In the chapter, The Call From Ali, we were surprised that Mansur starts to rebel. While his friend, Akbar, says that his father said it was OK to go on his trip, he never went back and checked with his dad, likely because he knew that he would either say no or change his mind. The reason this was surprising is because we aren't used to people in the book going against what Sultan says. In the next chapter, The Smell of Dust, it was surprising how Leila was portrayed. Throughout the chapter, the situations she was in, like how the nephews spoke so disrespectfully to her, she came off as, in a sense, a slave girl. The chapter, An Attempt, was also a little surprising because it had Leila, in a way, rebelling because she was trying to become a teacher. In the chapter, The Carpenter, Mansur claims to witness someone stealing post-its. While reiterating the events to Sultan, he makes himself out to be the hero in the story, and tries to give Sultan a greater impression of himself.
The chapter, The Smell of Dust, made us wonder how the author felt about Leila. While the author sometimes spoke poorly of one character's attributes, she always seems to speak highly of Leila and ignores any possible negative characteristics. Throughout the book, we sometimes get a feel through her writing that she preferred some of the people in the house over others. While some of her writing seems to side with some characters over others, it makes us question if the portrayal of the characters is accurate to how they really are in life. Her writing style seems to be opinionated. The author’s way of writing in the chapter, Can God Die, not only gave us insight into characters, but helped us question things. She puts questions out there that you can’t necessarily answer, but it really makes you think. It put us in the boy’s shoes and helped us relate to him because we have all been in the situation where we’re put in front of the class or group, been asked questions, and not known how to respond.
Something we were wondering was why the chapter, The Call From Ali, was so long. We felt a lot of information was included that wasn't completely necessary and we found ourselves bored while reading the chapter. Not only was the chapter long, but it seemed repetitive and the situations they found themselves in didn't seem meaningful to the book, at least not to the point that it deserved that much of the book. It seems like because it is so long, that there would have been a lot more meaning behind but we couldn't find that meaning.
If we wanted to find more information, we could go online to look. We came across an article that discussed Sultan’s reaction to the book. Although the names were changed, Sultan’s character, whose real name is Reis we believe, says that the author did not do a good enough job of covering up who the family was. He claims that he is now a political refugee due to the outcome of this book and the city of Kabul knew that his family was the family in the book. He claims they have received a hard time once the book was translated and people in Kabul starting receiving the book and information from the book. Not only was he upset that his family was not well hidden, but he was also upset because he believes the author did a poor job defining his character. While he seemed like a hardworking, providing family member, he was also made out to be demeaning and domineering mostly to the women around him but also to male family members. Reis/Sultan, claims that none of that is true about him and says he is very involved in women’s rights and the fair treatment towards women.
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