A Door in the Earth

August 5, 2019
Waldman’s potent novel (after The Submission) follows Parveen Shamsa, freshly out of college and inspired by Mother Afghanistan, a memoir written by an American ophthalmologist named Gideon Crane recounting his time working in remote Afghanistan, as she sets out to retrace Crane’s footsteps. Armed with a grant from UC Berkeley and introductions to Crane’s old host, Waheed, Parveen, an Afghan-American from Northern California, heads for the maternity clinic Crane built for the village, intent on reconnecting with her Afghan heritage and actualizing her idealism. Reality, however, is far more complicated than Crane’s palatable account: without a doctor, the clinic is a hollow shell, and Crane’s meddling did little more than throw the lives of locals into chaos. When a detachment of U.S. Army engineers begin construction on a road to the village—a PR play inspired by the clinic’s fame—the convenient fantasy constructed by Mother Afghanistan comes into direct conflict with the messy realities of war. Waldman, a former reporter for the New York Times out of Kabul, paints a blistering portrayal of the misguided aspirations and convenient lies that have fed the war in Afghanistan. This is an impressive novel. Agent: Bill Clegg, the Clegg Agency.

Parveen, the protagonist in this audiobook, is a newly minted college graduate eager to make a difference. Inspired by a flawed American philanthropist, she takes her idealism to the land of her birth: Afghanistan. Roxanne Radja's narration is an understated one. Her voice is consistently gentle and calm, exuding a steadying influence even as characters in the novel endure hardship. Once the story is underway, her delivery is easy to follow and enjoyable to hear. There are narrative sections, however, when the exposition slows down the plot, and Radja's measured calm becomes a bit too quiet. Nonetheless, her performance is appealing, and the audiobook offers a fascinating take on questions of morality and the line between helping others and controlling them. L.B.F. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine