A review by jade_smith
Son of Sin by Omar Sakr

emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This was an endlessly important story, and Omar Sakr's writing style was, at times, captivatingly brilliant. I'm a fan of his poetry, and some of the lines in this novel were so good that I had to pause, think, and reread. Sakr's ability to bring to life the anger, shame, and complicated types of love felt by his characters and their communities was commendable. 

This being said, the structure of the novel didn't quite work for me. It felt half way between a family soap opera (a fact indeed acknowledged by characters in-text), a coming of age epic, and a piece of poetry. And it really, almost, nearly worked phenomenally, but the disconnect was enough that this novel never quite landed the way I wanted it to. 

This being said, I acknowledge that I am writing from a very Anglo-Australian background. This novel would have no doubt affected me very differently if I came from a first- or second-gen immigrant family. For this reason, I'm hesitant to frame the things that didn't "work" for me about the novel as critiques, so much as points of critical consideration. 

We need more stories like these, and we need more writers like Omar Sakr. Coming in at just under 300 pages, this is a book that's worth picking up.