Post One: The Association of Small Bombs

    One of the main reasons I picked The Association of Small Bombs as my book club book was because it was so different from everything I have experienced. Growing up as a privileged American girl, this world of terrorism and loss is very foreign to me. The characters in this book treat the initial bombing as though it is a normal experience, aside from the death of the two boys. That people will just pick themselves up and move on as though nothing happened. This idea is so strange to me, that people could treat the death of many by a violent act as a run-of-the-mill event.

    Recently, there was a shooting in my neighborhood. Nine shots were fired into the garage of the house as a targeted attack. No one was hurt, thankfully, but it made local news on multiple news outlets. But even in nearby cities, where events like this are more common, an event like this could be easily overlooked by news outlets. The fact that people go through daily lives with dangerous events, such as bombings, much more often and have to pick themselves and dust themselves off each time is astounding to me.

    I'm glad I chose this book because it will show me an entirely new perspective of the world from the one I have. I'm interested to learn the impact these events have on a person's psyche as well as the perspectives of the people making them happen.