As a novel, there isn’t much to recommend in City of Widows by Nadia Hashimi. The pace is so slow, it’s almost glacial. The action is found only in the last 100-odd pages of the 400-page plus book. The style of writing is prosaic at best. The protagonist, Marjan, spends most of her time worrying about things rather than doing things. (Justifiably, it’s true — I would be paralysed in her situation. But it creates an unbearably sluggish sense of movement.) In her effort to maintain a sense of control in situations where she has no control, Marjan also stonewalls her daughter Hawa constantly, leaving the child confused by her mother’s behaviour and the circumstances in which they find themselves, which engenders a massive feeling of frustration in the reader… I can say much more in this vein.
Yet, I find myself honestly, sincerely, telling you this: despite what I’ve just said, read this book. It will hurt your heart and make your soul ache. But you will be grateful for the story in the end.
City of Widows is set in Afghanistan across two timelines. From 2010 onwards, we witness a pregnant teenaged runaway wife named Rahima come to terms with her aloneness in a country not known for its respect for women. This takes years, but she renames herself Marjan after a lion at Kabul zoo to remind herself of her own strength as a person and mother. In alternating chapters, we are taken to August 2021. The Americans are leaving Afghanistan; the Taliban are itching to take over. Members of the US-supported government are desperate to escape. And Marjan, who fought with the Afghan Army to take care of herself and Hawa, is not only a target of the coming regime, but has also been found by her warlord husband — a brutal man who will certainly kill her and take Hawa away.
Trust is not something Marjan does well, and the chapters that show her grow up reveal why. But at the end, when she must escape with Hawa, Marjan must take a crash course in trust — she has to tell her story to people who might help and also, finally, to her daughter, and accept support too, all while beating down her desperate fears.
Though I complained earlier that the action takes place only towards the end of the book, there’s no way we can understand Marjan without the long buildup. It’s because of these chapters too, that the fictional story of Marjan tells the all-too-true story of an entire country in the last few years.
City of Widows
By Nadia Hashimi
HarperCollins India
pp. 418; Rs 599
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