Coming in February, 2009

If you love “Splendid Sun” you will love “True American” a novel by Arthur McClen
http://www.amazon.com

“True American”

Thrust into war-ravaged Afghanistan, Zahir Nabi, an Afghan-American immigrant, and Christopher Stewart, an evangelical preacher, are forced to choose between forgiveness and justice.

“True American is one of the most thought provoking, unpredictable, and moving stories I have ever read.”

—Guile Branco, CEO, Bright Knight Entertainment

In 1979, seven-year-old Christopher Stewart lived with his Christian fundamentalist family in Iowa. Thousands of miles away in Kabul, Afghanistan, seven-year-old Zahir Nabi lived a comfortable life with his fundamentalist Muslim family. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, both of the boy’s lives were set on a new course.

As the communist army invaded, Zahir was forced to flee from his home. His family began a new life, in a strange city—a city straight from the action movies he watched in the Kabul cinema—Las Vegas, Nevada.

Meanwhile, Christopher and his mom, Yvette, leave Iowa with a church group intent on converting the sinners in Las Vegas.

Years later, Christopher and Zahir are thrust into the turmoil of war-ravaged Afghanistan after 9/11. The two must choose between the peace of finding forgiveness and the closure of justice.

AUTHOR’S BIO
Arthur McClen is a screenwriter for the feature film “Under the Same Sky” (in production, http://www.imdb.com), featuring some of Hollywood’s best talent. He does most of his writing from Los Angeles and Las Vegas. McClen and his wife, Teresa, enjoy spending their time with their one-year-old granddaughter.

Why purchase a copy of “True American”? Because it is rare to find such a moving story. Purchase your copy at http://www.amazon.com

For more information email http://www.TimelessDestiny@live.com

The book came to me as a birthday present by a dear friend. The friend had read “The Kite Runner”, Khaled Hosseni’s first book, and presented me with the second because she had a trust on the writer. I was to explore that trust. Secondly, Afghanistan and especially Kabul used to be inspirational. My parents went to kabul by road long before I was born. It was their one of the memorable experiences. This book actualy gave me an opportunity to be there. I mean this is what a book is for;one can travel and meet people without moving an inch.

After sometime, one may feel that the situation is dragging and leading to no resolve, due to the circumstances. But the characters overcome such a reaction of the reader. Initially Mariam and then Laila appears fantastical characters raised in two different environments. But the fantacy vanishes as the characters are not round. They grow and proves themselves as living creatures simply made of flesh and blood. Their fate and destiny is marked with their bearing with the worst of the situations. Their lives change drastically with in very short time spans. There is occasional heartfelt tear-shedding. The stomach pangs are felt too, not to forget during their attempt to escape the brutality of Rasheed. The fear is also there when they were returned forcelfully from Pak-Afghan border to the mercy of Rasheed, their husband, their master, the antoginist. Mariam’s faith is strong towards the teachings of Holy Quran. It strengthens the note of hope in the novel as well as in the reader who is actually disappointed with the situations faced by these characters. The hope is not limited to the character of Marium. This is passed on to Laila as well. Laila’s Return to Afghanistan at the end reflects it clearly.
Not only the characters create sympathy, we strongly feel for the entire nation. The nation seeing no stabilty but the worst of the times. While reading the novel the expository lines of “A Tale of Two Cities” echo alot.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of icreduality….it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..”

Now i hope to read Khaled Hosseni’s first book soon.

I will say though that I found that the second half of the book lost a bit of its spontaneity, a bit of its verve. It became just a bit predictable in its form.

That said, this is an incredible book with really strong believable characters and a seamless integration of history and story.

It is good that somebody has come out with stories on these subjects and it would be interesting to read what he has to say.

Khaled Hosseini is an amazing storyteller. A very emotional and moving story.