Amy Waldman's sophomore book is an interesting tale told through the overly idealistic viewpoint of a recent college graduate looking to make her mark on the world of anthropology. Not knowing enough about Afghan culture myself, it's hard for me to discern if this story is accurate in its portrayal of life for women in Afghanistan, but there are certainly times where it seems heavy with cliches. Nevertheless, I appreciate the anti-war sentiment that becomes pervasive in the second half of the book. I agree with Waldman's assessment that the idea of a righteous war is merely window dressing to garner the approval of a polity that considers itself kind. Parveen's persistent denial about Crane's falsehoods strikes me as the most annoying part about the book. She seems far too eager to dismiss several massive discrepencies and while it may be a message about the human penchant for dismissing inconvenient information, the lengths that she goes to to rationalize Crane's versions of events are a bit extreme.