Pages 217-236 are about the actual war and are fairly well written. The rest of the book is written in the style of an angst-filled girl in her early teens. I frequently found myself rolling my eyes at the way the author would describe a particular situation.The book is also horribly overwritten. Chapters are devoted to relationships that have no bearing on the overall story. The book has a schizophrenic feel with chapters jumping between the past, present, and future. This shouldn't be surprising as the author seems to suffer from a dozen psychological problems.The only reason I read the book to the end was so that I could write a review here and warn others that the reviews you heard on CSPAN and NPR were horribly wrong.