It was a National Book Award finalist but it’s written in free verse!

Gosh I hate free verse novels.

They feel like the writer cheated. They’res kind of artsy fartsy.

I think the first one I read was Kiss the Dust. It was good but I think the format is annoying. I mean why couldn’t she just set the scenes and write it regularly.

I’d love to know what my friend Uma Krishnaswami thinks of Sold. It’s more on her turf.

I pretty much know where it’s headed.

The stepfather is developing into quite the pill.

I know, I know, after writing Wanting Mor, I’m the last person who should complain about a stereotypical bad South Asian father.

But it’s kind of funny. Even though the father is not a good example in my book, as the author, I really really felt sorry for him.

He didn’t realize what a precious resource he had in Jameela until it was too late.

I remember asking my oldest daughter (the one who’s married to the young man from Kandahar) whether she felt at all sorry for the father under the circumstances.

She answered without hesitation, “Nope.”

Geez, you’d think from reading all this type of literature that there aren’t any good fathers in South Asian families at all.

And sometimes I wonder if readers aren’t hashing out their own paternal issues when reading these kinds of books.

I think feminists get filled with righteous indignation when they read books centred around female heroines that suffer unspeakable cruelty.

But when I was writing Wanting Mor I really didn’t want to make any one gender the culprit.

I’ve known plenty of very wicked men, and plenty of equally wicked women. I believe in women’s rights but I also believe in women’s responsibilities, and likewise for men.

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a sequel for Wanting Mor.

I’ve never written a sequel before.

But I did find that when I’d finished the story, I was heartbroken to part with Jameela and the other characters I’d grown so much to love. I wanted to find out what would happen to Masood and Soraya and Khala Kareema.

And, most of all, I didn’t think Jameela’s story was over. There was still so much more for her to experience.

I did start writing it, but I got kind of stuck.

And it’s actually humorous. Tongue in cheek and in third person.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am most comfortable in writing in first person. It comes the most naturally to me.

 It’s quite disconcerting actually to read about Jameela from outside her head. You see her more as a normal girl, as others must see her.

Now after reading the beginning of yet another sad story set in South Asia, I am more determined than ever to keep it light and funny.

I like funny books.

And despite everything that Jameela has been through, I think she deserves some happiness. And from everything I know of Afghan culture, both Kandahari and Kabuli, they love to laugh. There is so much humour infused in their character!

It needs to come out more in literature.

It would be a tragedy if all the world knew about Afghanistan was tragedy.