Well, I’m not sure what to make of this one. I really liked some aspects of 99 Nights in Logar but many aspects just didn’t work for me. I’ll start off with the negatives. I’m not sure if there were a formatting issue with my Kindle file but every line had a pink number on the left hand side which looked really weird and kept pulling my attention. Also there are massive gaps for no reason between chunks of text. There were also large chunks of Arabic script at the end which wasn’t translated so this didn’t impress me. And there are many non-English words un-translated and the meaning wasn’t clear from the prose. Now, onto the good stuff. There isn’t a lot. I’ve not really read a lot of books set in Afghanistan so I enjoyed reading about a vastly different culture and way of life. This was interesting. I liked the way Marwand reacts to being back in Afghanistan after being raised mostly in the US. The book is structured in a series of vignettes, some which are linked and some which stand alone. I liked this. 99 Nights in Logar had potential but needs a lot of work.

12 year old Marwand has travelled to Logar in his homeland of Afghanistan, from his new home in the United States. He lives with extended family in a typical Afgan compound which is guarded by the family 'wolf-like' dog Budabash. Marwand approaches Budabash with insufficient caution and the dog bites off the end of his finger and then escapes the compound. The older boys of the extended family set out to search for Budabash and in the re-telling of their adventures over 99 nights, you get to understand some of the local culture and fears as well as being introduced to other characters in the area.

The premise of the book is good and I enjoyed the story. It offers a fascinating glimpse into a different culture and way of life. Mistreatment of animals is described openly in the book, which some reads may find upsetting. This didn't really surprise me as I am familiar with the books written by Penn Farthing and the work carried out by his charity Nowzad.

However, I found the ending of the book extremely disappointing. The last chapter is written entirely in Arabic (at least, I am guessing that is the language). I can't read that so I was left wondering what the ending really was. Perhaps it was the author's intention to leave things open like that, so that you make up your own mind about what happens next?

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very interesting read. This is a fascinating perspective of Afghanistan. The animal cruelty was hard to read about and difficult to get past. The rest of the book is a compelling read that I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This is a coming-of-age novel set in Afghanistan in 2005. Twelve-year-old Marwand and his family are visiting the country from their settled home in America. Marwand sets off, accompanied by some of his cousins, on a picaresque quest to find Budabash, the dog who lives in their family compound and who has bitten off a portion of Marwand’s finger and run off. The inhospitability of the area, geographically and politically, the Taliban a constant presence, is well evoked. The mazes in which several characters lose themselves are mirrored by the labyrinth of stories many of the characters tell each other, Arabian-Nights style.
As pointed out elsewhere, the e-book version I read included no glossary of certain foreign words, seemingly un-Googleable and not always obvious from the context of the narrative. This heightens the sense of displacement but was, for this reader, a little frustrating.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.

A captivating coming-of-age story set in 2005 Afghanistan to which twelve-year-old Marwand has just returned following 6 years in the United States. His return is both pleasure and pain as he rediscovers his former home, re-forges old friendships and loses the tip of his finger to the half-wild dog (Budubash) he mistreated as a child. When Budubash disappears Marwand and his friends spend 99 nights searching through the streets and stories of Logar to find him.

Kochai paints a wonderful, complex picture of Logar, drawing on traditions of Islamic storytelling to create a multi-layered story of the fantastical and mundane aspects of modern Afghanistan, revealing its culture and history in the wake of war and occupation. Lochar is a vibrant town of close family connections and adventure for the children, into which the reality of the occupation intrude unexpectedly. It is a shock when these background features suddenly appear in the forefront, to Marwand and to the reader, and maintains the awareness of danger always hovering around the edge of the story, both from the Taliban and from the occupying forces. Overheard conversations and half-understood stories from the older generation reveal the long history of conflict as they recall the invasion of the 1980s and earlier. These conversations reveal the real and vilent cost of war and its long-term consequences.

It’s also a story of identity. Marwand finds himself bridging two worlds and belonging wholly to neither. He holds his homeland in affection but misses the now-familiar luxuries of the West and find that his mother tongues have become rusty with disuse. He rediscovers his roots in all their grit and colour as he explores night-time Logar which is both everyday world and wonderland in the eyes of a child. The texture of the writing and the world it reveals is marvellous in its contrasts and reveals an Afghanistan which is much more than just a survivor of repressive regime, war, and occupation.

