MixedSydney Morning Herald (AU)Considered ... The diversity of the interviewees provides a more nuanced portrait, in which women are not exclusively portrayed as victims ... There is much lovely writing in this book, facilitated by Seierstad’s empathy with and access to Afghan women, who are severely oppressed by a combination of tradition, ignorance and violence. However, the structure of three central characters spawns a swamp of many offshoots that is, at times, hard to follow ... Sadly, the author’s attempts to provide historical context felt stale, on the one hand, and excessive on the other.
