The Mulberry Empire – Philip Hensher

I started The Mulberry Empire for the Complete Booker Reading challenge. It seemed like a promising story: the events surrounding the failed British invasion of Afghanistan in the early 19th century.

I’ve abandoned the book a quarter of the way into it (first abandoned book since 2007). I just couldn’t get into the story. There were characters introduced left and right, with varying degrees of back story, and I found that I just didn’t care. I even read an entire book (The Farseekers) in the middle of trying to slog through this one.

The story may very well turn around once the author gets through the set up, but I’m cutting my losses and moving on to something else. Life’s too short to slog through a book I can’t stand.