Early Review: The Ruins of Us
15 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: fiction, islam, marriage, muslims, polygamy, saudi arabia
The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen (pub date 1/17/12)
What would you be willing to do to marry someone from another culture? Imagine changing your religion, learning a new language, and moving to another continent to be with the person you love.
The Ruins of Us is about a woman who has done just that. Rosalie is a beautiful American, born in Texas, who is married to a sheik named Abdullah. Rosalie left her life behind to live with Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, and quickly adapted to Saudi culture. She converted to Islam, learned Arabic, and dressed and acted as was expected of the women in Abdullah’s country. Together they raised two children, and enjoy the life of luxury that Abdullah’s wealth has provided. But Rosalie’s illusions of a happy life are quickly shattered when she inadvertently learns that Abdullah has taken a second wife, and had been keeping his other marriage a secret for two years.
Shaken and angry, Rosalie starts to reconsider her life with Abdullah and her place in Saudi culture. What is interesting about the book is that it also considers Abdullah’s perspective on the marriage. He is shown as a man who cares deeply for his wife, yet finds himself yearning for the person she was before they were married. It is an interesting paradox to think that he fell in love with Rosalie because she was not like Saudi women, while knowing deep down that she would have to adapt to Saudi culture in order to be accepted by his family, and later resenting her for it.
The turmoil in Rosalie and Abdullah’s marriage makes them too preoccupied to see its effects on their teenage children. Their daughter Mariam years to be a more modern woman, and begins pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior for girls at her school. Their son Faisal takes the opposite approach; he falls in with a group of radical Muslim fundamentalists, and comes to hate his own American heritage.
This is a powerful debut novel. The characters are bold and dynamic. It is interesting to contemplate Rosalie’s character, a woman who prides herself on her independence and spirit, yet who chose to live in a country where she is not legally permitted to drive a car. Abdullah is not entirely unsympathetic; he loves his wife but is conflicted by what is acceptable in his culture and how it affects his marriage. This is a story about love and loyalty that is both well written and engaging. It’s a relevant and entertaining read from a great new author!
Book Review: The Lantern
15 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: fiction, marriage, murder, paranoia, rebecca
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson (pub date 8/9/11)
The Lantern is a modern-day retelling of the classic novel Rebecca. It isn’t shy about telling us this, either, since at one point in the story the female protagonist Eve describes how she just happens to be reading Rebecca and is surprised to see how much it resembles her own life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to an homage or a retelling of a classic story. But a note to the author: we get it. We don’t need the not-so-subtle hint that this story is based on Rebecca. That’s like in the Twilight series when Bella spends an entire freaking chapter reading “Romeo and Juliet” and commenting on how she and Edward come from different worlds. Stephanie Meyer may feel the need to beat her readers over the head with literary references, but Deborah Lawrenson is a better writer than that.
Moving on, The Lantern contains all the basic plot elements that Rebecca does: girl meets boy, falls in love, runs away to be with boy, boy can’t get over his missing ex-wife, girl feels overshadowed by ex-wife’s memory and wonders if boy really loves her. Just substitute Les Genevriers for Manderley and Rachel for Rebecca and you have this book. The novel also contains a subplot involving the former owners of the Les Genevriers estate, with each chapter switching back and forth between Eve’s story in the present day and Benedicte’s story decades in the past. While this subplot is interesting to read, it makes it hard to get into the book. The introduction of Benedicte’s story seemed clumsy at first, and it wasn’t until I was several chapters in that I realized what kind of structure the story was trying to take. Also included is an unsatisfying second subplot about missing village girls that need not have been included in the book at all.
Surprisingly enough, I did not think this was a bad book. Despite the structural issues, it actually is well written. Unfortunately it seemed as though it didn’t know what kind of a book it wanted to be. The author likely included the subplot about Benedicte so as not to make this book too similar to Rebecca, but this left me confused as to whether the book was supposed to be mainly about Eve’s relationship with Dom, or about the history of the estate. If it is meant to be more about the estate, the plot descriptions on Amazon and NetGalley are rather misleading. All in all, The Lantern is a decent story with nice imagery, just not thoroughly satisfying.
Early Review: Domestic Violets
13 May 2011 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: family, fathers and sons, fiction, marriage, quirky
Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman (Pub date September 2011)
Anyone who’s ever wanted to do something creative for a living will likely have a ‘dreams v. responsibility’ crisis at some point in their life. Is it better to stay with the job you hate because it’s safe, or should you give it up for a chance to live your life the way you’ve always wanted? It’s a feeling I can certainly relate to, as I am currently lingering in corporate hell waiting to finish my degree.
Domestic Violets is a novel about choosing the road less travelled. Our protagonist, Tom Violet, is a man living in his famous father’s shadow, working at a mindless job while secretly working on his Great American Novel. At the same time he’s plagued by the suspicion that his wife is having an affair, while also dealing with his womanizing father showing up at his house for an extended stay. Things come to a head when the subversive Tom decides to make a daring move that shocks those around him and sets his life on a different course.
The best thing about Domestic Violets is the writing style. With a biting wit, Matthew Norman expresses Tom’s feelings of frustration and resentment as he goes through his near-midlife crisis. And Norman’s descriptions of corporate absurdity are downright hysterical:
“The team of mouthbreathing goons in IT couldn’t monitor the broad side of a barn. I could be buying plutonium from the Libyans on www.jihad.org right now and no one would know the difference as long as I kept staring straight ahead like a good hardworking employee.”
This book captures perfectly the sense of despair and bitterness that often affect creative people stuck in the hamster wheel of corporate America. It reminds me slightly of Fight Club, although not quite as bold.
This is an enjoyable book. It’s not the most original story I’ve ever read, and a little predictable, but the humor and snappy dialog make it worth reading. Anyone with a weird family, a boring job, or a desire to change their life will find it relatable.
