An unlikely friendship is forged following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in this episodic, largely apolitical memoir. A social worker turned journalist for the Kansas City Star
, Garcia arrives in Kabul with minimal overseas experience, but simplistic early descriptions (e.g., Afghanistan, “like Texas, is an amalgam of tribes”) thankfully give way to more serious discussions of the poverty and desperation he witnesses in Kabul. Over the course of his seven years of travel in the region, he forms a warm friendship with “Bro,” a driver and translator whose real name, Khalid, proves too challenging for Garcia. The author's habit of renaming Afghans (there's a “Mr. Ten Dollar” and a “Yeltsin”) is more patronizing and less endearing than the writer believes, and it's satisfying when Yeltsin unexpectedly upbraids the author for changing other people's names so cavalierly. The eponymous “khaarijee” (outsider), Garcia is at his best when capitalizing on his status to launch important—and engaging—investigations of what it means to be a privileged Westerner in one of the most destitute places in the world. (Sept.)
