The Bookseller of Kabul

She lived with the bookseller's family. Her well-detailed accounts of how the women, in particular, must manage their lives makes me wonder if the bookseller is all that glad he invited her in.

I thought this book was extremely compelling and well done. I learned a lot about the Taliban at work in people's daily lives. It's so important for us to try to understand what it is like to realy live in that region of the world, and this is an interesting lens to view it through.

Started out slow, but became a page turner. Really glad I stuck with it. I am so thankful to be a woman in America!

This is somewhat disjointed but a fascinating look inside of the life of one family before, during and after the Taliban. Not glamorous, not sensational -- real and intriguing.

I've read this book about 10 times. It offers a peek into Afghan life with an exceptional narrative and a series of engaging short stories.

Every educated woman should read this book and thank her lucky stars.......

In the preface to this nonfiction story, Asne Seierstad says that she never argued so much with people, and never wanted to actually hit people, until she spent time with this atypical yet typical Afghani family and saw the way the women are treated. I can understand her feelings - there were times when I wanted to throw the book across the room, or grab the men in the family and shake them. It's a very powerful read, though, and it stuck with me long after I finished the story.

Great insight into Afganistan's culture behind closed doors. Tales of before and during the Taliban's reign and how this influenced life for all the family members was well written and kept me intrigued. I ploughed through this book in 3 days.

Enjoyed the first half but then felt that she was making a point rather than observing what was going on. Yes, it is a very non feminist society but people who have lived in it all their lives probably don't see it in quite the same way as someone brought up in a western society.

The subject of this book was very interesting, but there was something odd about the writing. I think it was either translated into English, or written in English by the author whose first language is Norwegian, and it lost some of its sophistication in the translation. The positive side to this is that it was quite simple to read and understand and I think it could be read by older children and teenagers as well as adults who want to learn more about life in Afghanistan.