Under the Persimmon Tree

by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Book Overview

Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. An American woman, Elaine, whose Islamic name is Nusrat, is also on her own. She waits out the war in Peshawar, Pakistan, teaching refugee children under the persimmon tree in her garden while her Afghan doctor husband runs a clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312377762
• ISBN13: 9780312377762
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Square Fish
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Lots of cultural insights

The Afghan war of 2001 was a vivid reminder of the brutality, anger and hatred that the division of a country can produce. Under the Persimmon Tree brings this experience to life through the perspective of Najmah, an Afghan girl, and Elaine, an American woman living in Pakistan. Najmah lives with her father, mother and older brother in a remote village. They have little in worldly possessions, but there is a deep bond between them. When the fearful, abusive and controlling Taliban appear, food is always seized with no thought for the remaining villagers. This time is even worse for Najmah's family. Her father and older brother are taken captive. Only Najmah and her mother remain, left to fend for themselves. After the bombs come, Najmah is left hungry, alone and numb, but lucky to be alive. She is helped by other villagers. They change her appearance and she travels with them to a refugee camp many perilous miles away. Elaine, her Islamic name Nusrat, is married to a fine doctor. They have come to the country so he can help his people. He is far away in dangerous territory treating those in desperate need. Nusrat was a teacher in the United States and continues to find ways to teach some of the refugee children from the compound. With no word from her husband, Nusrat longs to know of his welfare. In time, providence brings Najmah and Nusrat together. Their friendship grows and a bond of trust is developed. But what does the future hold in this vastly devastated and war-torn country? The overall writing was very descriptive, dramatic and direct. However, to get the clearest picture, familiarize yourself with the glossary. I found Under the Persimmon Tree to be an excellent cultural read. It will open your eyes to a way of life that must be experienced to understand. Armchair Interviews agrees.

Under the Persimmon Tree

Under the Persimmon Tree is a look at life in Afghanistan/Pakistan in the months immediately following September 11, 2001 through the eyes of two women. One is Najmah, a young Afghan girl left alone with her pregnant mother when her father and brother are conscripted by the Taliban. Her mother and the baby are killed during an air raid over their village a short time later. Now Najmah must travel to Peshwar to find her father and brother, and save their land. The other is Nusrat, an American teacher, convert of Islam, who came to Pakistan when her Afghan husband Faiz decided to return to his home to help those suffering because of the war. Their stories converge when Najmah is brought to Nusrat's home in Peshwar, where she teaches a school for refugee children. Together they seek answers about their families, and their future. This is a heartbreaking story, with a solid core of hope and strength. There is no happy ending, yet the future does not seem bleak. This timely and thought-provoking book is sure to be a contender for this year's Newbery Medal.

A gem of a story placed in an unlooked for setting

This story unfolds through two perspectives: a young girl in Afghanistan and an American woman living in Pakistan, in the months immediately following 9/11. Their seemingly contradictory lifestyles share surprising similarities in their experiences, suffering and hopes, as the story draws these two together. The narrative weaves a delicate path, sensitive amidst the hardship and loss of the period, and provides a convincing and compelling explanation for each character's motives. The story climaxes with an ending that is poignantly true to its characters, despite the reader's wishes, yet is satisfying in its own brutal realism. Surely a Newbery contender!

An amazing testament to warfare and hardship

The year is 2001. Afghanistan is in the middle of a war between the Taliban and the US- backed Northern Alliance. The story follows two extraordinary people: Najmah and Nusrat. Najmah, whose name means "star," has lost almost all of her family to the fighting. Her only remaining relative is an uncle, whose sole aim is to steal the land that her father wanted her so much to protect. Najmah has no choice, but to accompany a family of travelers, as they are the only people, it seems, that care about her. The other main character is a woman by the name of Nusrat, an American living in Peshawar, Pakistan. Her school for refugee children under her Persimmon Tree keeps her mind away from her husband, who is working in northern Afghanistan as a doctor. Through a perilous journey, Najmah comes to live with Nusrat, and their lives entwine, as Najmah studies under the persimmon tree with other children who have seen more hardship in their young lives than Nusrat has seen in her entire lifetime. This book was an amazing testament to those who must give up their lifestyle and possessions to warfare and hardship. "Under the Persimmon Tree" gives a face to all those who surrender all individuality to the western media, and are just masses of people in their eyes. I could not put the book down. I received the book on a Friday evening, and was done by Saturday morning. The way Suzanne Fisher Staples writes is both knowledgeable and empathetic. Her firsthand experience of the change of Afghanistan from a cultural center to a barren wasteland translates very clearly into the amazing and true-to-life storyline. Ms. Staples lived in Afghanistan from the time before the Soviet Invasion that changed the country forever to the time of the Taliban takeover. The ending leaves readers to wonder, and yet a sense of closure is within a close grasp. Under the Persimmon Tree is an essential to anyone with family members fighting in Afghanistan, who follow events there, or just want to learn about the war that seems to have disappeared out of our media spotlight. Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews (...) Preteen and young adult book reviews and recommendations

Richie's Picks: UNDER THE PERSIMMON TREE

" 'So,' she says, wiping the tears from his cheeks with the flat of her hand, a gesture that seems so motherly that her throat closes. 'Do you need a place to stay?' The boy nods his head slowly. "Nusrat reaches into a bowl on the table that stands in front of the window beside their chairs and picks up a bright orange persimmon that sits on top of a pyramid of ripe fruit. She takes the boy's hand and turns it palm up to place the fruit in it. She runs her finger over the calluses at the base of his fingers and below the center knuckles and looks up into his eyes, which watch her intently as she places the fruit in the cup of his palm and curls his fingers up over it. " 'Well,' says Nusrat. 'Don't worry.' " If you want some basic information about a foreign country, one place you can find it online is in the Central Intelligence Agency's "The World Factbook." In looking up Afghanistan in the CIA's "The World Factbook" I learned that as of 10 February, 2005 (which was when their facts were last updated), the population of Afghanistan was around 28 and a half million people. I also learned that the life expectancy at birth in Afghanistan as of 10 February, 2005 is 42 and a half years. (This compares to California with a population of 35 million and a life expectancy at birth of 79 and a half years.) So, if I lived in Afghanistan, the odds are that I'd currently be dead for the past 7 and a half years. Earlier this year I wrote about PINNED, a terrific story about two high school wrestlers from two different towns in New Jersey (where the life expectancy at birth is two years less than in California). As I explained in my write-up of PINNED, "In alternating chapters we get to know about complications in the lives, the loves, and the families, as well as the fears of these two young men who are clearly destined to meet at the season finale." Well, in Suzanne Fisher Staple's latest book UNDER THE PERSIMMON TREE, there are also a pair of main characters--young women who are clearly destined to meet up--and we similarly "get to know about complications in the lives, the loves, and the families, as well as the fears" of these two characters. And since these are young females in post-9/11 Afghanistan--one there by birth, the other by choice--the complications and fears we're talking about are off the charts as compared to the average character in New Jersey, California, or just about anywhere else in the world. "I know you're out there somewhere Somewhere, somewhere I know you're out there somewhere Somewhere you can hear my voice I know I'll find you somehow Somehow, somehow, I know I'll find you somehow And somehow I'll return again to you." --The Moody Blues To see your father and brother conscripted at gunpoint into the Taliban, your opium poppy-growing uncle scheming to take away your family's land, and then watch your mother and newborn baby brother get blown up in a bombing by your so-called "liberators," seems like more than enough "