Mom was wild for me to read this book- one of those that she recommends to everyone.
I thought it was interesting, but not as exciting/groundbreaking as Mom did.
The most interesting parts made me think of Blink- essentially, you know more than you consciously know- your brain is fast processing. The worst parts were descriptions of this "celebrity" clients or his own background. All of that stuff didn't really fit into the theme of the book- jus stuck in there for filler.
It was a good overview, but didn't say much I didn't already know.

Sometimes when I finish a book that has touched me, I close it, place my hand on the top and just sit. It's like I want to honor those words, that story, those people for just a few minutes longer. I don't want to let it go or just be another story that I read and forget. This action solidifies for me the respect I feel for the people, the author, and the story. This was one of the books for me.

I feel as if I just got off a roller coaster. I could NOT put this book down. I finished it in a day, and I think my words cannot do justice to the touching story, its broad and universal themes, or its tragic but very real setting.

This book made the suffering in Afghanistan, which seemed so impersonal and distant in news reports, seem so very real. For the first time I got just a glimpse of how the country's innocent citizens, and especially its women, suffer. It shows just how much damage fanaticism can do.

Hosseini does a marvelous job of telling the story of the crossing of two very different women in the midst of Afghanistan's political turmoil. Mariam is a middle aged, born an illegitimate child. She has spent all her life expecting nothing and getting very little joy in return. Laila is a beautiful young girl from a wealthy and educated family who in just one day has everything taken from her. Yet she clings to the only thing she has left : the memory of her childhood friend and lover. Both women are "married" to a despicable, twisted, and cruel old man. Mariam watches Laila's spirit and conviction with anger, envy, awe, and eventually protectiveness and love. How she and Laila deal with abuse, contempt, isolation, and humiliation is astonishing and heartbreaking. The story of their hope, and their determination to find even a sliver of happiness, is truly unforgettable.

The book is no happy stroll in the park (quite far from it, actually as you have probably surmised... I had to put the book down a couple of times, and my sister kept asking why the heck I was practically squealing with terror / sadness), but once you read it, you will not regret it. A rare gem. A true eye opener. Remarkable.

It is a book set in Afghanistan. About family and friendship and the heartbreaking ordeals that the characters have to endure on a day to day basis. It makes you realize how good we have it and the things we take for granted. You actually start to really feel how the characters feel. The book is listed in my top ten.

I normally quite enjoy these type of books but I read about 4 chapters of this and just couldn't go on. It was just so repetative in each chapter that it started to get boring. I was fed up with reading the same thing, even put differently, page after page.

Back Cover Blurb:
With no one to confide in, Kathy suffered in silence as she was battered by her father and molested by local boys.
At the age of eight, she was torn from her family and incarcerated in a series of Catholic homes. When she was sent to a psychiatric unit, she suffered terrifying electric-shock therapy and further cruelty at the hands of her supposed carers.
After ending up in a Magdalen laundry, she fell victim to sexual abuse and gave birth to baby Annie just weeks before her fourteenth birthday. Don't Ever Tell is Kathy's harrowing account of her ruined childhood and of her subsequent fight for justice.

Synopsis: Melinda is starting her freshman year in high school, and all her friends hate her for calling the cops at a party over the summer. They don’t know that she called not because of the party but because she was raped. She withdraws and stops speaking. She makes her own safe house in an abandoned janitor’s closet and throws herself into her art projects when her ex-best friend starts dating Melinda’s attacker.

This book is actually hard to read sometimes because of the viciousness of both Melinda's attacker and the other students who shun her. Every girl (and maybe boy, too) can relate to this in some way.

This book is another classic that will forever remain on summer reading lists. Anderson does an amazing job of representing the average teen in America, as she makes her way through peer pressure, alcohol, sex, drugs, and other temptations and trials throughout her adolescence. A truly sad and moving novel that captures the terror of rape and the devastating effect it can have on a young girl and her family and friends. An easy read but a truly captivating story.