I am writing this review, before reading what others thought of it and it's goodreads rating. I am floored with Nafisa's story, if you call it that. What strikes me the most is hoe balanced and genuine the whole novel is.I love the plot. The story within a story, and all the different characters, their journey, their misgivings. I loved the start, with the Mendel experiment. Something so little with such big significance. How all this people seemingly have nothing in common fitting in with each other perfectly. I was most drawn to the story of Deena. I love how she describes the Pakistani culture. She gets Pakistan, she gets us!Some of her writings, phrases, went so deep and profound, that I get shudders..Going a little bit deeper, I have profound respect how she had all these layers of things most don't want to write about; power and gender, soldiers, victims of war, religion, Islam & Christianity, Shia & Sunni and how she does it in this sweet neutral way, without any judgement, or stereotypes. And then she transcends these issues by pinning it into individuals, and how they were affected and grew from this. I wonder how she managed this in just one single book! This book should have a "5" star rating, except the first ~30 pages or so seemed to drag on; luckily once I was used to the style the book was written it didn't seem as slow. And the ending was anti-climatic, this is probably a little bit of a spoiler, but I feel like the last few chapters were building towards this certain moment, and then it never came.Aside from those two points, this book was amazing! I loved the characters Nafisa Haji created and the rich and complex stories they had. There were a few very emotional moments that were so believable I teared up (well not a shocker, really).Something else Haji did well was the weaving of several Christian and Muslim views and ideas into the story. Some books that talk about one religion feel preachy, and those that talk about two different ones can also feel arrogant towards one or the other, but this book was neither.Definitely a must-read!
Do You like book Più Dolce Delle Lacrime (2013)?
Fabulous book with a very strong message about the power of forgiveness.
—sairah
