Atiq Rahimi: THE PATIENCE STONE

According to a Persian folklore, there's a magical black stone that takes all the plight of those who talk to it in confidence. It's called the patience stone.

In this novel, a woman's patience stone is a dead-bread man, lying with a bullet in his neck. Here a woman speaks without boundaries all her complaints, disappointments, pain, resentment, desire, secrets, fear etc. These are things that an Afghan woman can't talk about or shouldn't talk about. In fact, an Afghan woman can't talk or should not talk at all. The novel is brave. It breaks taboos.

Rating: 4.0/5.0