Title:- Playing for Freedom – The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl
Author:- Zarifa Adiba and Anne Chaon
Date published: – first published in French – November 10th 2021. The English version will be published on 16th April 2024
No. of pages:- 205 pages
Genre:- Non Fiction/Memoir
Setting:- Afghanistan/USA/ Europe
Rating:-
Plot:- 5/5
Writing:- 5/5
Overall rating:- 5/5
A passionate musician growing up in the war-torn streets of Kabul takes her forbidden talents abroad in this triumphant memoir from debut author Zarifa Adiba.
As an Afghan girl, Zarifa Adiba has big, unfathomable dreams. Her family is poor, her country mired in conflict. Walking to school in Kabul, Zarifa has to navigate suicide bombers. But Zarifa perseveres, nurturing her passion for music despite its “sinful” nature in Afghan culture. At sixteen, she gains admission to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and at eighteen she becomes the lead violist, conductor, and spokesperson for Zohra, the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world.
Despite Zarifa’s accomplishments―which include a stunning performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland―her future in music demands a reckoning with her life back home. Many of the girls in Zohra are forced to marry, but Zarifa yearns to study, travel, and explore her independence. Her so-called bad girl identity puts her at odds with her culture and her family. Playing for Freedom is the deeply compelling story of a woman who dares to compose a masterpiece even with all odds stacked against her.
Usually, I don’t really read much Nonfiction books, but I do read memoirs, and if it sounds interesting or written by someone famous, then I would read. Initially, I thought this was a fiction until I actually did a search on this book, when I realized that this was actually a memoir about a young Afghan girl, who would work tirelessly and endlessly, clashing with the Afghan culture to fulfill her dreams of becoming a musician and going to the university.
If you have read I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, then I highly recommend that you should read this book.
Zarifa is an ambitious Afghan woman who comes from a poor Hazara family. At sixteen, Zarifa joins Afghanistan National Institute of Music. By eighteen, she is the lead violinist, conductor of the all women orchestra named Zohra and one of their performances including performing in the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. But despite Zohra’s hard success and achievement, most of the girls that Zarifa knows are forced into arranged marriages. Zarifa also faced many obstacles from her family, who shunned her for her keen interest in music and the fact that she was defiant and refused to cover her hair and marry someone like her cousins. Playing for Freedom talks about how Zarifa yearned for independence and study at the university and how she overcame many obstacles to succeed as a person she is today.
I am not going to put too much details but this is a beautifully written memoir and I was glad to get a privilege to read this memoir. The way women were treated in Afghanistan in a men dominated world, the Taliban rule…sometimes, it’s hard to imagine that cruelty can exist. I enjoyed reading this book and was glad that now Zarifa and her family are now living in New York away from now Taliban rule Afghanistan.
Overall I rate this book five stars.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Amazon for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.
Tropical Girl Reads 