Reviews for Nightingale

The average rating for Nightingale based on 2 reviews is 1 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-03-06 00:00:00 Gary Conrad This book is absolutely horrible. Horrible. The book itself has already been summarized so I won't go into that in this review. Anyway, I'm Afghan and was raised in a Muslim family and although I no longer practice the religion, I was very offended by this book. Actually it stereotypes people from the Middle East very badly. For example there is not one good Iraqi character in this book. Except the main character, Leila, who isn't even developed and comes off as a major Mary-Sue. You can tell the writer doesn't know a lot about Arab/Iraqi culture and you can also tell it is not an Iraqi person writing it. Of course the main character's father is a "terrorist" and wants her to be more traditional. All her mother talks about is getting her married and how she should be submissive. All the Iraqi men talk about in this book is how much they hate America, and all the Iraqi men in this book have no personality at all except that they are all bad. Oh and the main character gives up everything for her solider boyfriend and that somehow makes her feminist. Also there are so many inaccuracies about Islam and Middle Eastern culture. Sorry my review is so heated but this is one of the only books to actually offend me, it was just so bad. I actually wanted to throw this book across the room when I finished it. Please do not read it.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-10-02 00:00:00 Nicholas Steele Reading this book left a very bad taste in my mouth. The characters are nothing but shallow racist caricatures and none of them are likeable. The author also forgoes delving into the social/political complexities behind the Iraq War so that its portrayal can be dumbed down into becoming a simple case of good vs. evil. The worst part is the underlying message behind this book, which is that a woman should give up everything for the sake of a man (who she doesn't even marry in the end). All in all the only thing worth recommending about this book is that you not waste your time reading it!