Confessions of a Mullah Warrior

In this earnest bildungsroman, Farivar tells the remarkable tale of how he went from Afghan refugee to resistance fighter to Harvard University student. Fleeing the increasing violence and political instability in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, the author and his family escaped to Pakistan—and the hardships and alienation of refugee life. The young Farivar entered a madrassa where he studied the Koran intensively and became a devout Muslim. Eventually deciding he had a duty to return to Afghanistan to fight, he left his family to embrace jihad against the occupying Soviet troops. While serving on the front lines, Farivar continued “brushing up on [his] Pythagorean theorems, among other things” in preparation for the SAT and made his way to an American prep school and later, Harvard. While Farivar's account is indisputably unique and fascinating, the narrative tension frequently slackens as the author relies too heavily on the action alone to drive his story forward. Still, the book succeeds in its in-depth exploration of the radicalization of young Muslim men in the 1980s—and Farivar's path away from extremism. (Mar.)