Wonderful story. A little predictable, but you certainly don't mind! Read this. ( )

The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri Murari is set in Afghanistan during the years that the Taliban was in control of that country. Rukshana is a journalist who cannot work at her craft under this regime, they demand that women never be heard or seen outside of their own home. Women cannot hold jobs or go out on their own without a male guardian. Young, educated and ambitious, Rukshana feels like she has been caged. Her one hope is to get out of Afghanistan but family complications have kept her there far too long and she has attracted the attention of a high-ranking Taliban who has decided to marry her.

At the same time it is announced that the Taliban is going to allow cricket to be played and teams are to be formed and play matches that will determine which team gets to go to Pakistan for training. As her brother and cousins form a team with the hope of winning and escaping to Pakistan, Rukshana is chosen to be their coach. She played the game in college and now, burka discarded, disguised as a man, hiding from the Taliban and working on how to get both herself and her brother out of the country, she also becomes the team coach.

I absolutely loved this book, it combined the all too real horror of living under these terrorist thugs who place no value on life or decency with the feel-good atmosphere of training at cricket and finding a way for the group to leave the country and find a better life. The Taliban Cricket Club left me with a bitter-sweet feeling as I rooted for these characters but, at the same time, I am aware that the Taliban is still very much a part of Afghanistan life. ( )

A real eye opener with regard to how harsh and injust life is in Afganistan
The writing was good but I found the storyline to be a bit predictable ( )

I thought from the title this book might be amusing, but it was far from it. Although the ending had a feel good quality to it.
It paints a realistic picture of life in Kabul under the oppression of the Taliban regime. I particularly enjoyed this descriptive passage:
'The city, as fragile as any human, was gaunt with sickness; its blackened ribs jutted out at odd angles, craters of sores pitted its skin and girders lay twisted like broken bones in the streets. Its gangrenous breath smelt of explosives, smoke and despair. Even mosques were not spared the savagery, their skulls explosively opened to the sky. The Kabul River was a trickle of water pulsingb through a muddy artery clogged with garbage.'
It created a vivid visual image in my mind. ( )

Rukhsana spent too much time in her own head to get four stars but it was a good story. ( )