Book Club #7

Reading the novel has given me quite a headache at some points.  For example, half the time I don't know who is being discussed or what event is going on because of the numerous unfamiliar names and places presented.  Sometimes I wonder if Filkins should have focused on one person's story and experience with the war and did a longer profile piece on that person.  He still could have incorporated all of his information regarding the culture of Iraq but by focusing on a main event or person, the account may have been more comprehensive.  Filkins discusses a lot of events and uses great imagery especially when he discusses the death of Americans, Iraqis, and even infants.  I do feel that the names of people and places does distract me from the meaning of his novel even though I still believe one of the central themes/theses is that the Iraqi culture is not much different than American culture.  I'm wondering if he took too many notes and quoted too many people during his time in Iraq.  If he had followed the doctor of the hospital where infants were dying daily, that might have been a great story to see how the hospitals were before and after Saddam Hussein's reign or before/after the war.  Or he could have followed a family who had lost relatives due to the American or Iraqi soldiers.  He included a lot of information in this novel that might have been better if broken up into shorter works.  It's an easy read as far as the language but as far as the people and events go, it gets terribly confusing.