I'm teetering between 4 stars and 5 for this book. It was a horribly emotional story... of course any story about a young boy facing adversity in his own country which is falling apart would probably be emotional. The language was beautiful and the descriptions were just enough, but I think what I struggled with most were Afghan words that were used that had no explanation for them. At times it was also hard to feel like you were part of the story because there were so many crazy things that were happening to the main character that only those who had experienced a collapsing economy, country, and way of life would truly know how horrific it could be. I would highly recommend this book to anyone for it's beautiful messages of forgiveness, second chances, and freedom.