Under the Persimmon Tree

by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Hardcover, 2005

Call number

J FIC STA

Publication

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (2005), Edition: 1st, 288 pages

Description

During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmal, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her huband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.

User reviews

LibraryThing member WarriorLibrary
This book really puts you in the shoes of young people in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban.
LibraryThing member JRlibrary
Najmah is just a young Afghan girl when the Taliban descend upon her village, take all of their food, and then take her father and brother away. Several days later, she sees her mother and new born brother killed by an American bomb. Najmah, who is barely functioning through her shock, finds
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herself impersonating a boy, and traveling with neighbours through the mountains to cross the border into Pakistan where they will hopefully find refuge. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, the reader also learns of Nusrat, an American woman originally named Elaine who converted to the Muslim faith, and followed her doctor husband to Peshawar. Faiz, her husband, has gone to northern Afghanistan to help with the wounded there, so Nusrat spends her time running a school in Peshawar for refugee children. She hasn't heard from her husband for quite some time now, and is starting to fear for his safety. Eventually, Najmah ends up at Nusrat's school, where she is fed, sheltered, and made to feel safe. The book does not end with the traditional happy ending, but instead remains true to the hearts of the characters. While not a happy novel, it does provide a thought provoking look at the lives of those living in Afghanistan.
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LibraryThing member sharp3
Synopsis:Set at the start of the 2001 war in Afghanistan Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher in Pakistan is waiting for word of her husband Faiz, a doctor who is working in refugee clinics in Afghanistan. Hundreds of miles away a poor Afghani girl named Najmah, has lost her brother and father to
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Taliban conscription gangs. Left alone to take care of her pregnant mother Najmah attempts to protect her father’s land and flocks from the greedy eyes of her Uncle, a Taliban sympathizer. After American bombs destroy Najmah’s village and kill her mother, Najmah is found by a neighbor’s brother and his family and smuggled across the border into Pakistan, there Najmah and Nusrat’s paths intersect after the refugee director enrolls Najmah in Nusrats school. Review:Nusrat and Najmah’s voices are achingly clear and beautifully crafted. Staples’ description and prose bring these two vastly different characters to light and create a wonderful opportunity for the reader see from the perspectives of characters which have remained un-seen from the news reels. I was impressed by the depth of understanding Staple displayed when she wrote about Muslim identity and the fierce pride that is inherent to the tribal people of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan and the Pashtun people of both Afghanistan & Pakistan.
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LibraryThing member Carmenere
This is the story of Najmah, a young Afghani girl from a close knit family of shepards. When her father and brother are abruptly taken to aid the Taliban, Najmah is left with her mother to keep the farm functional while awaiting the return of her father. Despite her attempts to fulfill her
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father’s wish to not leave the property, she must flee for her life and try to reach the border into Pakistan.
This is the story of Elaine/Nasrat, a young American woman recently married to Faiz, an Afghani doctor who returns to Afghanistan to establish a clinic to help those injured during the war. Nasrat awaits his safe return in Pakistan and sets up a make shift school for displaced children under the persimmon tree in her yard. Whenever the local malek finds children who may benefit from an education he brings them to Nasrat. “She’s determined to turn their time of greatest need into a time of opportunity.”
Thus, the table is set for these two determined young women to meet and draw strength from each other to face whatever future awaits them.
The author chose to tell their story by alternating between Najman and Nasrat. This method works for three quarters of the book but becomes confusing when the two characters finally meet. Staples appears to express their emotional trauma’s realistically but, in my opinion, spoke too lightly of Nasrat’s decision to convert from Christian to Muslim and the ease of doing so. In her quest to find faith , she chose Islam because of its compatiblity with science and math yet Nasrat admits that she didn’t find the answers to all her questions but “it was enough to find a sense of order in the universe…”. It all seemed a bit contrived. The ending attempted to be moving but was not fulfilling.
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LibraryThing member Maggie_Rum
While this country travels a bit from Staple's two more famous works (Shabanu and Haveli), it sticks to the Middle East and hardships faced by young girls. I enjoyed reading it, although it didn't stick to me as the other novels had.
LibraryThing member TheReadersCove
The Afghan war of 2001 was a vivid reminder of the brutality, anger and hatred the division of a country can produce. Under the Persimmon Tree brings this experience to life through the perspective of Najmah, an Afghan girl and Elaine an American woman waiting in Pakistan.

