Helpful Score: 1
Inspired by historical events, this novel transported me to 1978 Afghanistan alongside 10-year-old Sitara whose life is pretty wonderful. She loves her parents, younger brother, extended family, and close friends. Her father's position as advisor to Afghan President Daoud Khan provides a privileged life. In an instant, everything changes when the president, his family, and Sitara's family are murdered as the first victims of a coup. Smuggled out of the palace by an unlikely source, Sitara is delivered to an American diplomat who adopts and raises her in the US and around the world.
Then the storyline abruptly shifts to 2008 where Sitara is a successful oncologist in New York City. She is jolted from her routine when her significant other pursues a new career path and a patient with shocking connections to her past appears in her clinic. These events lead her to revisit her past in search of closure and healing.
The book has some lovely turns of phrase that caught my breath and had me rewinding to replay and consider them. However, the novel felt disjointed, more like two interconnected novellas with a very strange interlude about a bad foster care situation. Given the amount of history in the novel, I likely would've abandoned a print copy so I'm grateful I could listen to the audiobook. Mozhan Marno as narrator was excellent, and her voice was familiar to me from The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali.
Then the storyline abruptly shifts to 2008 where Sitara is a successful oncologist in New York City. She is jolted from her routine when her significant other pursues a new career path and a patient with shocking connections to her past appears in her clinic. These events lead her to revisit her past in search of closure and healing.
The book has some lovely turns of phrase that caught my breath and had me rewinding to replay and consider them. However, the novel felt disjointed, more like two interconnected novellas with a very strange interlude about a bad foster care situation. Given the amount of history in the novel, I likely would've abandoned a print copy so I'm grateful I could listen to the audiobook. Mozhan Marno as narrator was excellent, and her voice was familiar to me from The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali.
