One Half from the East

"The bacha posh tradition exists because sons are valued in a way daughters are not. It exists because there is a perception that boys are capable of things girls are not. Are these thoughts unique to Afghanistan? Sadly, not at all. There are many ways to devalue girls. It can be as flagrant as barrin......more

After reading The Pearl That Broke Its Shell I was excited to read another book by this writer. This book deals again with the bacha posh tradition in Afghanistan (girl dressed as a boy), but it is much more on the personal experiences of turning into a boy and the meaning of the change. It is very......more

Writing this review is difficult, because even though I did appreciate the basic parts/aspects of this book, I had an issue with almost everything else; and now that I sit down to express all my thoughts on this book - nearly a week after finishing it - I realize that I don't even have that much to......more

With the atrocities that are happening in Afghanistan right now, it's even more important to try to learn even more about the place, its history and it's people. Even though the storytelling was very simplistic, Nadia Hashimi could bring, in a easy way, up to discussion gender and social norms to gi......more