A partir del espectacular y feron juego del 'buzkashi' se abre una historia de pasiones desencadenadas. El rey de Afganistán y su corte presencian en los llanos de Kabul este singular y violento deporte que juegan los mejores jinetes que habitan en las montañas de Afganistán, considerados los más ágiles, fieros y soberbios, poderosos y a la vez temidos por su ira. El jinete tiene que galopar con una cabeza de carnero degollada entre sus manos. El premio por ser el más rápido e implacable es la dignidad, el honor y el derecho a existir, y Uroz ha sufrido la peor humillación, ha sido derrotado.

An interesting look at a culture of Afghanistan fifty years ago. An adventure story and a character study, this novel has action scenes, changing fortunes, deceit, suspense, and more. Very enjoyable.

I have strong reservations. If I remember rightly I did as a young teenager when I first read and loved this; I wondered then whether I was adult enough, but I'm adult now and I still can't follow him through much of the second half of the plot. At times I thought this was plain bad. Yet the magic was there for me again, with a revisit: the evocation, heightened by a lovely old-fashioned translation from Patrick O'Brian; an inclination for perverse psychology, that just became a bit laboured later on. Tursen and his son Uroz are not people to like; Uroz is fairly insane, in ugly ways; they are eaten up by 'the fiend of pride' and neither can for the life of him display emotion. Nevertheless I threw myself into Uroz, back then, and my eyes wet for Tursen, now.

One note. Whatever the position of women was in 50s Afghanistan (I wouldn't know) I detect that the author adds his own sexism. It comes with a caution that way. ( )

Je n'ai pas aimé que la seule personne dépeinte comme totalement mauvaise soit la femme. ( )

Un livre fort, cruel souvent, plein d'images somptueuses.... à la fois une histoire et un formidable document sur l'afghanistan avant les tallibans. ( )