This is a story that follows Hiroko through her life. The story starts in Japan during WWII and ends in 2002. We follow Hiroko as she loves, loses, and ages. While the events in history play second to the story there are many things that Hiroko deals with: the bombing in Nagasaki, the split of India and Pakistan, 9/11. The characters are well rounded, and as the story jumps from one to the other we really get a sense of who these people are and what emotions they are dealing with. I became connected to just about all of the characters.

The story is well written, the descriptions were a bit much in some places, but the pictures that Shamsie is able to paint with words are breathtaking. Her use of reacurring themes makes the story really go full circle. Her ability to take monumental events in history and make them the basis of Hiroko's life, without making the story simply about the history is a feat.

A good read. There were parts that read a little slow, but there weren't many and the story is compelling enough to pull you through them.

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Opening with the bombing of Nagasaki, "Burnt Shadows" shows the character Hiroko losing her fiance to the gruesome reality of a nuclear war. Fast forward numerous years, and Hiroko is trying to impart an understanding of the horrors humans impart on each other to her son Raza, only to have him gain this understanding through his own journeys.

Spanning many years, countries and wars, "Burnt Shadows" brings the reader to the post 9-11 New York where Hiroko is witnessing the deportation of Muslims for no concrete reasons. While it's hard to summarize a book such as "Burnt Shadows", it is clear that the author, Kamila Shamsie, wanted to point out the ignorance of people who jump to the chance to retaliate when the war isn't on their shore, and it's not their son or father fighting the war. "Burnt Shadows" is beautifully written and written with immense feeling for the individuals who suffer at the hands of others.

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