Very interesting book about living in Afghanistan and the struggles with leaving during the war. Having been to Afghanistan I enjoy reading literature about the country and its unique people and culture.

If your looking for a book that explains the history of Afghanistan in a easy readable way then this is the book for you. I really enjoyed it as I'm fascinated by the history of this country. This is the true story of a Afghan family through the freedom of the seventies, the Russian invasion and the arrival of the Taliban. I couldn't put it down and if I had highlighted every sentence that struck a cord with me, the pages would glow yellow. This book definitely makes you think.

Baryalai “Bari” Popal fled his native Afghanistan in 1980 after the Soviet occupation and only returned after the Taliban was ousted in 2002. The result of ten years of collaboration, lawyer Kevin McLean’s Crossing the River Kabul: An Afghan Family Odyssey narrates the shifts in Popal’s family fortunes and follows him from Afghanistan to Germany to the United States, and finally back home.

Popal and his family descend from the Popalzai, one of Afghanistan’s two royal families, and over the decades they have held great political influence. However, the country has frequently changed hands and allegiances, and the Popals have not always been on the “right” side of history. Whereas Bari’s grandfather was exiled by the “Iron Amir” in the late 1800s, his father, Abdul Rahman Popal (simply called “Baba”), served in the country’s foreign ministry, and Uncle Ali was the ambassador to Japan.

During the time that Popal was a student at Kabul University, the Communists came to power. He refused to register with the military and would hide in the chimney crawl space whenever National Security guards came looking for him. In 1980, he and a cousin finally escaped the country via Pakistan. Family connections rescued him more than once, and after a decade in Aachen, Germany, he got his longed-for chance to move his family to America. He purchased a SpeeDee Oil franchise in San Diego, California, in 1992 and became a US citizen in 2002.

McLean writes from Popal’s perspective, delivering a convincing first-person narrative attuned to local speech: “nay” fills in for “no,” and Popal remembers “a pomegranate sunrise.” Photographs plus details of meals and clothing lend authenticity, while scenes like falling in love with Afsana, his future wife, convey the intimacy expected from an autobiography. The book gives a keen sense of Afghanistan’s volatile history throughout the twentieth century and up to the present, especially as Popal makes return trips to Kabul starting in 2002 and reclaims his home, which had been taken over by drug lords. Now he admits to the exile’s split loyalties: “my heart is in two places—California and Afghanistan.”

Crossing the River Kabul
An Afghan Family Odyssey

by Kevin McLean
University of Nebraska Press







Potomac Books

Biographies & Memoirs , History

Pub Date 01 Jun 2017

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy of Crossing the River Kabul: An Afghan Family Odyssey through University of Nebraska Press and Netgalley:
It's October of 1980 Baryalai Popal finds himself and his family having to escape Is up, after seeing professors disappearing and being replace with communist. They leave without a plan because Popal knows that no one can be trusted.
They left without luggage because that would be far to dangerous, they carried documents in small plastic bags.
They flew from Kabul to Japan as where they would cross the border.
During there attempted escape when Afzel stepped on on a landmine.
In Pakistan the family gets arrested, mistaken for spies, and treated horribly until they discover a mistake has been made.
In 1981 Popal finds himself in Turkey, and then Germany where he stayed until 1992 when he was able to come to America.
This journey took Baryali from Afghanistan, to Pakistan, Turkey, Germany and America.
I give Crossing the River Kabul five out of five stars.
Happy Reading!

Author Kevin McLean adopts the voice of Baryalai Popal to tell his dramatic true story, spanning decades, of escaping Afghanistan in 1980 during the Russian invasion and war and his eventual trek to America.

Now an American citizen, Baryalai (called Bar) was born into one of the two historic royal families of Afghanistan. In this memoir, Bar's family history and their deep roots in the country are told, including his father's, Abdul Rahman Popal, work both as a tutor and political advisor to various influential figures and his time studying in Paris.

