Play Book Tag discussion

This book is set in Afghanistan, and tells the stories of Rahima, in the present day, and Shekiba, Rahima’s great- great-grandmother. Both stories show us how women were oppressed and lacked freedom in Afghanistan, and how they needed to adjust to the challenges thrown at them throughout their lives. Hashimi also covers the custom of the Bacha Posh – a girl who is dressed up as and behaves as a boy when the family does not have a son, which I had heard of before, but didn’t have a real understanding of how it worked. The book is fascinating, and forces the reader to think of the courageous women in the story and those like them, whilst being a painful and, at times, disturbing read, especially with the knowledge that the living situation of women in present-day Afghanistan really has not improved from what it was centuries ago.