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jove64's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this memoir a child refugee and the way that the experience of family separation, the journey out of the country, and eventual reunification have shaped her. The detail of the journey is particularly well told. It might have been a more compact and interesting story had the author chosen to end it with the arrival in New Delhi. I can see why she extended the timeline but the last part of the book loses momentum quite badly and doesn't seem to have any real narrative drive apart from filling in the blanks to how she got to America. The main part of the book more than makes up for the disappointing last section though.
The book nicely interweaves the story of a girl growing up and learning about her place in the world beyond her family with the story of overcoming hardship and learning to live without the privileges to which she was accustomed.
The book nicely interweaves the story of a girl growing up and learning about her place in the world beyond her family with the story of overcoming hardship and learning to live without the privileges to which she was accustomed.
whoahknelly's review against another edition
2.0
It was hard to read this memoir of a very well funded and connected family fleeing Afghanistan during the Russians occupation at this particular point in time: September 2021. The circumstances that the Afghan people are in now are dire and heartbreaking...no comparison.
peripatetic_library's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.5
its_jess24's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
statman's review against another edition
3.0
It seems crazy to hear this story of how this family escaped Afghanistan, told from the perspective of the young girl. It feels like a Hollywood script where they are saved in the knick of time and they always have the money they need to make it past whatever challenge they face. Some people reviewing the book question how much truth there is to the truth but even if it is exaggerated, it is still quite the story.
sadiereadsagain's review against another edition
4.0
Having read other reviews, I realise that I totally missed that this book wasn't really written by the stated author. Instead it is her account as retold to a ghost writer. I'm not sure how I feel about that, in terms of how I separate the truth from the touch of an outside party. However, I did really like this book. And I think for me, it was the story rather than the writing that made it so compelling. This is the real-life account of Ahmadi-Miller, from her childhood in pre-communist Afghanistan in an affluent family, through her and her siblings journey of fleeing from the country without their parents after the Soviet invasion, and the struggles they then went through to find a place to belong. For me, the most interesting aspects were the descriptions of Kabul before the invasion. I knew from other books I'd read that prior to that invasion, Kabul was very different from the vision we now have in our minds of the Taliban, of a strict religious regime and the freedoms of individuals (particularly women) being stripped away. It was a progressive city, forward moving and, particularly through the eyes of a young Ahmadi-Miller who grew up in privilege, a special place to be. I also really enjoyed the children's experience of fleeing the country, though their background does mean that although hard and frightening their journey was easier than many others as they had the means of paying for an experienced adult to guide them. I'm glad for that, as I don't think there would be a story to tell had that protection not been there - the children would not have made it, given the dangers both from the sheer effort and conditions of the journey as well as the conflict and perils that surrounded them. For me, the story dipped somewhat in the middle, but the final legs of their journey to India brought me back in. There is reflection in this book, both on Ahmadi-Miller's conflicting feelings for her home country, the injustices witnessed on their journey and the bonds of family. I really enjoyed that, but I'm wondering now if it could have been much deeper had she had the ability/license to tell this story completely herself rather than through another person, or whether those reflections were even her own at all.