This is a powerful story that would have pulled more stars from me had I not spent the entire book despising the main character. He was selfish, prejudiced during the moments that really mattered, and then later so riddled with guilt and self-loathing that it became a revoltingly self-indulgent pity party. I could not stand the guy. Sue me.

The writing is... bleh. Much like Amir's pity party actually - over the top and in your face and CONSTANTLY BEGGING FOR ATTENTION! I've also seen other reviewers pointing out how ridiculous all the 'coincidences' in the plot are - I have no real opinion about that one. I guess I see their point, but I also think if you apply that thinking to every book you've ever read and liked, you'll suddenly feel like a moron and lose all interest in fiction. I could VERY easily scoff at Memoirs of a Geisha for the same problem, but I still very much enjoyed reading it, so I won't.

Other than that, the whole thing was kind of moving and seems to provide a valuable insight into Afghanistan and its people. This is my first experience with Afghan anything though, so I can't speak to how good of an example it is - for someone completely unfamiliar with that culture and history, it did serve a purpose.