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kittiwakeStanding next to Haji Ali, on the ledge overlooking the valley, with such a crystalline view of the mountains he'd come halfway around the world to measure himself against, climbing K2 to place a necklace on its summit suddenly felt beside the point. There was a much more meaningful gesture he could make in the honor of his sister's memory. He put his hands on Haji Ali's shoulders, as the old man had done to him dozens of times since they'd shared their first cup of tea. "I'm going to build you a school," he said, not yet realizing that with those words, the path of his life had just detoured down another trail, a route far more serpentine and arduous than the wrong turns he'd taken since retreating from K2. "I will build a school," Mortenson said. "I promise."
Even before I got to that paragraph, I could see that Greg Mortenson came to Korphe at just the right point in his life, when he needed a new outlet for his caring side.
By the middle of the book, Greg Mortenson had bumbled around, ignored sensible advice from his friend the Korphe village chief which leads to him being kidnapped close to the Afghan border (but luckily released) and taken 4 years to get one school built. But he also built up a team of backers and helpers both in Pakistan and America, and managed to get 4 more schools built the following summer, plus helping some other schools which already existed. And he also managed to marry a woman he had only known for 6 days!
There were 18 people already in the queue to read my local library's copy of this book when I needed to read it for a book club, but luckily I was able to borrow a copy from a friend. So it's obviously popular and it's a very interesting story, but it's written in a very annoying style. Normally, these ghost-written stories are told in the first person, but this one is told in the third-person which I found very irritating for some reason.
But whatever the book's shortcomings this is an inspiring tale, as Greg Mortenson tries to convince politicians and ordinary Americans that education is the best way to stop children from growing up into tewrrorists, and heads into Afghanistan to build girls' schools in areas retaken from the Taliban. And it was a real eye-opener to read about how Saudi money was flooding Pakistan, funding the building of mosques and madrassas with the opposite goal to Mortenson's.
Nottingham Round the World Reading Challenge - PAKISTAN / KARAKORUM MOUNTAINS
Even before I got to that paragraph, I could see that Greg Mortenson came to Korphe at just the right point in his life, when he needed a new outlet for his caring side.
By the middle of the book, Greg Mortenson had bumbled around, ignored sensible advice from his friend the Korphe village chief which leads to him being kidnapped close to the Afghan border (but luckily released) and taken 4 years to get one school built. But he also built up a team of backers and helpers both in Pakistan and America, and managed to get 4 more schools built the following summer, plus helping some other schools which already existed. And he also managed to marry a woman he had only known for 6 days!
There were 18 people already in the queue to read my local library's copy of this book when I needed to read it for a book club, but luckily I was able to borrow a copy from a friend. So it's obviously popular and it's a very interesting story, but it's written in a very annoying style. Normally, these ghost-written stories are told in the first person, but this one is told in the third-person which I found very irritating for some reason.
But whatever the book's shortcomings this is an inspiring tale, as Greg Mortenson tries to convince politicians and ordinary Americans that education is the best way to stop children from growing up into tewrrorists, and heads into Afghanistan to build girls' schools in areas retaken from the Taliban. And it was a real eye-opener to read about how Saudi money was flooding Pakistan, funding the building of mosques and madrassas with the opposite goal to Mortenson's.
