LitPick Review
This book takes place in Iraq and features cousins, and best friends, Talib and Nouri. Nouri's world turns upside down when his uncle is killed in a Sunni bombing. Nouri's whole family is Shiite, but Talib is half Sunni. As far as Nouri is concerned, this is Talib's fault. As the book progresses, trust is lost between the two. Talib is faced with the hardships of being Sunni. He is excluded from the Shiite side of his family, and even kicked out of school. Nouri is quickly losing his best friend. By the end, rage has spread all through Iraq against the Sunnis. Can the tension be resolved without war?
Opinion:
To be honest, I found that this book was lacking excitement. Although there were a couple interesting events, the writing itself was a little bland. It was very realistic, although it was rather predictable. I did find it easy to relate to the characters. The author nicely described how the way they were feeling throughout the book. The book was a little bit hard to follow with the Arabic words thrown in here and there, but I did learn a good bit about the Muslim culture. Things like facing Mecca while praying or praying at the Muzzein's call gave me insight on a different way of life. Over all, this book gave a good message. I can't say I would recommend it to most people, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it.
