Rating: 
Summary: Jarring in a good way and a bad way
Review: The stories and anecdotes in this book are certainly gripping. Other reviewers have revealed many of its highlights. However, a better book would certainly have resulted if a more even flow to the story was maintained. It is simply too jarring for the reader to be jumping back and forth in time so frequently. I ended up without a clear chronology of any of the events, just a vague idea. However, the overarching message is quite consistent - that Afghanistan was in a state of constant war for decades, that the Taliban really were just thugs..., and that women suffered greatly there.
Rating: 
Summary: Well...
Review: The story was not written well. Its organization was poor and the book seems like it could have been completed hurriedly in a matter of days. It could have been written in a more appealing way - a captivating way. BUT it was an interesting read, undoubtedly. It starts off a little slow for the first quarter or so of the book. It tells the story of how freedom was instantly taken away from the women in Afghanistan as soon as the Taliban took over. Contrary to popular belief, Afghan women used to be just as free as any other women in any other part of the world. It's the Taliban (with other warring factions) that started most of the havoc.
As the story goes on, one can easily see the effects of a country that willfully ostracizes a whole segment of its own population. In fact, half of its population (if not more). The country becomes a nightmare in broad daylight.
Under perpetual siege, it's all fascinating how people get anesthetized to it all. As large museums and universities burn to ashes, weddings continue to take place and students continue to attend school. The question is: What is the future for Afghanistan - the women and the children especially. Only time will tell.
Rating:
Summary: More than Just a Horror Story
Review: There are plenty of horrible incidents related in young Latifa's account of her life as a girl becoming a young woman under the rule of the Taliban. But Latifa's book is more than just a catalog of Tablian atrocities. For me, three things made her book especially interesting. First, Latifa is a devout, modern Muslim. Throughout the book, she presents her thesis that the version of Islam espoused by the Taliban had little to do with real religion. The Taliban dictatorship was essentially about men wanting to control and humiliate women. Her reflections
about being religious and living in the modern world will interest readers of all faiths who are thinking about these issues. The second feature of her book that I found intersting was how strongly her father supported her and her sisters in wanting to become education and have careers. Also of interest was her account of how the French fashion magazine Elle first broke the story about the mistreatment of women in Afghanistan. It was Elle that arranged for Latifa and other Afghan women to fly to Paris to tell their
story. The popular press takes a lot of criticism for being shallow and sensational. Elle deserves a lot of credit for taking the leadership in focusing world attention on what was happening to the women of Afghanistan.
Rating: 
Summary: Book of inspiring courage
Review: This book is about a young Afgahni woman growing up under the Taliban regime. Up until she was 16, she was treated with fairness and was allowed to have an education. Then the news that the Taliban have taken over Kabul arrives. No more music, education, working, bright clothing, etc.. Women are no longer considered persons of worth. I found this book very interesting because I knew little about women from Afghanistan. This is a great book for all women.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading like Anne Frank's Diary
Review: This book is both mesmerizing and horrifying. It is difficult to read in one sitting due to some graphic details. Comparisons to Anne Frank's diary are inevitable, except that the everyday horrors Latifa and her family hear about, experience or witness (especially the males in her family) are different from Anne Frank's introspective musings and observational writings due to her unfortunate and unfair confinement in a small attic to avoid detection by Nazis, with ultimately tragic results. I have read Frank's diary in its various editions expanded over the years, and find it always compelling.Ironically, without giving information away regarding Latifa's translated book, the color yellow is significant in both Anne Frank's life as a Jew living under Nazi rule and in the lives of some living under the rule of the Taliban. While other examples of horrifying literature about the plight of women exist,like Frank and Latifa, the novel "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood is chillingly similar to Latifa's plight as a female under the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan. While hoping the Taliban will be defeated not only for its corrupt views of women, acts of terrorism and the group's almost blasphemous interpretations of the Koran, Latifa's story should not be forgotten. It should be required reading especially for young adults in literature classes as is Anne Frank's timeless diary. The stupidity and horror in the treatment of women by the Taliban begs the question: will they all die off soon since they have such unspeakable disregard for females and the treatment of their mothers, wives, daughers, sisters and other females in their world? Thank God (or Allah) that men of such low caliber cannot reproduce without women. They've probably never even considered that fact. In hindsight it seems the United States supported an evil group probably worse than the collapsed Soviet Union. Perhaps we as a nation will be more careful in our political support in the future.
