Not the most literary of novels, but definitely culturally fascinating. The love story was perhaps the least interesting part, especially since the mysteries behind it were so predictable, but I loved learning about an Iraq I would never otherwise learn about. It helped me find Muslim connections to my Judaism as the boys Shafiq and Omar do in the novel, and it shows you what commonalities are Arab or Iraqi and not based on religion. Even though this book has perhaps less literary merit than others, it should be required reading for Americans.