Riverbend

I thought it was interesting how she included information about Iraqi culture along with war. In several of the other novels and war pieces that we read throughout the year people had a lack of understanding about other’s cultures or did not focus on the culture at all. She includes snippets of both the war and Iraq in general, which gives people a fuller understanding on the war. Looking at the war from this perspective was new and rewarding. I also like the last post title “Ten Years On” because of the look on the war so many years later. She discussed what Iraqis had learned ten years after Baghdad’s fall. This blog has such a unique perspective because it starts while she is in Iraq with her family and ends in reflection ten years later. What surprises me about this blog is that she wrote the blog over the course of ten years and remained anonymous the entire time. It makes readers wonder why she chose to stay anonymous over all that time. Was it because she was more comfortable with that or that if her name were to get out there would be a backlash where she lives? A lot of blog posts contain parts that speak out against the things that the Iraqi government were doing and the things that were happening in order to go with the U.S. Even after her entries were collected for a published book, she never revealed her identity. It’s interesting to think about because it gives you more insight into what kind of environment and mindset she lives in.