spreads out the many different regions from Baluchistan to the Swat Valley, before the reader, all the landscapes the wandering falcon passes through in his effort to survive.
This is a book well worth reading, a small book, yet very rich in what it conveys. The author loses not one word about recent history, present day politics or terror, yet anybody reading this book cannot but realize that our very efforts to bring about peace in this world, which seems so very removed from ours, must be doomed.
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LibraryThing member orangewords
I was intrigued by the concept of this book, and enjoyed the looks that the author gave into the different tribes and culture of Pakistan and Afghanistan. That being said, I thought that this book lacked a clear narrative and focus. Though "the wandering falcon" was a character who featured in most
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of the narratives, (save a very strange first-person account that was plopped into the middle of the book), he wasn't a knowable character. I would like to read more by Ahmad, and am thankful to have had the opportunity to see this region through his eyes, but as a novel this book didn't quite do it for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member bjmitch
This is a difficult book to review, although I must say from the start that I truly enjoyed it. If you read it, I have a suggestion. Pretend that you are at a library or an outdoor event, in a group gathered around to listen to a great storyteller. There is tea for everyone and perhaps some dates,
He gives some idea of the harsh landscape and living conditions, but for the most part his stories are about the people he has worked among and understands. Tribal leaders who make their point in meetings through parables, men who treat their animals better than their women, women who nevertheless manage to exert influence on decisions for the tribe, children who know instinctively who to trust.
In short, this isn't a novel as you normally think of it. A child, the Falcon, who is 5 years old in the first story is the thread upon which Ahmad weaves his fictional tales. In another story he is 7, then 13, then a young man. He appears in each tale but sometimes only in a cameo appearance. The stories tell about the customs and unwritten laws by which the tribal people of this wild country govern their entire lives.
I've read a little about the city people of these countries but wanted to know more about the mysterious tribal people. This is Ahmad's first book, but I hope that even at his advanced age he will continue to tell these stories. I highly recommend this book.
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nuts, and other little snacks. Then the 80 year old Jamil Ahmad begins to tell strange and wonderful stories about the people of the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.He gives some idea of the harsh landscape and living conditions, but for the most part his stories are about the people he has worked among and understands. Tribal leaders who make their point in meetings through parables, men who treat their animals better than their women, women who nevertheless manage to exert influence on decisions for the tribe, children who know instinctively who to trust.
In short, this isn't a novel as you normally think of it. A child, the Falcon, who is 5 years old in the first story is the thread upon which Ahmad weaves his fictional tales. In another story he is 7, then 13, then a young man. He appears in each tale but sometimes only in a cameo appearance. The stories tell about the customs and unwritten laws by which the tribal people of this wild country govern their entire lives.
I've read a little about the city people of these countries but wanted to know more about the mysterious tribal people. This is Ahmad's first book, but I hope that even at his advanced age he will continue to tell these stories. I highly recommend this book.
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LibraryThing member catscritch
The Wandering Falcon, by Jamil Ahmad
A fascinating peek into the mysterious wanderings of various tribesmen eking out an existence across the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Each character is vividly depicted and the harsh living conditions described with neither pity nor superiority. I found
A fascinating peek into the mysterious wanderings of various tribesmen eking out an existence across the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Each character is vividly depicted and the harsh living conditions described with neither pity nor superiority. I found
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it a quick read into a deep culture and recommend it to anyone willing to view the unknown without judgment. Show Less
LibraryThing member Miela
I never really got through this book. (Why do the ER Powers that Be keep sending me books I don't like?) Although it was short, as I previously said, it was difficult to get through.
LibraryThing member gendeg
Raw, hyper-real stuff. The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad mesmerizes you with its spare, elegant prose. In this collection of interconnected stories, we get an unflinching glimpse at the lives of the people who live along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan: the Kuchi, the Pashtun, the
There is a hard-edged beauty in the desolation of the landscapes described and the lives we see, but nothing is exoticized. Our Western sensibilities are also never spared. While there is violence, the carnage isn't depicted voyeuristically. When we see a daughter get sold for a pound of opium, or when a man kills his lover to protect her from her vengeful family who chases them across the high desert, or when a woman chooses to be sold to a brothel rather than face humiliation at home—it's never depicted in a sensational way. Ahmad avoids romanticizing tribal life or condemning it. This lack of judgment mirrors the tribes themselves, in the unblinking way they face life and reality—and it's a harsh reality, one of migrations, raids, encroaching modernity.
The quality of the writing alone in The Wandering Falcon is worth the read, a throwback to classic storytelling done right. There is a rhythm to the writing that mimics the way the caravans in the stories meander across the hills and mountain passes.
