This Land, Afghanistan
When one reads a Michener novel one does not get just a story. Although this would prove especially true in the latter part of his career when his books would have been unaffordable to most if stores charged by the pound, even his earlier work offers plentiful lessons in history, geography and culture. For instance:
“In Afghanistan, wood is so scarce that any chair is a treasure.”
The British
The author also points out that educated Afghans sought culture from France and canned goods from America while from England all they ever expected to get were lies. Despite this, its closest ties had historically always been with the British, metaphorically commenting it was
“like a husband who hates his wife yet would be lost if she deserted him.”
Getting Personal
Michener does not just reserve his metaphorical language to comment upon the grand sweet of history and tradition. He can get personal and even philosophical when the need arises, such as near the end of the narrative when the narrative wistfully confesses:
“I felt inconsolably lonely, as if I were lost in the paralyzing sweep of history, a shard left by time.”
Okay, so even his personal metaphors still comment on the larger grandeur of the story, but you get the idea.
"The Germany of Asia"
Many readers, especially today, might be surprised to discover that there is also a strong historical link between Afghanistan and Germany. One character observes that in many ways, the country was built by Germans and, as a result, many Germans fleeing the consequences of Nazism following the war found a safe haven in the country. But with nowhere left to go:
“For most Germans, Afghanistan is the end of the road.”
"Desert Faith"
The narrator has a conversation with Dr. Stieglitz who is relating an encounter he had with a woman who had converted from Christianity to Islam because her old faith had become little more than ritual and her one was grounded closer to its source. All three great western religions were examples of faith born in the desert where, the woman told him:
“God seems closer and life and death are more mysterious…we are all essentially desert animals and that life is meant to be harsh…in an oasis like Philadelphia or Munich we become degenerate and lose touch with our origins.”