Set in 2005 on a family holiday home to Afghanistan, Marwand has come all the way from America to visit his family in Logar. Staying predominantly with his mother’s family because his father’s home and family were devastated during previous wars, Marwand is most looking forward to seeing the family dog. Since arriving in America, he has been taught that dogs should be trained with rewards and love and he carries with him guilt over torturing the dog when it was still a puppy.

The first thing he does is rush to the dog to make a amends, but Budabash is a fierce guard dog kept on a chain. Budabash eats off the tip of Marwand’s finger.

Told from Marwand’s perspective and in a way which moves backwards and forwards through the 99 nights of their stay, the novel uses myth, Koranic and storytelling traditions to turn one child’s summer into a complex record of Logar’s political, social, familial and religious relationships. The ghost of Marwand’s finger refuses to die so that we are constantly thinking about what it means to be whole, of what memory and damage do to identity.

At the heart of the novel is the search for Budabesh, who goes missing part way through those 99 nights. Finding him requires facing the maze of old Logar streets whose confusing alleyways provide a defence against invaders as well as a test for those seeking to navigate their paths.

There is real pleasure in all the layers that move through Marwand’s experience of his family and his environment. This is a coming of age journey that not only makes a war-torn landscape an ordinary every day location, it simultaneously elevates it through the myths and mysteries of past narratives whilst keeping that sense of childhood wonder.

99 Nights in Logar is a joy to read and though I’m sure I don’t get all of the references, this is a beautiful and challenging novel whose exploration of life, identity, belonging and belief makes you think afresh about the land and people of Afghanistan. It doesn’t come out until early next year, but I would recommend pre-ordering your copy now.

From this start, I realised this was going to be a unique novel. And I wasn’t sure if that was going to be in a good way or not. I mean, it’s about a boy who returns to Afghanistan with his mother. His family returns to teh village they are from but Marwand is of course American and has never really seen his homeland. Once back in his family’s country, the village dog takes the tip of his finger, then the dog disappears and he and his cousins go on a quest to find it. It’s a way of discovering every nook and cranny of a place I guess!

It was a good back to roots kind of read and these kind of stories always fascinate me. People are formed and made from their experiences, where they are born, raised and where they move to. I loved it how Marward at first struggled with his family’s mother tongues of Pashto and Farsi but then became almost fluent. If I had foreign born parents, I always like to think I would learn my mum and dad’s mother tongue even if I’d never lived there.

Looking back at Afghanistan in 2005 and through the eyes of a young boy was a cultural and language based treat. I think a glossary of the vocabulary would have been nice although most if not all can be guessed from context. I work with languages though so work with words in context all the time. Others ie most, don’t so might find some things a little unclear.

It’s not a straight forward coming of age story. It’s a story within a story within another story with tales and legends leading off from that like streams from a river. The novel flows well too which is good given that image I ‘ve just conjured up to describe it! An Arabian Nights style coming of age story?

There’s a lot to like here.

99 Nights in Logar is the story of Marwand, a twelve-year-old boy who lives in America and returns to Afghanistan for a summer with his parents and brothers. The village dog takes the tip of his finger, then the dog disappears and he and his cousins go on a quest to find it. There are confrontations with soldiers, a wedding, and a look at Afghanistan in 2005 and how Marwand's identity is affected by leaving and then coming back.

The novel is constantly telling stories, as characters relate tales within the main narrative and invent lies where needed. At the centre, Marwand is a memorable protagonist whose own coming of age story unfolds over the summer.

Over all I enjoyed this book - at times I struggled to follow the plot. Very descriptive. Will look out for more work by this author

12-year old Marwand's family has journeyed back home to Logar, Afghanistan, from the States for the long hot summer of 2005. In the beginning of the book his English is strong and he describes struggling with his mother tongues Pakhto and Farsi; by summer's end he is passing as a native speaker. Being mixed-race myself I love a good back-to-roots cultural odyssey; I savored the exotic descriptions, the heart-warming aspect of homecomings and reuniting and bonding, and I gained some perspective on the region's religion and also its military history with Pakistan, Russia and America, not to mention the Taliban, Massoud and Hekmatyar.

However I found the many nicknames and honorifics of so much extended family to be quite confusing. I appreciate how this book is structured as a maze of embedded stories, in an Arabian Night-esque way, but I couldn't get past Marwand's many acts of animal cruelty: against Budabash the wolf-dog in 1999 and then again in 2005, his slitting cutting and stabbing a mule in order to get it to carry him around, even drawing blood in his attempt to milk the family cow.

The version I read was on Kindle, to be published in 2019 by Bloomsbury. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased review.