Originally appearing at: Booklist
Native Kashmiri and journalist Peer writes carefully about his country’s descent into war over the past 20 years. Covering the separatist movement and the country’s fragile position between India and Pakistan, both of which covet Kashmir, places Peer in danger; but he resists the pull of traditional war reportage. He is first and foremost an eloquent writer, and his ability to turn a phrase like a novelist, even when writing about the most devastating of truths, is what elevates this title. From life in a village militarized by India to fleeing militants trained by Pakistan, Peer sees the conflict from the ground up and how both sides are so casually destroying what they want for their own. Death and dishonor have become commonplace for the victims, soldiers, and warriors. Whether considering torture prisons or the souls of poets, Peer travels his homeland looking for Kashmir’s heart. “It is killing me,” says one friend as life under occupation and terrorist threat grinds down upon him. Peer longs for a brighter future while hoping “that someday the war they were fighting . . . would disappear like footsteps on winter snow.” A stunning book on the loss of peace.
