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The Orchard of Lost Souls
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ConnorD | 181 comments This is the thread for the discussion of Nadifa Mohamed's Orchard of Lost Souls


Beverly I have requested the book from my library.


Zoli | 17 comments Got my copy today ConnorD - look forward to the discussion in a few days


ConnorD | 181 comments How far are members with this book? Any one reading it yet? Have just finished it and look forward to hearing views on it


Zoli | 17 comments I am now done with this book - a great read. Fascinating reflection on civil war in Somalia.

Appreciated the way the author related the events and atmosphere of the time through the eyes of three very different women, experiencing the crude realities of war.


ConnorD | 181 comments Zoli wrote: "I am now done with this book - a great read. Fascinating reflection on civil war in Somalia.

Appreciated the way the author related the events and atmosphere of the time through the eyes of three..."


Yes I enjoyed this book too. Keswar's story got to me more than the others. Perhaps it was the hopelessness of being confined and no options to escape her circumstances. So much loss


Zoli | 17 comments ConnorD wrote: "Zoli wrote: "I am now done with this book - a great read. Fascinating reflection on civil war in Somalia.

Appreciated the way the author related the events and atmosphere of the time through the ..."


Agree in wars women are extremely vulnerable, as well as the vulnerable like the aged, ill, etc


Diane Brown (Diane_Brown) | 38 comments My first book from this author and I really liked it. Gives some insight into life in the country during a very difficult time when the distinction or lines between comrade, criminal, rapist and liberator are blurred.

Zoli you're right women are normally the causalities of war. Around the world we see rape used as a weapon of war


Beverly I am looking forward to reading this book once I finish up some time consuming work projects.

I so agree with the statements of women being raped as not only as a weapon of war but as a planned strategy since the beginning of time.


ConnorD | 181 comments Muna wrote: "I'm also reading this book, almost done and I find it really touching. I like it a lot especially how Kowsar's story is centred around her orchard. It really captures a very delicate time in our hi..."

Muna thanks for your feedback on this book, particularly as you seem most familiar with the country and family experiences of the Hargeisa. It is amazing how rarely people who go through tough times like these rarely speak about their experiences, I also enjoyed the book although not familiar with the Hargeisa, I learnt a lot


Beverly May just flew past me but I am back to reading!!!

I will say that I enjoyed this book more than I did the author's prior book Black Mamba Boy.

Here are my thoughts:
• Overall I thought that his was a brutally honest and intimate story where the elegance of the writing provides the necessary dignity to characters where survival is measured in daily terms. Nine year old Deqo joins a dance group on the promise of a pair of cheap sandals but after missing some steps at a national celebration she finds out violence, kindness, and greed may often look the same. Kawsar, a solitary widow has lost all that is important to her yet she finds the thread of hope when all she wants is the end. Filsan is an ambitious soldier who only wants the praise from her disgraced father and comes to terms what the price of getting noticed by her male superiors. Good character development and being vested had me turning the pages despite the events that brings them together at the end feels a little forced.
• Enjoyed how the author evoked the landscape and intertwined the history of Hargesisa into the storyline. It provides an understanding of the area beyond the newspaper accounts.
• After finishing this book – and reading the ruthless regard the “government” had for its people and thinking that more oppressive would lead to more control and power gives a better understanding how Somalia is what it is today.
• While these stories need to be told – the unfortunate part is that these stories are being too common and if you change the names and places – this story could have been about many other places.

• A couple of poignant scenes for me:
o How the whole town had to “dress up”, and stand in the stadium for hours under the blazing sun so that visiting dignities and journalist can see how see well the regime is liked.
o The stifling obedience required by the oppressive regime being more important that getting water and food to the people.

• A couple of quotes I liked:
o “It is the kind of place where human skeletons might sink into the soil undisturbed and unmourned.”
o “Everyone is angry – even the sky is grey and motionless; there doesn’t seem to be space for anything but silence and obedience.”
o “In her orchard the trees had been born from deaths; they marked and grew from the remains of the children that passed through her. She never picked the fruit that fell from them, believing it a kind of cannibalism, but out of those soft, unshaped figures had grown tall, strong, tough-barked trees that blossomed and called birds to their branches and clambered out over the orchard walls to the world beyond.”
o “As she listens to the news Filsan feels a brief moment of solace. The whole world is aflame with conflict; what she has done in Salahley pales into insignificance compared to what is commonplace in Iraq and South Africa.”
o “She enjoys these histories – every known human problem and conflict seems to have antecedents, however ancient or distant; modern communists were emulating biblical acts of vengeance.”
o “She is back in her familiar world; the war and all that time in Hargeisa just a complicated trail to achieve what she has always wanted: a family, however makeshift.”


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