A review by lola425
Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace by Christopher Blattman

4.0

The premise of this book--your body dies, but your brain lives for 10 minutes and 38 seconds--is incredible and the story that Shafak tells around it is very moving. Even though the main character is dead, you witness her life and meet her family, lovers, and friends in the spare ten minutes of electric life that her brain still holds. The second half of the book, where her friends mourn her and scheme to give her a proper funeral is not as strong as the first half, but you do get to feel the aftermath of Leila's death, and the description of her final resting place is lovely and feels right.

This is a perfect book group book. It opens up discussion about life and death, about traditional societies and the damage that they do to women and other outsiders, about politics and socialism, about family, both biological and chosen.