The End of Manners: A Novel
by Francesca Marciano
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Book Summary Information
Author: Francesca MarcianoEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN: 0375425101
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Reviews of The End of Manners: A Novel
Book Review: "You do not know what honor means to an Afghan woman."
Summary: 5 Stars
Unpretentious and powerful, Marciano's novel is painstakingly honest and revelatory. Not just a frightening foray into a part of the world few experience, the author conveys a sense of urgency, coupled with the real horror of war, the daily battering of a country that endures a concentration of violence as various factions fight for ascendancy. Two important characters drive the narrative: the relentlessly curious journalist for London's "Observer", Imogen Glass; and the more circumspect and emotionally vulnerable Italian photojournalist, Maria Galante. In what would seem the perfect pairing of Western aggression and natural sensitivity, the two women's temporary intrusion into Afghanistan is but another wild story for the worldly Glass, life-changing for the Italian who is charged with photographing the suffering faces of females in a culture that rigidly defines their roles in a manner that outrages Western sensibilities.
Retreating from the demands of photo-journalism after the demise of a long love affair, Maria has contented herself in a less demanding niche, photographing food for specialized magazines. Offered a unique opportunity to travel to Kabul with the larger-than-life Glass, Maria is at first reluctant to accept the assignment: a growing percentage of Afghan women have been self-immolating rather than submit to arranged marriages with much older men. The plight of Afghan women long a subject of interest to the public, it is Imo's task to write the back story and Maria's to capture the images of desperate women who would rather die than accept their fate. Fine on paper, the real time consequences of the assignment are daunting. Not only is Afghanistan dangerous, but to photograph such women is to court reprisal, dishonoring the victims in a culture as foreign to Imo and Maria as are the primitive conditions of this part of the world. Centuries-old traditions do not fall easily to the demands of journalistic curiosity, often heedless and disdainful of a way of life they cannot fathom.
Even after an intensive week of survival training, Maria is intimidated by the daily brutality of a country overrun with journalists, mercenaries, NGO workers, international contractors and the usual parasitic opportunists who descend on Afghanistan with various agendas, most of them lucrative. Their "fixer", Hanif, is critical to the success of the women's venture, not to mention their security. Without Hanif the women would be lost, but his very commitment to his obligations costs this man dearly. In a rapidly disintegrating arena, where expedience dictates most critical decisions, Imo imposes the entitlement of her profession on the task. Galante is at first dwarfed by her companion's personality; yet it is Maria who finds her voice in a frustrating and humiliating experience where priorities are skewed at best, mostly tragic. A nightmarish wartime landscape is illuminated in this powerful novel, small pearls of wisdom brilliantly inserted where least expected. In a moment in the grand scheme of a mad world, the essence of humanity is captured in this remarkable, devastating novel: "I had found her gift hidden in the fold of my own fear." Luan Gaines/ 2008.
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