I read this due to the rave reviews and buzz. What a massive disappointment.

To be fair, had I never seen all the reviews, I would've judged it as fairly decent. The problem is this book does not stand out in any way, save one: it gives a westerner a small amount of insight into the daily lives and culture of afghanistan before the russian invasion. It gives a bit more insight into the character of the people that lived and fled from there. I found this aspect interesting and enjoyable.

My main gripe is that it's painfully obvious that it's the author's first novel. There's nothing wrong with that, but with such good reviews I expected much better writing. Perhaps part of it is due to language and cultural barriers. Despite having a decent plotline it was very difficult to keep interest, nothing drew you in. The characters themselves were likeable enough, but felt more like shadows of who they could be. Towards the last 1/3 of the novel the writing got better, and there were even a few memorable lines. I'm not sure if that helped improve the novel overall, or just further highlight the lack in the first part.

I don't recommend this book. It's far from bad, but also far from good. I will read more by the author, as I think he has promise. It's also hard to find contemporary fiction based on real world events outside of western culture.

It absolutely does not deserve the acclaim or attention it's getting.