What did you learn about Kurdish culture through this book that you found interesting?

What did you learn about Kurdish culture through this book that you found interesting? Are there any new foods you'd like to try? New music? Would you like to read Sherko Bekas's poetry?

The comparison between the Kurds and Native Americans stuck with me and caused me to look at the plight of the Kurds differently than I had before that phrase. I did not realize that imperialism created their 2nd class citizenship. Some of the foods described reminded me of foods my mother used to make which she learned from her Syrian grandmother. (I thought she was scary as a child - she spoke a stern mixture of Arabic, French and English.) I'd be open to listening to new music but I'm not much of a poetry reader.

I gained new respect for a brave people.

The Kurds are a people and culture without a true home nation. That fact alone is absolutely depressing. Descriptions in the book allow readers to understand the deep rooted resentment toward others that is passed to younger generations when an awareness is gained about multiple groups of tormentors who want to extinguish any means of promoting Kurdish traditions. I found it terrifying to think you could be beaten for speaking a native language.

I had not realized that the Kurds lost their homeland and how it had been divided up between the surrounding countries It was also horrifying to read about how women are treated, especially with what has happened recently in Afghanistan. Being a writer of poetry, I am very interested in reading the poems of Sherko Bekas.

I knew they didn't have their own homeland, but I didn't really understand how that had happened. It seems so terrible that no matter what country they are part of, they are still suppressed. Their view on women being strong was important to me and that it is not a religious division, but a cultural one.