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Title: Falls apart 3/4 way through
Review: Due to incessant hype and a friend's recommendation, I read the book. At first I found it a compelling read - especially descriptions of Afghanistan before the Russians, and the inter-relationships betweent he narrator and his boyhood friend, family, his transition to living in the States, etc. BUT - when the narrator returns to Afghanistan, the story loses all credibility. The plot becomes an overwrought and turgid soap opera, full of eye-rolling coincidences and a cheesy villan out of a silent movie. Like a bad Hollywood script, into which I'm sure it's already being developed.It went from being a book I couldn't stop reading to a book I didn't want to finish. It's mindless popularity and critical accolades says more about the sorry state of American fiction and publishing than the sorry state of Afghanistan.
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