The Hooligans of Kandahar by Joseph Kassabian (2022)

The Hooligans of Kandahar by Joseph Kassabian (2022)

An irreverent account of a soldier’s time in Afghanistan.

Laura’s Rating: 3/5 Stars

Plot: Joseph, only 21 at the time, recounts his squad being dropped off in the remote mountains outside Kandahar City during the war in Afghanistan. He details the military mismanagement, awful living conditions, and challenges of working with the Afghan Police.

Opinion: I feel like this is the Walmart version of Catch-22. It shows some of the absurdity of war and the military, but in a way less elegant and intentional way. (i.e. “War is chaos, but in that chaos, there's a strange sort of order.”).  I think much of the story is probably an accurate depiction of the author’s experiences, but it’s not exactly the most poetic writing and lacks a lot of insightful takeaways.

I would not have read this story of military bros if it hadn’t been selected for my book club. The book definitely has a masculine, irreverent tone. Some of the stories are funny, some are just dumb (as expected), and many are disheartening. The author talks about fleeting moments where he felt like they were really making a difference in the war effort or making strides with the Afghan forces, only for their actions to be undone or undermined almost immediately. The author also hints at PTSD and some of the lasting effects of war, like feeling uncomfortable in a crowded mall or being nervous about debris on the road. 

As he describes finally coming home at the end of deployment, he says, “While my body was standing there in Texas, my mind would never leave Afghanistan. The blood-soaked mountains of that country would be with me until the day I died…that war would never truly be over for us.”

I thought I would hate this book, but I didn’t. It’s a candid and unflinching recounting of a veteran’s experience and he does examine the disillusionment of service during wartime and its lasting effects in his own way. The Hooligans of Kandahar is interesting, but I’d hesitate to recommend it to broad audiences.