Some people might be frustrated by the fact that there isn't a distinct central character to root for in the book. We first see the protagonist as a child born in the first story, but in succeeding ones we see him move from one group to another without him being the focus. He eventually gets a name, Tor Baz or Black Falcon. Tor drifts in and out of other people's stories obliquely, which is a remarkably postmodern move in an otherwise straightforward, classic story. Ahmad doesn't spend any time developing Tor's character. As Tor drifts around, the role he plays changes—from orphan to informer to trader. He's a protagonist who doesn't want us to follow him. Nor does Ahmad want to reveal anything about him as an individual really. Probably because in the withholding, Ahmad reveals so much more.
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Waziri, and others. It's a world rarely seen in books.There is a hard-edged beauty in the desolation of the landscapes described and the lives we see, but nothing is exoticized. Our Western sensibilities are also never spared. While there is violence, the carnage isn't depicted voyeuristically. When we see a daughter get sold for a pound of opium, or when a man kills his lover to protect her from her vengeful family who chases them across the high desert, or when a woman chooses to be sold to a brothel rather than face humiliation at home—it's never depicted in a sensational way. Ahmad avoids romanticizing tribal life or condemning it. This lack of judgment mirrors the tribes themselves, in the unblinking way they face life and reality—and it's a harsh reality, one of migrations, raids, encroaching modernity.
The quality of the writing alone in The Wandering Falcon is worth the read, a throwback to classic storytelling done right. There is a rhythm to the writing that mimics the way the caravans in the stories meander across the hills and mountain passes.
Some people might be frustrated by the fact that there isn't a distinct central character to root for in the book. We first see the protagonist as a child born in the first story, but in succeeding ones we see him move from one group to another without him being the focus. He eventually gets a name, Tor Baz or Black Falcon. Tor drifts in and out of other people's stories obliquely, which is a remarkably postmodern move in an otherwise straightforward, classic story. Ahmad doesn't spend any time developing Tor's character. As Tor drifts around, the role he plays changes—from orphan to informer to trader. He's a protagonist who doesn't want us to follow him. Nor does Ahmad want to reveal anything about him as an individual really. Probably because in the withholding, Ahmad reveals so much more.
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LibraryThing member wrmjr66
The Wandering Falcon is more a collection of inter-related vignettes/short stories than a typical, integrated novel. It follows a character as he wanders through the tribal lands of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but he is rarely the main character. Instead, Ahmad portrays scenes of tribal life in a way
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that shows respect for the beliefs and traditions and yet is unsparing in portraying the brutality of such a life. There is much discussion of honor, both martial (aka "Klingon") and sexual, and there are eye opening portraits of the interactions between the many tribes of the region. It's a very interesting exploration of a way of life that is very important to us and yet poorly understood. Show Less
LibraryThing member saibancho
A gem. It reminded me of Paul Bowles short story writing. The narrative is coming from a position rarely experienced, that of the true conviction of storytelling, its mystery, poetry and at the same time down to earth matter-of-factness. A landscape, culture and history brought to life very
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evocatively. Show Less
LibraryThing member kakadoo202
it feels like a collectioj of short stories in which each time in the end Tor Baz plays a role even if it just a minor one. gives you some inside in daily life during WWII in the afghanistan/pakistan region but then again it was a little bit superficial without going into details of each character.
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i rater would have like to really hear more about Tor Baz and his life. Show Less
LibraryThing member bteeley
A wonderful, short, colorful read. The characters are insightfully and beautifully created. I was struck by the hope they harbored-- though they were living in a violent, random culture. This book was unsettling, in part because of the fate of the characters, and in part because I realized that the
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current issues in the Middle East are merely an extension of a culture-- Ahmad is able to explain the mindset of the men making decisions and the women who accept them in a way that makes sense--though to the Western mind, their decisions are uneducated and short-sighted. Show Less
LibraryThing member WaxPoetic
Nomadic cultures vanishing from the borderlands of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan wander through each of the scenes in the life of a violently orphaned young man in this novel by debut author Jamil Ahmad.
The young man's story is as much landscape for the natural world as the natural world is the
Mr. Ahmad has written an incredibly moving book in a style that is evocative and unafraid, even when it moves into something resembling the didactic.
It floored me.
Highly recommended.
The young man's story is as much landscape for the natural world as the natural world is the
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landscape for the actions of the novel. They are inseparable. It is a world of harsh and constant beauty, visible to those who look for it, as it seems one must in a world constantly and successfully threatened by governments bent on defining peoples according to where they live, as long as they only live in one of the proscribed and bordered areas.Mr. Ahmad has written an incredibly moving book in a style that is evocative and unafraid, even when it moves into something resembling the didactic.
It floored me.
Highly recommended.
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Awards
Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Shortlist — 2012)
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature (Shortlist — 2013)
Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize (Winner — 2011)
Man Asian Literary Prize (Shortlist — 2011)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Fiction — 2011)
Language
Original language
English