Rating:
Summary: i know i could not survive under the taliban
Review: This book was so good that at times it almost felt like I was watching some of these things happen live. There are of course parts of the book that made me sick or want to put it down but the truth was that I wanted to read more. The fact that someone's dream can end like that so fast is scary especially the part that all of a sudden a woman is not worth anything yet they are worthy enough to marry and to have kids with. The courage she had to do the things she did though with the school and all make it seem like she really trully wanted to challenge these people who thought that woman was worth nothing. There was a point when I would read all the decrees that the taliban had about woman to my husband and even he was disgusted. This book is totally worth reading and would recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Interersting
Review: This is a translation and it's not really a great read, but it's an interseting story nonetheless. You can through it pretty quickly, though.
Rating:
Summary: The horrors of the Taliban from a young woman's perspective
Review: This is an excellent read. It's the story of Latifa, a 15-year old Afghan who has always dreamed of becoming a journalist. She's intelligent, perceptive and so full of life. But she has already witnessed so many coups and invasions. Yet the worst is yet to come with the arrival of the Taliban. Latifa finds herself and her family virtually imprisioned in their own home. Women cannot go outside unaccompanied by a male and they are obliged by decree to wear a huge heavy black garb that covers the body entirely. There are slits in the material where women can just barely see through. Education for women is banned. Women can't work outside the home. Professional women who have worked at top levels in the old Afghanistan are now treated as little better than animals. Atrocities occur on a daily basis - public executions and amputations, torture, rape, beatings and whippings in the streets.
Latifa and her family are finally forced to flee their homeland. It's only then that she gets the chance to put her experiences onto paper and to let the world know what the Taliban is doing to a people who are left broken, friendless and desperately alone.
For anyone interested in history, war, politics or simply in true life stories this is a wonderful piece of work which should be read and highly publicised.
Rating:
Summary: Strikingly Real
Review: This is the compelling story of an incredible young woman (Latifah) and her family. In many ways, this is the side of Afghanistan that most Americans never saw. In fact, as Latifah so aptly points out, prior to September 11, many Afghani's felt as if the rest of the world had turned a blind eye to their plight. Latifah tells the story of life under Soviet occupation, which despite its promotion of a Marxist society, seems to have afforded Afghans with a relatively stable environment. She follows the Soviet withdrawal and the civil wars that ensued, including a sobering account of the Taliban takeover. Life under the Taliban was as hard as we ever heard in Western news accounts, perhaps even harsher. Latifah tells of the incredible fear to even leave the apartment...the knowledge that a woman visible on the street was certain to face beating, perhaps death. In the end, her family makes a remarkable escape--something that was only supposed to be for a brief period, but which became permament exile. This is a must read for anyone interested in life under the Taliban.
Rating:
Summary: a woman's sorrow
Review: What a great book! I can't imagine to be confined in my own home for months and years and without any hopes and future. Latifa grew up when the Taliban took over her country, Afganistan. According to the Taliban's rules, as a woman, she was not allowed to go out unless she was accompanied with a family male member. She therefore was forced to stay and lived for two years in fear. She was totally blocked out the outside world for two years. I felt so sorry for her. However I admire her courage--her courage to set up an undergroud school for girls and boys at her home. This book is not only Latifa's memoir, it also contains the history of Afganistan in late 1980s to late 1990s. Also the translator does a very good job on this book.
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