Wanting Mor

Good and fast read. Others' customs are so important, so a great way to gain more understanding. Moves along quickly.

(A little bit of a spoiler)An irony of Wanting Mor is that the main character, Jameela, finds home to be an orphanage and learns to love a child disregarded by the rest. These realities are weaved in a tragic story of the death of her mother, the abandonment of her father, her, yes,evil stepmother, and a war-ravaged Afghanistan. In place also, in the midst of traditional Islamic culture, is Jameela's desire to be beautiful and loved. Throughout the story we see kind characters that befriend her and a deception by those who manipulate the goodness of others to maintain a damaged sustainability in a country crippled by war. Author Rukhsana Khan's words “When countries go to war, it is always civilians, especially children, who suffer the most form a thread that runs through the tragedies of Jameela's life.As a teacher, I once had a student refugee who moved forward in life while dealing with tragedies in her past. She was a beautiful person, the type that gives one faith in humanity, and I thought of her as I read about Jameela. Wanting Mor is engaging, and realistic. Jameela learns to stand on her own, but cannot overcome the tragedy of her formative years, that `'if you can't be beautiful, you should at least be good." It would be good for her to see an internal beauty, but the author doesn't take us there, realistically so when so little beauty surrounds those characters we find ourselves cheering for.

Jameela had already experienced so much hardship as a youngster living in Afghanistan during the Taliban's stronghold and then the American invasion. She lived in poverty and had no education, she had lost a number of family members to violence and disease, and she had to deal with the inevitable stares when people saw her cleft lip. Then on the most devastating day of all, her mother died after a brief illness. With virtually no time to grieve the loss of her Mor, Jameela was forced to leave the village with her drug-addicted father for the capital city in an ill-conceived plan to find new work. Life for Jameela in Kabul was grim and dismal as she worked under slave-like conditions, first in a temporary situation and then in the household of a surly woman who her father had suddenly married. The step-mother despised Jameela and instructed her new husband to abandon Jameela in a busy Kabul market. Inexplicably, he complied, and Jameela was left completely and totally alone. Ultimately, it took the kindness of strangers, inspiration from her strong faith, memories of her precious Mor, and the power of an education to turn her life around in the most surprising and ironic of ways. Wanting Mor stands out as a mesmerizing book with lively characters, heartbreaking plot developments, and incredibly rich cultural content. Jameela's plight is representative of the wide-scale devaluation of the social and economic status of women and girls in Central Asia, which has led to the abandonment and neglect of unwanted girls. Based on a true event, this book provides testament to the depths of the problem and the possibilities for change.

This is Khan's first YA novel. She is an award winning children's author in Canada. Jameela lives in a small village in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Set around 2001, Jameela has grown up surrounded by war. When Jameela's Mor (mother), dies, she is lost. Soon after the funeral, Jameela's baba, (father) sells everything they own and moves them to the city of Kabul. When they first got their, Jameela did her best to figure out the new world she was in. Her baba didn't care too much for her welfare. Without her mor their was no one to answer her questions, all she could do was follow. Jameela's baba remarries, the new wife works her very hard and he doesn't intervene. One day the new wife decides she doesn't want Jameela around. Jameela's baba leaves her in the market. It was very sad to see how trusting Jameela was, standing for hours before she would even sit because she worried her baba wouldn't see her when he returned. Luckliy for Jameela, a kind butcher takes her home with him to his family. Eventually, Jameela is placed in an orphanage. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but it was still upsetting that Jameela was at the mercy of so many people. The orphanage turns out to be where Jameela finds a new home. She finally gets to go to school and make friends. Khan draws out several of the secondary characters to making the novel more interesting. I really enjoyed Wanting Mor and found I couldn't stop reading. When I was away from it I found myself thinking about Jameela. Jameela dreamed of her Mor often. She is a practicing Muslim, throughout the book Jameela says her prayers. Khan's weaves Jameela's faith and prayers seamlessly into the story. The author also incorporates a few Farsi, Pushto and Arabic words, from the surrounding sentences it was pretty easy to figure out what the words meant. Nothing miraculous or unbelievable happens and that's part of Wanting Mor's beauty. Its simply the story of a girl from a village, who moves to the city, tethered to no one and how quickly she could get lost and forgotten.

I don't believe there are many books about Afghanistan for children, and this one manages to be 9-to-12 appropriate while at the same time showing the incredible difficulties of life (especially as a female) in that most unfortunate of nations. Probably the author's background as a Muslim (albeit a Pakistani one) contributed to the authenticity of the narrative.That said, it was kind of predictable, most of the characters were flat, and (without trying to spoil the book) it had a sort of Lifetime movie quality about it, especially in the ending. Still, I suppose this is as good a book as any for a girl who's a little too young to be reading A Thousand Splendid Suns.