A review by misspalah
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

5.0

This book is like an unassembled of jigsaw puzzle whereby the jigsaw pieces scattered around. In order for you to have a complete jigsaw puzzle, you have to examine each piece, one by one and see where it fits and belong to in the first place. If you don't have the patience for it, you will not enjoy this book. It broke my heart to see how this book that is beautifully written got 3.46 rating in goodreads. This book even won the man booker international prize. I don't usually enjoy fiction but this will be one of my favorite books this year and i will recommend the hell out of it to other readers. The book started the story with 3 sisters, Mayya, Asma & Khawla that lived their life quite distinctively. The emphasis on Oman's patriarchal society is the focus of the book . It examines the infidelity in marriage, the illiteracy portrayed by the majority of female characters, the separation of female and male based on functions and roles and intensified gender roles. This book make me want to pick up a non fiction book about Oman. Sure, the author did put some bits here and there of Oman History in relation to the characters in the story. Kudos to translator as well , some of the sentences are just exquisite. I am pretty sure some got lost in translation but since i couldn't read the original language, this will have to do. Out of these 3 sisters, i invested the most in Asma Character. She is a plain girl but she is smart. She fell in love with a guy that betrothed to her, got married to him but only to realize that her definition of love towards him is the opposite of what he felt towards her. She didn't let this be the thorn in their marriage. She adapt and improvise her love so that both can ultimately enjoy their marriage according to their space and zone they created in the first place. Her husband might be an artist but Asma is the genius behind his art. She doesn't relegated herself as his muse or his butterfly, she is the galaxy of her own orbit and the queen of her own throne. She managed to live for herself compared to her other sisters. Overall, What an amazing novel. It's quite risky to read it if you are not ready to go through each character in the book in a non linear style.