The Pearl that Broke Its Shell: A Novel

Product Information

I have a rule that I do not rate a book unless I read more than half and it is valid for this book as well. The rule does not mean that I will no write a my thoughts on the bit that I read.

Rahima herself became Rahim, a bacha posh, when her mother could not produce a son and it was decided that Rahima had to act as the boy in the family. Although it made their life easier, it also allowed Rahima a freedom of movement no other girl ever enjoyed. It planted the seed of her eventual decision to break free and fly away, like the birds in her sister, Parwin's paintings. But it also created the situation in which her whole life would become a tale devoid of poetry and prose in her new husband's house. An afghan woman is like a pearl imprisoned in the darkness of an oyster. However, some of them are shell breakers, and start rolling towards the light! As Rahima, Parwin, and Shahla prepare for their nikkah, which is their wedding day, Khala Shaima tells the girls of their great-great grandmother Shekiba. She is a young girl about Rahima's age when Khala Shaima starts the story, which is thirteen years old. As a two-year-old, half of Shekiba's face melted when hot oil fell onto her face, thus deforming her for the rest of her life. Though Shekiba is accepted by her family, she is rejected and shamed by everyone else, strangers and extended family alike. And yet,I almost abandoned it in the beginning. The start wasn't too great and the endless repetition of certain phrases like Mader Jan and Pader Jan (for mother and father) was pretty irritating.

Browse reviews by Magazine.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house.

For Rahima, life with her new husband --- a warlord infamous throughout the region --- is anything but comfortable. Though she’s surrounded by opulence, her duties as his fourth wife resemble those of a baby machine and slave. She soon bears him a son, but to a limited reprieve, and it’s all Rahima can do make it through the day and avoid punishment, especially after Parwin sets herself on fire in protest.But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way. This life is difficult. We lose fathers, brothers, mothers, songbirds and pieces of ourselves. Whips strike the innocent, honors go to the guilty, and there is too much loneliness. I would be a fool to pray for my children to escape all of that. Ask for too much and it might actually turn out worse. But I can pray for small things, like fertile fields, a mother’s love, a child’s smile—a life that’s less bitter than sweet.” As a consequence for staying a bacha posh for too long and for disrespecting her mother, Rahima is married off to Abdul Khaliq, a warlord to whom Arif, Rahima's father, feels indebted. Part of the deal is for Rahima's two older sisters, Parwin and Shahla, to be married off as well to Abdul Khaliq's cousins. They are married off on the same day, much to the despair of their mother, other sisters, and Khala Shaima.

Shekiba loses her mother and siblings to a national wave of cholera, and then soon thereafter her father to extreme despair. Shekiba continues tending her family's land, eventually looking like a man due to the hard physical labor she does. Months after her father dies, Shekiba's extended family takes over Shekiba and the land, making her their servant. Eventually they give her as a gift to fulfill a debt, and she becomes another family's servant. Similarly, Rahima dressed as a boy so that she will have opportunities to work outside. She loved the freedom that made her go to school, play in the ground, and gave her chances to enjoy her life without any trouble. Bacha posh is the oldest tradition followed by Afghan people, thereby allowing girls to dress up as boys until they get married. Even though Rahima enjoyed her freedom for a very short period time, her father made her get married to an older wealthy man. Rahima is his fourth wife. He married her only for begetting a child. Though she married an older man, Rahima is comfortable with him and delivered a baby boy. Later on, she was forced to live for her husband and her kid. This made her to quit the needs that she wanted to do in her life. She expressed her anger as: “What am I supposed to do? Clearly, this is what Allah has chosen as their naseeb-Oh, the hell with naseeb! Naseeb is what people blame for everything they can’t fix (Hashimi, 139).” Conclusion On her last visit to Kabul, Rahima pretends to fall ill so she can stay at the hotel room while Badriya attends parliament session. She is careful to be quiet as she puts on Hashmat's new clothing that she stole. When Rahima is certain that Hassan, the guard outside her room - but at the end of the hallway - is facing the other way, she opens the door as silently as possible, hoping he doesn't hear her. While the book’s message was not subtle, Hashimi has a talent for writing some nuanced prose. There are some beautiful nuggets of writing in here and I’ve listed one of many quotes I highlighted while reading. Forced marriages of very young girls,domestic violence,a warlord and the happenings in a king's harem make for a compelling mix.In 2008, Hashimi began her medical career working in the emergency department at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. As a bacha posh, Rahima feels free being able to wear pants and joke around with boys her age. She is only uncomfortable when she's approached by older men in the street when she is running errands. In fact, Abdul Khaliq is one of the men who has his eye on Rahima when she is a bacha posh. However, she stays a bacha posh longer than is traditionally accepted, thus angering her father, who is an opiate addict who barely pays attention to his family but is still easily shamed by any inappropriate behavior by his daughters and/or wife. The horrors women endured from other women was something I haven't read much about. It seems that instead of lifting each other up, for the most part they are tearing each other down to gain even the smallest bit of power...so sad!