Najmah, lives with her
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father, mother and older brother in a remote village. They have little in worldly possessions, but there is a deep bond between them. When the fearful, abusive and controlling Taliban appear food is always seized with no thought for the remaining villiagers. This time is even worse for Najmah’s family. Her father and older brother are taken captive. Only Najmah and her mother remain, left to fend for themselves.

After the bombs come Najmah is left hungry, alone and numb, but lucky to be alive. She is helped by other villagers. They change her appearance and she travels with them to a refugee camp many perilous miles away.

Elaine, her Islamic name Nusrat, is married to a fine doctor. They have come to the country so he can help his people. He is far away in dangerous territory treating those in desperate need. Nusrat was a teacher in the United States and continues to fine ways to teach some of the refugee children from the compound. With no word from her husband, Nusrat longs to know of his welfare.

In time, providence brings Najmah and Nusrat together. There friendship grows and a bond of trust is developed. But what does the future hold in this vastly devastated and war torn country?

The overall writing was very descriptive, dramatic and direct. However, to get the clearest picture, familiarize yourself with the glossary.

I found Under the Persimmon Tree to be an excellent cultural read. It will open your eyes to a way of life that must be experienced to understand.
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LibraryThing member seeword
Dual stories of a young Afghani refugee (from the Taliban) girl and the American wife of an Afghani doctor, set in Peshawar, Pakistan. Interesting, especially the perspective of the American who is a convert to Islam.
Personal copy.
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Suzanne Fisher Staples is a local author, by which I mean she lives within 25 or 30 miles of me, by very familiar back roads. She plans an annual symposium called The Gathering at Keystone College in LaPlume, PA. She writes for "young readers", but as a former reporter based in Pakistan,
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Afghanistan and India, she covered a lot of difficult territory and now uses her knowledge of the region and its varied cultures to create engaging and informative fiction that appeals to adults as well. In Under the Persimmon Tree she gives us two main characters, Najmah, a twelve year old Afghani girl orphaned by war in post-9/11 Afghanistan, who travels, sometimes alone and disguised as a boy, to a refugee camp across the border in Peshawar, Pakistan; and Nusrat, an American woman who converted to Islam and traveled to her husband's homeland of Pakistan with him on a humanitarian mission. Nusrat teaches refugee children in the garden of her home outside Peshawar, while she waits for word from her husband, a doctor who has gone into the war zones to provide medical assistance in field clinics. Naturally, we anticipate an intersection of the lives of these two characters, whose stories are written in alternating chapters. Najmah's journey is told to us in her voice, in first person, in the present tense. Nusrat's story comes to us from her point of view, but in the third person, also in the present tense. I suppose the author felt the difference would make it easier for young readers to make the shift from chapter to chapter, but I didn't care for that aspect of the book. I'm not a fan of present tense, either. But there is excellence in this story; there is insight into Muslim daily life; into the impact of generations of war on people whose lives are mostly about survival, no matter who is power; and about the simple acts of kindness and generosity that can bring about healing and growth. The ending feels inevitable, but not totally predictable. I enjoyed it, even though there were spots where the "informative" part was a little too obvious.
Review written in November 2015
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LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
During the Afghan war and fall of the Taliban rule the lives of a shepherd girl intertwine with that of an American woman. Najmah has lived a simple life with her family, helping tend the animals and garden. Then her father and brother are forcefully conscripted into the war by the Taliban. Later,
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bombing destroys Namjah's home, killing her mother and baby brother. She escapes, disguised as a boy, with the friends of a neighbor. Elaine, now Nusrat, is married to an Afghan doctor. She relocated with him to his country so he could help out at a hospital during the war. She has not heard from him for many months. In the meantime, she teaches war refugee children at her home and visits her in-laws. Eventually Najmah is brought to Nusrat's little school. Nusrat learns that Najmah is really a girl, without her family and alone among the dangers of the war and the Taliban. She takes in Najmah to live with her until they can figure out what to do.
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Pages

288

ISBN

0374380252 / 9780374380250
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