A Bed of Red Flowers

I had book club again on Wednesday night. There was only a few of us there, but it was a pretty good discussion. The book we read this month was A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan, written by Nelofer Pazira.
It is an auto-biography about her life in Afghanistan. She was born in 1973, when Afghanistan declares itself to be a republic. In 1979, the Soviets invade Afghanistan. At this point, Afghanistan turns into a war zone between the Soviets and some anti-government groups. That's when the United States steps in and starts funding some of the anti-government groups. Nelofer and her family escape in 1989 to Pakistan, and eventually to Canada. Eventually, the Soviets pull out, and the Taliban takes over. The Taliban somehow turns Islam into an oppressive cult that forbids women to work, attend school or even leave the house without a male escort, and of course, the women now have to be covered from head to toe, with only their eyes showing.

I was surprised at how much I liked the book. I was apprehensive about reading another biography (sometimes they can be quite dull!), but I really enjoyed this one. There are a lot of names of people and places that I could never pronounce (eventually the names all started looking the same) but once I got past that it was really a fast read.
Nelofer really personalizes this book, and it is almost possible for one to feel like they are in living her life - from the terror of living in a war zone, to the miles and miles of walking to escape Afghanistan. She uses a lot of personal stories, and includes intimate stories from the people in her life.
I would recommend reading this book - the only part I didn't like was at the end when she lets loose with a few anti-American sentiments, blaming the United States for allowing the Taliban to take over. This story does make me want to read other books about Afghanistan's tragic history and perhaps get another point of view.