A love story between a Muslim and a Jew in 1940’s Palestine. We follow the Dinar family across three generations.
I’m just going to jump right in. I love family sagas. Love them. They’re my favorite type of books because I love character studies. Put those characters in a setting I know little about, add religious and political tension, and it’s bound to be a forever favorite of mine.
Unfortunately, this was not that book.
I struggled with the writing style; it may be that the author has a background in journalism, so it might be my personal preference, but it felt like 200 pages of author's notes and ideas on where the story should go without fleshing it out. The character interactions felt empty and devoid of emotion, and the characters themselves were hard to connect with; they just seemed flat, unrealistic, and all had a similar tone. Also, the sex scenes were bizarre; the visual sex lessions from a priest was disturbing.
For a story that had an undercurrent of pushing equality between men and women against cultural and religious views, the women in this book were painted as immature and irrational.
I do understand what the author was trying to accomplish, and that was a big reason why I wanted to read the book. The overall idea that people are beyond their differences in culture and religion, as we all share a commonality in the importance of family and love. The execution, however, just didn’t work for me.
I would never dissuade someone from reading a book, just be aware of these things going in.
I’m just going to jump right in. I love family sagas. Love them. They’re my favorite type of books because I love character studies. Put those characters in a setting I know little about, add religious and political tension, and it’s bound to be a forever favorite of mine.
Unfortunately, this was not that book.
I struggled with the writing style; it may be that the author has a background in journalism, so it might be my personal preference, but it felt like 200 pages of author's notes and ideas on where the story should go without fleshing it out. The character interactions felt empty and devoid of emotion, and the characters themselves were hard to connect with; they just seemed flat, unrealistic, and all had a similar tone. Also, the sex scenes were bizarre; the visual sex lessions from a priest was disturbing.
For a story that had an undercurrent of pushing equality between men and women against cultural and religious views, the women in this book were painted as immature and irrational.
I do understand what the author was trying to accomplish, and that was a big reason why I wanted to read the book. The overall idea that people are beyond their differences in culture and religion, as we all share a commonality in the importance of family and love. The execution, however, just didn’t work for me.
I would never dissuade someone from reading a book, just be aware of these things going in.