Reviews

When the Apricots Bloom by Gina Wilkinson

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kumipaul's review against another edition

3.0

I was fascinated by the story itself, with its frightening view of Iraq under Sadaam Hussein and his family. Wilkinson's fictionalized depiction of the violence, lies, deception and fear were based on her own experiences there, and were emotionally gripping. I was not a fan of her writing style, which often used devices that were simplistic and more YA in style than I'd expect for this novel. Good suspense build-up in the second half, and good ending.

katiez624's review against another edition

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3.0

This book centers around three women: Rania, Huda, and Ally. Rania and Huda have a shared history that is intimate but also fraught with resentment. Ally has followed her diplomat husband to Baghdad to try to reconnect with her dead mother, who also spent many formative years in the same city, many decades ago.

The corruption and mistrust of foreigners are rampant within the government officials. Living in an environment where any misstep could result in death or torture for yourself and your family is terrifying and exhausting. The city of Baghdad in that time period is portrayed as extremely dangerous and corrupt.

Although the book is well-written, I couldn't really connect with any of the characters. All three of them had ulterior motives and rarely told the truth, which made it difficult to relate to them. There also seemed to be a strange dichotomy; while some were always on high alert and knew that imprisonment and torture could be imminent, others did not seem too concerned about the ruling regime and their policies.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.

karaklos's review against another edition

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3.0

When the Apricots Bloom is an interesting and disturbing read about the lives of three women living under Saddam Hussein’s regime. Two of the women (Huda and Rania) are Iraqi and the other woman Ally is Australian and hiding the fact that she has dual American citizenship (which did not seem realistic).

Ally’s husband is the Australian deputy ambassador to Iraq and they move to Baghdad for his new position. While there, Ally is trying to track down information about her deceased mother who used to live in Baghdad but doesn’t get very far. I thought the story would delve more into her mother’s history and was disappointed that this storyline fizzled out. I think the author just wanted Ally to have something to do.

Huda works at the Australian embassy and is forced by the mukhabarat (the Iraqi police) to befriend Ally and report on any suspicious behavior. The scenes between Huda and the officers were supposed to be terrifying but I didn’t really feel the connection to Huda to empathize.

Rania and Huda were friends when they were young but their friendship dissolved years ago. Both of their kids end up in perilous situations and the women reestablish their relationship to help them. They plot a scheme which seemed far-fetched.

Wilkinson did a nice job portraying what it was like for both an outsider and insider at the time of Hussein’s rule. While I was interested in learning more about it, this wasn’t a book I was eager to pick up. The buildup was pretty slow and the ending picked up and then abruptly ended. The women were all unlikeable in their own way and I questioned most of their decisions. Just an ok read.