Very moving book, about a boy who was brought up in Afghanistan in the 1970's, the discovery of family secrets, his friendship his family's Hazarra servant boy, and no I have to stop there before I tell you too much, but it made me cry, and few if any books have done that.

Thanks Booked-Up-Liz. My book group will be discussing it on September 8th so I'll be ready to send it on after that.

Wow! This book is complex, extremely powerful and very absorbing. It made a long, boring train journey go by in a flash today. I found it gripping and moving with plenty to think about.

My book group will be discussing it in a couple of weeks so I might make a new journal entry then. Sometimes I revise my opinion of a book after we’ve talked about it.

Further information about the book and some suggestions for discussion points can be found here and here. (Thanks Booked-Up-Liz for pointing out the first of those to me).

I haven't got any major revisions to make to my assessment of the book since my book group met tonight (although I have bumped my rating of the book up from 8 to 9). All nine of us loved it and no-one scored it less than 9 out of 10, which is a first. I'm pretty sure that's our highest scoring book of all time (we've discussed at least 20 books).

A few minor criticisms came up in discussion which reminded me of things that had annoyed me.

There's a plot development (which I won't name as it would be a spoiler) that is rather strung out. It's obvious to the reader what's going to happen but the narrator takes an age to make up his mind to do it. I would have preferred it if the narrator had said sooner what he decided to do and then dealt with how he arrived at the decision.

I also found the writing style a bit clunky at times.

Overall though, it's a marvellous book and we had a very passionate and wide-ranging discussion about it that lasted for a good couple of hours. It deals with guilt and redemption, with racism and class, with the plight of refugees and with disturbing events in Afghanistan.

Posted to Hellie on Saturday 17th.

Thuis arrived today, thanks.
Had lovely weekedn (apart form working 2 shifts in pub weekend of great North run in pub 100 yards from finish line!) with reader's day and one ofmy fave singer songwriters in concert.....then today was an anticlimax and work was rubbish! So this was a lovely treat when got in.
Have loved other books I've read on Afghanistan...
More soon....

RELEASE NOTES:

coffee shop upstairs at meet

Wonderful read, which completely took me to a different time and place. Thanks so much for sharing.

Oh and yes it made me cry too.........more than once...

picked up at the Newcastle meet this evening.

It's been a long time since a book made me cry, but this had me sobbing on more than one occasion. It's a beautifully written book, very moving and I read it over two days because I simply did not want to put it down.

There were a couple of parts of the plot that I felt were slightly drawn out, one in particular I spotted almost immediately, but for me, it didn't detract too much from the development of the rest of the book. It's the first book I've read set in Afghanistan and I'll definitely be seeking out more.

This will be going on to cats-eye, as part of the reverse wishlist relay.

RELEASE NOTES:

Passing to cats-eye as part of the reverse wishlist relay.

received from perfect-circle at the Durham meet today - thank you, I can't wait to read this one!

oh how I loved this book! There isn't much to add in light of the great reviews it has already received - I agree with the comments above re: the plot being slightly draggy at some points, but certainly nothing to put me off finishing it. Facinating setting, and what an interesting insight to a culture that I (sadly) know very little about. I am looking forward to reading a few other books set in that part of the world that I have picked up.

Thank you for sharing this one, perfect-circle! It will be off to MissyZ as part of a relay shortly!

posted to MissyZ on 25/04/06 via first class - enjoy!

I'd forgotten all about this! :D
Thanks cats-eye!

Received for MissyZ's m-bag

heh - how amusing! I brought this to America with me to read while I was there, never got around to it so passed it to Nou to send back - and it's back in the UK again! :D