A review by terryliz
Arabian Jazz by Diana Abu-Jaber

2.0

Last year, I read two of Diana Abu-Jaber's novels and one of her memoirs and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Her descriptive writing style, especially when involving food and cooking, was pure prose. "Arabian Jazz" was her first novel and I just cannot get into it. I'm 237 pages in and I think that's where I'll leave it. The story is about two motherless, Jordanian-American sisters in their late 20's whose aunt is worried that she'll never get them married off. One sister is very focused and outspoken and the other is very unsure of herself. Their forays into dating are just rather silly and some of the characters that surround them seem to just fade in and out. Disappointing.