I came from the mountain, the crust of creation

Am I going to go on about every damn book I read on here? ::shakes:: Sources say yes, according to my Magic 8 Ball. I just finished Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. I found myself picking it up even when I knew I had only a few minutes. I tore through it. I'd recommend it to friends, conditionally. It was fascinating and never slow for me when giving a glimpse of Afghanistan through the eyes of its people over the last 100 years or so. If you're like me (and I kinda hope you are cuz it makes it feel like we have a family here, you know, kinda homey), you'll come away with a new appreciation for what these people have gone through in a relative blink of history (military coup of their monarchy, invasion by the Soviets, takeover by the Taliban and invasion by the U.S.). It might make me sound naive/stupid, but I just kept feeling kinship with these folks who, after all, are just like us. No kidding, right? Still, it's how I felt. All of this is the historical backdrop to what is really a family story that illuminates the deep divisions that existed in Afghan society long before any of the rest of the world came sniffing around. The writing is spare and powerful. Some passages are stark and uncomfortable. Oh, the conditional part of my recommendation is that, toward the end, the book suffers from a spate of incredulous coincidences. Seinfeldian loopy stuff. Distracting. Still, it's worth your time. How'd the rest of y'all like it?