Moot Point

Review

Rating: 5

Everyone seems to be totally in love with this book, but I thought it was kind of potboilery and driven by coincidence. It was also really aware that it was a book about being Afghani that came out after 9/11, from the persepctive of a progressive dude who grew up rich and then comes back after many years to see how the Taliban has destroyed his country. I’m not really sure why it was necessary to have one villain, it just made the story’s circularity seem pat, not meaningful.

That said, he did a really lovely job of storytelling: he sets it up that SOMETHING BAD is going to happen, so you’re concerned about it, but also makes the SOMETHING BAD actually be pretty devastating.