The end of manners

From the critically acclaimed author of Rules of the Wild, a thrilling, timely, and darkly funny story of friendship, human frailty, and war--and the role of outsiders in a country where they do not belong.Maria Galante--rule-abiding, shy, a perfectionist--and larger-than-life journalist Imo Glass are on assignment in Afghanistan: Imo to interview girls who've attempted suicide rather than be married off to older men, Maria to photograph them. But in a culture in which women shroud their faces and suicide is a grave taboo, to photograph these women is to dishonor--and perhaps endanger--them. Maria and Imo must find their way among spies, arms dealers, and mercenaries, and through the back alleys of Kabul and into Pashtun villages, where the fragility of life stands out in bold relief. Before the assignment is over, Maria will have to decide if it's more important to succeed at her work--and please Imo--or to follow her own moral compass.Stunningly evocative and richly observed, The End of Manners is a story of friendship and loyalty, of the transformative power of journeying outside oneself into the wider world.From the Hardcover edition.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.