An Arab-American novel as delicious as Like Water for Chocolate. Praised by critics from The New Yorker to USA Today for her first novel, Arabian Jazz ("an oracular tale that unfurls like gossamer"), Diana Abu-Jaber weaves with spellbinding magic a multidimensional love story set in the Arab-American community of Los Angeles. Thirty-nine-year-old Sirine, never married, lives with a devoted Iraqi-immigrant uncle and an adoring dog named King Babar. She works as a chef in a Lebanese restaurant, her passions aroused only by the preparation of fooduntil an unbearably handsome Arabic literature professor starts dropping by for a little home cooking. Falling in love brings Sirene's whole heart to a boilstirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American. Written in a lush, lyrical style reminiscent of The God of Small Things, infused with the flavors and scents of Middle Eastern food, and spiced with history and fable, Crescent is a sensuous love story and a gripping tale of risk and commitment.
- ISBN10 039305747X
- ISBN13 9780393057478
- Publish Date 17 April 2003 (first published 14 April 2003)
- Publish Status Inactive
- Out of Print 15 June 2007
- Publish Country US
- Imprint WW Norton & Co
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 352
- Language English