Pamela asked Nadia Hashimi:

Fantastic, bravo! In my admittedly stereotypical viewpoint, I expected to read how terrible men are towards women in this culture but sadly, I am taken aback by the women themselves who are just horrendous toward one another; mother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, such lack of grace and kindness; I am haunted by these injustices and the profound absence of sisterhood. Why such a lack of humaneness toward fellow women?

Nadia Hashimi Thank you so much! This is a question that comes up again and again in book club discussions I've attended. Let me start by saying I've painted a picture of a fictional family and this is by no means a reflection of all Afghan women. However, I do believe that certain families propagate a culture of abuse. In the case of the family in Rahima's story, this could be attributed to the confinement of women within the compound walls. These women seem to be struggling to find a foothold within the large hierarchy of the family and their disputes and attitudes towards one another are more their way of seeking some control rather than a lack of sisterhood. They are not envisioning themselves as a cog in the sisterhood movement. They are individuals living within a family where power struggles abound. I wonder what kind of woman I would be if I had been brought in as one one of four wives in a family where not everyone received the same treatment and I hadn't seen any better behavior modeled? (Thankfully, my husband and I will never have to find out the answer to that question!)

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