2004-06-29 Good but a bit rushed at the end

The cover for this book quotes the New York Times as saying that "this book best describes how an Islamic fundamentalist is formed". I can believe that. The story is well-told and the main character Nafa is believable and empathetic for the most part. Khadra/Moulessehoul's background and experience must have equipped him well for the factual foundations of the story he tells. But the writing is a little lumpy and the pacing a little uneven for the book to be unreservedly recommended.In particular the final episode seems to come at a rush as though it has been poorly edited or as though the writer realised he was testing out of his readers'attention -- a shame because it is in many ways the most interesting part of the story and other parts are almost extraneous to the book and could have been jettisoned without much trouble to the narrative. But it is a good read nonetheless and did much to lighten this readers ignorance of an area of the world which I feel I should know more about.