3.5 stories, really. I rounded up. It was a great look at the history of Burma in the '40s and '50s and I learned lots about the country. Some of the characters were really interesting, and the thought of putting a child into a beauty pageant as a political act was intriguing. But I just didn't think that the writing was that skillful. It didn't find the right balance between the characters' stories, and the history. And the characters were not as well drawn as they should have been.