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The premise of the story -- a woman goes to India, researches her family background, and uncovers family secrets, as well as information about khatna (ie. female genital mutilation) -- sounded intriguing. However, the book was a big disappointment.

First, I hated the writing style. I can't put my finger on it, but it was irritating. And speaking about irritating, Sharifa and her husband, Murtuza -- ugh. They are so obsessed with sex. They think that not having sex for a week is a big fucking deal. I get it -- some people have super high sex drives, but sex seemed to be THE most important thing in their marriage (even over their daughter), and honestly, it seemed like they didn't have much in common and didn't know how to be happy together without sex. I'm surprised that their marriage lasted for as long as it did. And Murtuza's pressing Sharifa to be more sexually adventurous -- double ugh. And the scene where Murtuza finally gets his way and is "dominant" -- triple ugh! If I wanted to read that crap, I'd read Fifty Shades of Grey.

(view spoiler)[Unsurprisingly -- because it was very obvious early on in the book -- Sharifa underwent khatna (without her mother's consent or knowledge) at the age of seven, when on a family trip to India. Aha!! Now we know why she can't orgasm (something Sharifa and Murtuza obsess over throughout the book), because there is no other reason for a woman who is unable, or has difficulty, to have an orgasm. Nope, no other reason at all. After she realizes that this is the reason why she isn't interested the kinky sex her husband keeps badgering her to have, her husband reads a few articles on how she may overcome this horrific and traumatic sexually violent incident -- do some deep breaths during sex and say no and stop if she isn't enjoying herself (you know, things that people should do anyway).

So after just a couple of weeks of finding out she had her clitoris mutilated as a child, she acquiesces and tries these techniques, and it works! After 10 minutes, after a lifetime of being unable to have an orgasm, she has one! All she had to do was breathe and say no when her husband did something she didn't enjoy. Well, damn, it was that simple!

So their sex life is great now, and perhaps that's the reason they didn't notice, or care, that their seven-year-old daughter, Zee, is all of a sudden depressed, withdrawn, and having the shits after spending a couple of hours with her great aunt -- the same woman who took Sharifa for khatna as a child. Hmmm, I wonder what could have happened?

Perhaps if Sharifa had spoken to her daughter about khatna, the tragedy of her daughter having her clitoris mutilated could have been prevented. There is a scene where Sharifa, researching khatna, is watching a video about it. Her daughter comes into the room and asks what the movie is about, and Sharifa tells her, "It's an adult matter, Zee. Not something you need to worry about.... I'll explain when you are older." (p. 183)

What?! It's an adult matter? Yet it is seven year olds who are having khatna done -- doesn't sounds like an adult matter to me. And actually, Zee, at age seven, does need to be worried about it -- she has every right to know that she is in danger of having her genitals mutilated. It pissed me off that Sharifa did not talk to her daughter about her own body. (hide spoiler)]