I have seen everyone with this book. On the beach, on the bus, at the Dr's office even a girl at work was reading it during our lunch break. I saw it at the bookstore and always went for something I thought would be "better".I must have passed over it at least 5 times before I finally broke down and bought it. Then it still had to wait another month to be read because I had a stack of "better" books to read. I got to it last week (finally). Finished it on Friday, MAN OH MAN WAS I OUT OF IT OR WHAT. I grabbed "something better" instead of this ??? I can not say enough about how amazing this book was. I actually cried in a couple of spots and,while I can be a big ol' girl at times, reading hasn't made me cry very often.I have heard many people say they are not going to read this book because of all the hype.

All I can say to them is I am saddened by the fact that they are going to miss out on a very moving and haunting work. It drew me in from chapter one and never let me down. Yeah it was depressing, but it was also very real. It gave me a new insight into a totally different culture, while at the same time told a very moving story of human frailty,Love, Acceptance, Betrayal, Retribution and finally forgiveness. One of the best books I have read in a couple of months IMHO.