The beginning with the love story in Japan (and the writing style a bit) reminded me of David Mitchell's 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' and sure enough, Mitchell is mentioned in the acknowledgements. Interesting. One section also reminded me of 'A Passage to India', though I have never read it, and a few pages later it is actually mentioned in this one. It also reminded me of The Kite Runner. As I knew there were so many tragedies as a centerpiece, I thought maybe Shamsie was trying to benefit by including them. But often the book took place right after or before those events, which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing. Many places and cultures were included here. I loved the first 33 pages in Japan, but then the bomb falls. I would have liked if more of the book took place there. If it wasn't for the places and times mentioned in the chapter headings, I wouldn't have guessed anything that happened as the story went on. So maybe I would have liked to have less of a hint. But overall, I really like Shamsie's writing style (there are many memorable images here) and I'd love to read more.