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Product Description
Quill & Quire
As strange and faraway a place as Afghanistan may be to most Canadian readers, in Rukhsana Khan’s contemporary story it has a fairy-tale familiarity – of the Grimm sort, not Disney. Like Cinderella, Wanting Mor’s young heroine, Jameela, becomes a slave to her stepmother. Like Hansel and Gretel, she is cast out into a dangerous world by her feckless father. This is an Afghanistan gripped by war, yet it is also a place of piety and surprising generosity. Khan puts us completely inside the head of her young protagonist. (We don’t know Jameela’s age, and perhaps Jameela herself doesn’t, either.) Her depiction of Jameela’s reactions to terrible events – finding her beloved mother, Mor, dead; being abandoned by her father – at first seems muted, but in the context of war and so much loss, it is probably psychologically accurate. Jameela must also deal with the disfigurement of a cleft lip. This doesn’t seem to trouble her as much as we might expect, for who will see it? She embraces the porani she winds around her head, and later the chadri that erases her sexuality. She complains very little about life’s unfairness – if she can work and pray, she feels some measure of control. She has a puritanical streak that can make her judgmental, but she is also brave, smart, and resilient. After Jameela’s father abandons her at the market, the worst does not happen. Instead, she is rescued and taken to an orphanage – for her, a place of near-luxury. When she finds safety and stability – no happy-ever-after, but a chance for a useful future – we stop holding our breath and instead rejoice for her.
Review
...[T]he storyteller's descriptive language is lovely... Her characters are realistic...Young readers' eyes will be opened to life in another culture. Teens will enjoy this book, especially if the liked Three Cups of Tea... (VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) 20090901)
...The unique hero sees open roads, where others might only squint at dead ends. (Children's Book News 20090701)
...Khan's account of [Jameela's] life...makes for good reading. As narrator, Jameela looks out in the world of Islamic Afghanistan from behind her chador, and it is her perspective...of that world that gives this book both its immediacy and its singularity. (Globe and Mail )
A searing opening chapter...will draw readers into [Jameela's] story...[Readers] will certainly sympathize with her and rejoice in the ultimate outcome. (Horn Book )
...The unique hero sees open roads, where others might only squint at dead ends. (Children's Book News 20090701)
...Khan's account of [Jameela's] life...makes for good reading. As narrator, Jameela looks out in the world of Islamic Afghanistan from behind her chador, and it is her perspective...of that world that gives this book both its immediacy and its singularity. (Globe and Mail )
A searing opening chapter...will draw readers into [Jameela's] story...[Readers] will certainly sympathize with her and rejoice in the ultimate outcome. (Horn Book )
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jameela finds 'more',
By Jan (Calgary, Alberta) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wanting Mor (Hardcover)
Wanting Mor is a powerful story for young adult readers. The title works on two levels, Mor is the Pushto word for mother and the character wants 'more' than her opium addicted delusional father can provide. After the sudden death of her mother, Jameela and her father move to Kabul where his addictions lead him to make a number of bad choices. He ultimately abandons her in the market. Grieving for her mother and devastated by her father's abandonment Mor blames herself, and her cleft lip, for not being good enough to love. She finds love and acceptance in an orphanage but continues to be plagued by the abandonment by her father. A plot twist brings her back into contact with her father and the book explores issues of redemption and forgiveness. Jameela, taking strength from her religion and the memory of her mother, becomes stronger. Ultimately, it is about the strength of the human spirit to overcome loss and tragedy without blaming and bitterness. The novel also invites the reader into another country, culture and religion without taking sides in a political battle. This will be an insightful and emotionally engaging read for a young adult.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children,
By Yana V. Rodgers "Econkids at Rutgers University" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wanting Mor (Hardcover)
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. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hard world,
By Brent C. Olson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wanting Mor (Hardcover)
We live in a hard old world, even though for many of us that fact is disguised by pleasant surroundings.And the only thing that gets any of us through is faith, hope and occasionally the kindness of strangers.
5.0 out of 5 stars
wow.,
By Merida Banks - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wanting Mor (Hardcover)
This book is deeply touching.It tells the tale of a young girl whose mother recently died, and her father isn't properly taking care of her. She struggles to keep going after her father remarries. She was born with a lip deformity, and she is frightened because she believes she will be teased because of it. This reveiw is neither good, nor very descriptive, but believe me. This is a GOOD book. |
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