A wonderful novel that once again introduces me to something I didn't know. I had never heard about the marshlands of Iraq or to the people of the marshes and their customs.

This is written in matter of fact, unsentimental prose. It offers amazing details in a detached, unsentimental almost detached manner, no matter the horrible things that are being done. It introduces the reader to a young physician named Gus and shows us how he became involved with the people of the marsh, a people he grows to admire to his own detriment. It is told in three parts, moving backwards. How Gus ends up where he does is told in these different segments since the reader first meets Gus as an older man, just released from many years in prison.

I have included a link to pictures of the people who lived in the marshlands. I looked up the history and as the book shows these people have now been displaced, the marshes drained which is also part of this novel. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=marsh+people+of+iraq&qpvt=marsh+people+o...

A fantastic story about a way of life now gone and a young idealistic doctor who pays a high price. I loved it. ( )