Inshallah

by Alys Einion

[pamela]

I tried so hard to like this book, I really did. I think it's important to support new authors, especially local ones, however this book not only left me cold; it left me angry.

The author makes no attempt to work through the psychology of her characters or make any attempt to understand the differing cultures and the tensions that they cause in any real depth. She relies instead on a steady stream of clichés and stereotypes and paints Saudi culture in a generally negative light.

None of the characters were sympathetic, they weren't strong and there was no personal growth. Instead of feeling empathy for the plight of the protagonist I instead ended up feeling antagonistic toward her. I simply couldn't identify with any of the characters or their decisions and as such didn't find I cared much about the difficulties in their lives.

The language was excessively flowery and failed to convey its point. It was clunky and lacked flow and all in all it just wasn't a very a good book.