Mike Fish Fish itibaren Yazıboy Köyü, 78400 Yazıboy Köyü/Eskipazar/Karabük, Turkey itibaren Yazıboy Köyü, 78400 Yazıboy Köyü/Eskipazar/Karabük, Turkey

I taught this when I was student teaching. The class I read it with really frustrated me; they had so little empathy. Still, I think a middle school reader who actually, you know, had a personality would like Ellis' book quite a bit. I know I learned much from it---every thing from vocabulary (salwar kameez) to Afghani history and politics.

I love historical fiction, and I appreciate the liberties Diamant took in her interpretation, realizing, and reimagining the Biblical tale of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. I love the retelling of this familial dynamic through Leah's own daughter. I loved all of it up until the point where the narrative meets it's source material for Dinah's story. Diamant's weaving of Dinah's abduction and her brothers' revenge was too tragic, and too horrible for me to enjoy. It soured the rest of the book and undermined the beautiful novel she had constructed in the preceeding chapters.

Love this book. I can read this over and over and I don't know why. And I don't feel this way about all Jane Austen novels.

great history lesson, disappointing ending