Scan barcode
abookolive's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
jeannakedrowski's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kblincoln's review
5.0
Sirine is a chef in a Middle Eastern restaurant in LA, the orphaned child of Red Cross worker parents killed in Africa, raised by an Iraqi uncle amongst poetry, literature, and fairy-tale like stories of family and possibly Omar Sharif.
Her tale is redolent with sumac, garlic, thyme and spotted olive oil and currants. There is a shifting POV that creates uneasiness to her story, that puts you offbalance when you read about her love affair with an Iraqi exile professor or when you listen to her uncle talk about the journey of her grandmother to find her missing so, the man who sells himself as a slave and then pretends to drown by throwing himself off the boat mid-sea and is stolen by a mermaid before he comes to the USA.
And it is also the tale of longing, love, and loss for a country, for an identity, as the cafe where Sirine works is mainly populated by emigres and students from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt-- all the colors and flavors of what being an Arab might mean as they are irresistably drawn to the food and memories she creates.
There are also dark political undercurrents in the story that ultimately drag some of the main characters down, the legacy of the USA's embargo against Iraq and Saddam Hussein's rule.
At the end, you are left full, like you've eaten a veritable fragrant feast of emotions and history and tales, but also uncomfortable like you've taken in too much, too much of Sirine's friends caring for her, of the mysterious photographer Nathan's heartbreak, of the tragedy of loving a country and having to leave it in Sirine's lover, Han. This is a beautiful, difficult tale, and near the end, I got impatient with the author's pattern of just listing food ingredients as some kind of code for Sirine's mental state, but could not fault the overall emotionally deep affect.
Her tale is redolent with sumac, garlic, thyme and spotted olive oil and currants. There is a shifting POV that creates uneasiness to her story, that puts you offbalance when you read about her love affair with an Iraqi exile professor or when you listen to her uncle talk about the journey of her grandmother to find her missing so, the man who sells himself as a slave and then pretends to drown by throwing himself off the boat mid-sea and is stolen by a mermaid before he comes to the USA.
And it is also the tale of longing, love, and loss for a country, for an identity, as the cafe where Sirine works is mainly populated by emigres and students from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt-- all the colors and flavors of what being an Arab might mean as they are irresistably drawn to the food and memories she creates.
There are also dark political undercurrents in the story that ultimately drag some of the main characters down, the legacy of the USA's embargo against Iraq and Saddam Hussein's rule.
At the end, you are left full, like you've eaten a veritable fragrant feast of emotions and history and tales, but also uncomfortable like you've taken in too much, too much of Sirine's friends caring for her, of the mysterious photographer Nathan's heartbreak, of the tragedy of loving a country and having to leave it in Sirine's lover, Han. This is a beautiful, difficult tale, and near the end, I got impatient with the author's pattern of just listing food ingredients as some kind of code for Sirine's mental state, but could not fault the overall emotionally deep affect.
mrssoule's review against another edition
3.0
An American chef of Iraqi heritage works at a Middle Eastern cafe and allows her cooking, her friends, and her uncle to be her world - until she is introduced to a handsome Iraqi professor with whom she begins a passionate love affair. Due to his influence - his longing for home and frustrations with political exile - she begins exploring her own Iraqi heritage through food, family history, the news, and Islam.
This book made me hungry for Middle Eastern fare! The food descriptions are mouth-watering and writing style soothing. The one thing that bothered me about this book was the sex - the heroine sleeps with two different men in a short amount of time - one for love, the other for reasons completely unclear to me - and it just didn't seem to fit the rest of the story, especially with her uncle's wisdom and in the midst of her exploring her religious roots.
Something I Learned: Islam uses the crescent moon to symbolize hope and the beginning of a new time. The crescent is the first sliver of moon seen after the new moon.
Words I Learned:
mellifluous = smooth and sweet
perspicacious = having penetrating mental discernment
sough = to make a soft murmuring or rustling sound
This book made me hungry for Middle Eastern fare! The food descriptions are mouth-watering and writing style soothing. The one thing that bothered me about this book was the sex - the heroine sleeps with two different men in a short amount of time - one for love, the other for reasons completely unclear to me - and it just didn't seem to fit the rest of the story, especially with her uncle's wisdom and in the midst of her exploring her religious roots.
Something I Learned: Islam uses the crescent moon to symbolize hope and the beginning of a new time. The crescent is the first sliver of moon seen after the new moon.
Words I Learned:
mellifluous = smooth and sweet
perspicacious = having penetrating mental discernment
sough = to make a soft murmuring or rustling sound
drakean8's review against another edition
3.0
In the characteristic middle-eastern style, this is a story within a story within a story. A little difficult to get into, but once I got going, I enjoyed it.
marlowek's review against another edition
2.0
This book was highly recommended and rated well, but I found the main character to be totally uninteresting. Well, she liked to cook, but that seemed to be all. She cooked lamb ... a lot. If you like reading about uninteresting people cooking lamb, read this book. Some other stuff happened too, but it wasn't interesting either.
zilfworks's review against another edition
4.0
I've read this twice now (once a couple of years ago and again just last month for our book group), and it definitely holds up on a second reading. Lovely writing, exquisite food descriptions (you'll get hungry!). My only quibble is with the final 20 pages or so, in which the author uses a very cliched gimmick to move the plot along...not once but twice. A move very out of character with the rest of the book, which is very well written in almost all other respects.
snowmaiden's review against another edition
5.0
I think the last time I was this intoxicated by a novel was with [b: Mortal Love|102883|Mortal Love|Elizabeth Hand|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348335068s/102883.jpg|1716177], which I read almost exactly four years ago. Perhaps I was overdue to have all my senses blown out, but this one more than made up for the long wait. The first section is full of so much happiness (or actually, I’d say joy), with many luscious cooking scenes and also some delicious love scenes. I was thrilled, but also wary, because any book that starts out so happily has only one direction to go.
Eventually, the difficult times did come, as secrets from the past bred more secrets in the present and misunderstandings galore. Of course, as always, it was not the secrets themselves that caused the problems, but the power that people gave them. (If I was a novelist, my books would be about 10 pages long, because I’d have everybody tell all their secrets right away, and then all the drama would be gone.) Eventually, of course, all is revealed, and the ending was a satisfying one to me. I recommend this one to anyone who likes great food writing with a side of melodrama. (Bonus points if you’re interested in Middle Eastern culture.)
Eventually, the difficult times did come, as secrets from the past bred more secrets in the present and misunderstandings galore. Of course, as always, it was not the secrets themselves that caused the problems, but the power that people gave them. (If I was a novelist, my books would be about 10 pages long, because I’d have everybody tell all their secrets right away, and then all the drama would be gone.) Eventually, of course, all is revealed, and the ending was a satisfying one to me. I recommend this one to anyone who likes great food writing with a side of melodrama. (Bonus points if you’re interested in Middle Eastern culture.)
jess_segraves's review against another edition
4.0
I tried reading this book once before and had a difficult time getting into it. I actually was required to read this for my Religion & American Foodways class, though I found myself reading it more as a novel for fun than a book for class.
Abu-Jaber has a wonderful, delicate, sensory way of writing that really draws in your sense of smell and touch. The emotions in this book were palpable, and the plot interesting and surprising.
Abu-Jaber has a wonderful, delicate, sensory way of writing that really draws in your sense of smell and touch. The emotions in this book were palpable, and the plot interesting and surprising.