Not what I had expected.
This book started out well, but I lost interest when the author started to use it as a platform for her views on feminism and the American attitude to the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan.
I was immediately drawn into the love affair between Phyllis and her Muslim, Afghani boyfriend, Abdul-Kareem. Phyllis is Jewish, living and studying in America, when they meet. The mistake she made was to follow him to his own country, where she suddenly found she had none of the freedom she'd been accustomed to in US. Her passport was confiscated and she became a chattel, just one of the things that Abdul-Kareem owned. She had no rights and no way out.
In fact, she was not in Afghanistan for very long and this part of her story takes up only a section of the book. The following extended essay on female rights was a struggle to read. I was waiting to hear what the outcome of the relationship would be, as we know that they stayed in touch, but this information was a long time coming and buried in amongst a lot of rambling and references to books written by other authors.
Overall, this was a disappointing read but it does contain a great bibliography of almost all the memoirs written about life in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
2.5 stars.