Book Review

Review of The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg

By Mariah Terry – September 30, 2018

         Diving deep into an unseen world in Afghanistan, Jenny Nordberg takes the reader with her on a heartbreaking, yet empowering, journey through the lives of several Afghan girls and women. The bacha posh are primarily young girls, and sometimes adult women, who dress in male clothing in order to lead a freer life in a country that has been called the most dangerous in the world to be born a girl.

         In Afghanistan, women are not allowed almost any rights whatsoever. They are not permitted to go outside without a male, attend school in many cases, choose who they want to marry or if they marry, how they dress or how to best parent their own children. Under such severe restrictions, many mothers have developed their own form of rebellion by presenting their young daughters as sons so that they may enjoy some amount of freedom and safety. The Underground Girls of Kabul tells their stories.

       Jenny Nordberg is a Swedish investigative journalist who has won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2005. Breaking the story of the bacha posh in 2010, Nordberg’s investigative work was published on the front page of The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune. She then went much further into the subject by writing a book on the issue. As the first person to research the bacha posh, Nordberg’s work inspired numerous follow-up pieces, opinion articles and fictional stories.

         According to her website, Norberg is the “only researcher in the world who has explored the practice of bacha posh in a systematic and comprehensive manner,” (jennynorberg.com). Prior to writing about the bacha posh, Nordberg received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for her reporting on Afghan women. Nordberg currently works as a correspondent and columnist for Swedish newspaper Svenka Dagbladet and as a contributing investigative reporter for other publications.

       Breaking the book into four main sections (Boys, Youth, Men and Fathers), Nordberg excels at keeping the reader engaged. These sections are further broken down into chapters of 20 pages or less, which helps the reader digest the subject matter, which is often quite difficult to read.

         The author has several main subjects, the stories of which she tells in a rather back and forth type of style, incorporating relevant facts about Afghanistan’s larger issues, culture, history and religion that are central to a clear understanding of the topic. In the prologue, Nordberg addresses the issue of not becoming too attached to the subject and remaining professional.

         After being told one of her sources is the victim of domestic violence, Nordberg writes, “I breathe in deeply. I am the journalist. She is the subject. The rule is to show no emotion. Azita hears my silence and immediately begins to reassure me,” (Nordberg, 2015).

       Much of her information comes from Afghan women and girls themselves, as well as Nordberg’s own firsthand observations and experiences. She places herself and her perception into the story but does a very good job of keeping the focus on the Afghan women and the larger issues that push them to think and act the ways that they do.

          At times, Afghan doctors and other experts from organizations such as Kabul University and the U.S. Agency for International Development are consulted, which adds another unique perspective to the greater story. Overall, Nordberg implements an exceptionally engaging and direct narrative style that truly brings to life the problems faced by women in Afghanistan and evokes empathy from the reader in a very raw and honest way.

       In reviewing the book for The Washington Post, Rachel Newcomb begins by describing a couple of the individual stories and later transitions to focusing on the widespread issues faced by women in Afghanistan, as well as the county in general. Most of the information used in the review is taken from the book with several direct parital quotes. Of the importance of the book, Newcomb writes, “gaining a sense of Afghan women’s struggles through a study of those who seek to escape their gender offers an unforgettable perspective on the complexities of their lives,” (Newcomb, 2014).

         Emily Schneider in Foreign Policy presents a less positive view of the book in her review as she argues that Nordberg has framed the Afghan women in a brighter light than what is reality. She interprets Nordberg’s writing as praise for the bacha posh and their mothers and criticizes, writing, “as you read The Underground Girls of Kabul, you wish you were reading a tale of women fighting for equality in their patriarchal society, but instead, you’re faced with stories about women coping with the cards they’ve been dealt,” (Schneider, 2014).

          In contrast, Joanna Bourke takes the view that “Afghan women are formidably creative in their responses to repressive religious and secular forces,” in her review of the book for The Telegraph, (Bourke, 2014). While there is difference in opinion on the efficacy of the book, most reviewers seemed to agree that Nordberg excels in bringing the reader face to face with the challenges of Afghan women.

       The extensive reporting, intimately personal stories and exquisite writing style of this book make it an absolute necessity for anyone who wishes to gain a more complete understanding of the gender issues in Afghanistan and how they relate to the ongoing conflict there.

         Additionally, much can be learned from Nordberg’s reporting style, as she often writes about the ways she seeks out sources and information, as well as how she gets people to talk to her and the questions she asks them. Readers can also learn from her own reactions to what her sources tell her and how she chooses to proceed as she learns more about the issues. This is absolutely an exceptional book, and Norberg’s reporting, as well as her writing, is top notch.

Bibliography:

  1. Bourke, Joanna. “The Underground Girls of Kabul: The Hidden Lives of Afghan Girls Disguised as Boys by Jenny Nordberg, Review: ‘a Tale of Discovery’.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 27 Sept. 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11121297/The-Underground-Girls-of-Kabul-The-Hidden-Lives-of-Afghan-Girls-Disguised-as-Boys-by-Jenny-Nordberg-review-a-tale-of-discovery.html.
  2. Newcomb, Rachel. “Afghan Girls Hiding Their Gender.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 Sept. 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-the-underground-girls-of-kabul-by-jenny-nordberg/2014/09/19/441e752e-0eb5-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.87f8446de76a.
  3. Nordberg, Jenny. Jenny Nordberg, jennynordberg.com/jenny-nordberg-bio/.
  4. Nordberg, Jenny. The Underground Girls Of Kabul: in Search Of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan. Random House USA, 2015.
  5. Schneider, Emily. “The Underground Girls of Kabul.” Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy, 15 Oct. 2014, foreignpolicy.com/2014/10/15/the-underground-girls-of-kabul/.