lightning strikes twice

by Khaled Hosseini

While not flawless writing, the emotion and feeling of this book, combined with the introduction to a part of the world most of us are not familiar with, makes this book compelling. The character of Hassan, for instance, will be with me forever (particularly after seeing the brilliant movie rendition of the young friendship). Further, the reflections on one’s own childhood that are inspired give the story even more depth than the author could have hoped for.  I can’t rate it as highly as The Road (Pulitzer winner 2007), or Middlesex (earlier Pulitzer 03/04?), but worthy of a Pulitzer nonetheless.