A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan (ISBN 0743281330)

A true account of survival in Afghanistan:
A very good read. This is a true story that begins in Afghanistan in the mid seventies. It follows the members of an upper middle class family as they struggle to survive in their homeland; survive, despite a series of ever increasingly ruthless dictators, the Russian invasion and finally the Taliban. This book is beautifully written and easy to read; it has a wonderful descriptive quality to it that has the ability to provoke strong emotions. The book was hard to put down; I found myself wanting to read "just on more page, one more chapter". This story has an universal theme; it could be viewed as a testament to all common, oppressed people anywhere; people who'd like nothing more than to live in peace, but are prevented from doing so (through no fault of their own), because they get caught up in events caused by the ever changing whims of the "dictator de jour." Highly recommended. 5 Stars.

Much Potential Unrealized:
This book had so much potential, and I would have thought that since the author is a journalist, the writing would have been terrific. Unfortunately, the book does not quite live up to its potential and the writing is too weak to make this book interesting. The author attempts to describe her life in Afghanistan as a child and as a teen. Although this time period includes the time periods just prior to the Russian occupation, she includes very little about what life was like in Afghanistan during that time. There is a good deal of information regarding the time of the Russian occupation, but most of the writing is disjointed and disorganized. The story jumps around between time frames and is difficult to follow. The author does immigrate to Canada with her family, but there is almost no mention of her acclimation - if any - to this new country or any mention on the influence this country played on her life. It's almost like a black hole, and contributes to the feeling of the story being disjointed. As I read this book, I got the feeling the author wrote this book after the movie "Kandahar" was released and was hoping to ride the coattails of whatever fame the movie could make for her. I don't think the author truly thought this book out fully, and I think there are other books about Afghanistan by Afghans that are far better.

A vivid picture of life in Afghanistan:
I left Afghanistan in 1979, a week before the Russians invaded and from that year on lost touch with everything that went on in my beautiful country. Nelofer's Bed of Red Flowers brought to life those years that I missed out on and always thought I will never know about; thank you so much Nelofer for this outstanding and vivid accounts of your life in Afghanistan, now I know how life was after I left.

A very depressing book:
This book is a journal of a young woman (now a movie actor), born in Afghanistan, and her life as a child and teenager in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Canada. it is very disorganized, and does not give much analysis of the political problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan which cause such misery to her family and the population. Much description of squalid living. There does not seem to be much hope for Afghanistan, now that the educated people have left for safer countries.

a bed of red flower:
A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan wasn't that interesting. Same story which allot of people put on the paper.