In an effort to reflect and share the new passions I found once I ditched alcohol, I’m starting a weekend book review, featuring some of my favorite books. This weekly feature will share my insights and recommendations on literary and historical fiction and well as non-fiction quit-lit, memoirs, nature, Christian and self-help. My hope is that you come away with something to add to your To-Be-Read shelf. Happy reading!
This Week’s Pick: An Unlasting Home by Mai Al-Kalib
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Pages: 380
- Published: April 12, 2022 by Mariner Books
- A debut novel from an award-winning short story writer: a multigenerational saga spanning Lebanon, Iraq, India, the United States, and Kuwait that brings to life the triumphs and failures of three generations of Arab women.
“To proceed forward requires periodic turns back, even if those turns are denied, even if they hurt like hell. The past persists like a wound. If it isn’t locked in place, it knocks around endlessly…”
This insight from Sara, the main character in Mai Al-Nakib’s An Unlasting Home, seems to encapsulate the timeless human struggle to reconcile the past with the present before we can move on. Expressed in actions, felt as longing, we must do what we need to do (return home, reopen a lost connection, listen to the life stories of our loved ones) before we can pick up our own pieces and arrange them in a meaningful way.
These were some of my reflections as I closed Mai Al-Nakib’s immersive debut historical fiction novel. This is the story of Sara, a modern day professor of philosophy at Kuwait University who is charged with blasphemy when one of her fundamentalist students records her lecture on Nietzsche. A new law that carries with it a possible sentence of execution, we sit with Sara in the accompanying months and witness her worry, indignation and alienation to the country of her childhood. She finds herself without her family, due to either death or distance, and she cocoons herself in memories and reflections on the past. We travel back in time to take in the life stories of the complex and nuanced lives of her family, focusing mainly on her grandmothers (Yasmine and Lulwa), mother (Noura) and Maria, the ayah that was her second mom. Their stories are filled with sacrifice and fierce love, and beautifully depict the challenges of being a woman in a time and place where your voice and ambition must continually be stifled. Sara also tells her own story; a story of living both in Kuwait and the United States and struggles with finding her identity and place in both worlds as well as her passivity in her romantic relationships.
The other presence in this novel is Kuwait and its complicated history paired against Sara’s complicated relationship with it. This country holds her childhood memories and is steeped in feelings she is not ready to let go, yet the modern-day fundamentalism is a heavy robe that is slowly suffocating her. While this is a work of fiction, the Author’s Note explained that the elected parliament in Kuwait did pass an amendment in 2013 (by a wide margin) making blasphemy a capital crime, but the amir of Kuwait rejected the decision.
With all of this going on, the reader is transported seamlessly between countries (Kuwait, India, the United States, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey) and immersed in the culture and history through the descriptive and exotic details. I could feel the heat and dust, smell the burning oil, see the verdant Indian forests, and taste the Middle Eastern fare. I loved reading this multi-layered story because I was simultaneously learning about cultures I don’t know enough about.
I look forward to more works by the gifted Al-Nakib and plan to read her collection of short stories, The Hidden Light of Objects.
For more recommendations, you can read and follow my reviews Goodreads.
this sounds just lovely. I have often enjoyed books of this nature. Last year i read Kabul Beauty School – it was eye opening. And of course most of us have read Kite Runner. I cant remember names of others but those based in that area, written from a woman’s viewpoint always attracted me.It never fails to astonish me that there are parts of the world that still stifle women in this way. although i have to admit lately to feeling like our own country is going backwards in this direction sometimes.
It’s a beautifully written story, Lovie! I think you would really enjoy it. I learned a lot while being immersed in a different world.
will be keeping it in mind..i have to have it on cd book since my eyesight isnt great..thanks so much! love the sense of emotional power, yet vulnerability you describe:)