Review
This was a book club read for me. Honestly, I wouldn't have chosen it to read if not for the fact that a prominent member of my book club group had a personal connection to the author; thus, she recommended it to the group.
I rated this book 4 stars for the subject matter of the courageous women it's about, not the writing per se. For the record, the writing is by no means bad. There is a difference between the writing style of a journalist and that of a more creative storyteller. Ms. Lemmon tells the story well, but doesn't make you feel/connect with the plight of the people involved in a way that an author such as Khaled Hosseini does in The Kite Runner. Of course, these are two vastly different works...one is fiction based on true events while The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is a memoir. My point is to provide context regarding the writing and my original expectations to some degree. Reading this book felt more like reading the news. Many times, as I was reading - and became quite bored with the dryness of it all, I had to remind myself of that to keep things in perspective. It is a worthwhile story to read and for that I kept with it.
Of note, I also listened to the audiobook (thank you Audible for the free credit for joining) which, somewhat surprisingly, I enjoyed considerably more than reading this book. The narrator, Sarah Zimmerman, brought life to the story that was not there in the written form. Ms. Zimmerman made me look at this book in a completely new light; moreover, it felt more like a creative tale than just telling a sequence of events with her narration. Needless to say, if you're interested in this book, I'd say go with the audiobook.
3
