Nish

“This sisterhood to which those of us who identify as women belong is the cushion I place my translation on. The coping mechanisms we devise, the solutions we find and the adjustments we make around men are survival strategies nurtured across generations. The particulars may be different, but at the core is a resistance to being controlled, ‘tamed’, or disallowed the exploration of our full potential. These experiences, both Banu and I believe, can be found anywhere in the world. Some of us step on the cindering balls of coal and carve a space for ourselves. Some of us learn to exist too close to the fire. None of us are left unscarred.

__ Translator's Afterword”
― Banu Mushtaq, Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

“But, mostly, Mariam is in Laila's own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.”
― Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

“marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on. Laila thinks of her own life and all that has happened to her, and she is astonished that she too has survived, that she is alive and sitting in this taxi listening to this man's story.”
― Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

“We don’t admit this publicly because we know we should be happy. After all, everyone else seems to be. Open a magazine or
turn on the television, and you’ll find yourself bombarded by images of perfect, perfectly satisfied women.

Which means the problem must lie with us, mustn’t it? Perhaps we are weak, neurotic, selfish, or ungrateful. Or simply lacking . . .
something.

And so we buy the product, hoping it will fill the void or dull the ache. It never does.”
― Marie Bostwick, The Book Club for Troublesome Women