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A review by perfect_leaves
The Prayer Rug by H.M. Hymas
2.0
Received a free copy via netgalley for an honest review, below are the take-aways from the editorial-length review I plan to write:
I really wanted to like this book. I love to hear lesser-told narratives, and this one checked all the boxes: female main character, Muslim characters, middle eastern characters. There was so much potential, but the book fell completely flat. The writing is clumsy, the "plot twists" are obvious, and the characters feel more like caricatures.
I was excited to see some Islamic thought peppered throughout the book: why we pray, why we fast, why we cover. But these aspects were dropped into the story, rather than woven in, and the author only touched on the basics, without addressing the shades of meaning and variations in practice. In a book that spends so much time talking about Sunni/Shia conflict, discussing the differences would have been easy. On some level, I'm glad the author didn't attempt; he wouldn't have done the topic justice.
The thing I found most appalling about the book was the blatant propaganda. We get it, the war in Iraq ruined people's lives. Show us, don't tell us. The characters repeated some version of the phrase "things were better before the Americans came" so many times I thought I was going to puke. But even as they said it, they contradicted it by detailing the horrible reign of Saddam Hussein.
Frankly, I'm glad I received this for free, in ebook format. It's not worth the paper it's printed on.
I would have given the novel one star, but I gave it another star because it's a book that deals with both women and Islam, and the worlds needs more of those narratives. Even horribly constructed narratives are welcome, because they encourage discussion.
I really wanted to like this book. I love to hear lesser-told narratives, and this one checked all the boxes: female main character, Muslim characters, middle eastern characters. There was so much potential, but the book fell completely flat. The writing is clumsy, the "plot twists" are obvious, and the characters feel more like caricatures.
I was excited to see some Islamic thought peppered throughout the book: why we pray, why we fast, why we cover. But these aspects were dropped into the story, rather than woven in, and the author only touched on the basics, without addressing the shades of meaning and variations in practice. In a book that spends so much time talking about Sunni/Shia conflict, discussing the differences would have been easy. On some level, I'm glad the author didn't attempt; he wouldn't have done the topic justice.
The thing I found most appalling about the book was the blatant propaganda. We get it, the war in Iraq ruined people's lives. Show us, don't tell us. The characters repeated some version of the phrase "things were better before the Americans came" so many times I thought I was going to puke. But even as they said it, they contradicted it by detailing the horrible reign of Saddam Hussein.
Frankly, I'm glad I received this for free, in ebook format. It's not worth the paper it's printed on.
I would have given the novel one star, but I gave it another star because it's a book that deals with both women and Islam, and the worlds needs more of those narratives. Even horribly constructed narratives are welcome, because they encourage discussion.