Throughout the years and through Bar's family stories and memories, McLean spins tales of a very different Afghanistan than the one we know from the media in recent times. It's a refreshing change and a fascinating perspective. As McLean explains in his author's note, he was fascinated with Bar's amazing story of returning to Afghanistan after twenty years as a refugee in foreign countries. "Bar's stories became the threads from which I would weave the history of his family and, with it, the history of Afghanistan."

Bar's and his family's stories are not only fascinating but helpful, as their experiences are a kind of microcosm for the country's history as a whole. It's much easier to understand Afghanistan's complicated history, which seems to be an unfortunate series of foreign occupations over and over, when viewed through the lens of one family, separated and uprooted, trying to stay safe but still maintain a connection to home.

Regarding the difficult resistance put up by Afghan fighters (mujahideen) against the invasion by Russian Special Forces, McLean deftly describes the situation: "As foreign powers have discovered over the centuries, taking charge of Kabul is like grabbing an octopus by one tentacle and thinking you have the octopus securely in your grip. Your fight has only begun." That's what makes this so worthwhile, not only as a memoir and triumphant tale of a refugee achieving the elusive American dream, but the impacting simple-but-powerful literary style used to tell these stories and to rope the country's history into the narrative.

McLean devotes a good portion of the book to explaining national history, tribal connections and Afghan culture, but the material mostly presented in a readable, clearly narrated way. It's an excellent historical study and makes the family's stories stand out more powerfully with such a clear historical context. The strongest sections are those that show the relationship and ties between Bar and his family members, especially his father. He gained so much wisdom from him, some of it filtered through Afghan lore and traditional sayings, and it made for touching, fascinating reading.

"My father would have reminded me that every important decision should be made with the head, not the heart. Returning to Afghanistan would be a decision of the heart, and no doubt he would have considered it a foolish thing to do. In the end I only had ears for my heart."

His father also explains to Bar a wise observation on whether democracy can ever work in troubled Afghanistan: "Democracy after a monarchy is like a diver rising from the ocean's depths after a long dive. He must come up gradually or risk great pain, even death. If democracy is to succeed in our country, it must proceed gradually, or the rapid expansion of the air of freedom will kill it...Democracy is government by the people, and people are not perfect, so you should not expect democracy to be perfect." We've learned, or tried to learn this lesson, again and again - history indeed repeats.

Bar's escape route leads him away from his wife and children when pressure on him builds thanks to his familial connections. He flees into neighboring Pakistan, where he struggles to adapt as a refugee. Eventually he's able to escape to Ankara, Turkey, then on to Germany, calling on the aid of friends he and his family have made over time and his own quick thinking and skills in translation and interpretation. Through a combination of cleverness, luck, and favors owed, he's able to establish a life and send for his family to join him. Eventually, they immigrate on to America, where he'd dreamed of going when his journey first began.

But his roots and his family's legacy and memories remain in Kabul and Jalalabad, and a few years after September 11, he's able to return and embarks on the task of reclaiming their properties from corrupt warlords who have taken them over. He's shown throughout his incredible stories his aptitude for rising to challenging tasks, but the tougher ordeal is facing what remains of his country and heritage.
Speaking of a friend he visits upon his return, he tells his driver that the friend is alive, but "...had many sad stories to tell."
"Afghanistan is the land of sad stories," the man responds.

That may be so, but Bar and his family have a lot of incredible and hopeful stories, too.

This book opens with Baryalai Popal's escape from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Fraught with danger, the escape was essential to protect Bar's life. The book then backtracks to share the story of how Afghanistan began and how Bar's succeeded in America and returned to rebuild his home in the country he loves.

While interesting in parts, especially when discussing the politics of Afghanistan, the country's current leadership, and how people live Afghanistan, the book is fairly boring. It reads like a textbook in places. However, it did give me a better view of Afghanistan and the people who call that country home, and it helped me understand a bit more about the fighting that is happening there between the tribal Afghans and outsiders.