You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
Having studied formal Arabic myself many years ago, I was intrigued by the idea going to various Arabic speaking countries to learn the "real" language used by real speakers. In the book, Ms. O'Neill visits Egypt, The Gulf States, Lebanon, and Morocco. She delivers incredible insights into the language, the culture, and the relationship between the two. I liked this book so much, I'm making my colleagues (We are ESL teachers.) read this for professional development. If you like learning about languages or cultures, I recommend this book.
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This book is the moral opposite of Eat, Pray, Love. If you, like me, thought that book was offensive, exploitative, and tone-deaf, this book might be an antidote.
Zora O'Neill is respectful of the culture(s) she encounters, expresses a genuine desire to learn Arabic, and appreciates the people she meets and adventures she has. She doesn't dismiss cultural differences, but rather acknowledges and learns from them; she doesn't put down those with whom she shares little background, but rather treats them respectfully and courteously. The entire book was a refreshing balm after the frustrating lack of self-awareness that was Eat, Pray, Love. Although it was slightly disappointing that O'Neill never really delves into the political aspect of being an American woman travelling across various Middle Eastern countries for tourism purposes, I did feel as though she were keenly aware of her own privilege (and disadvantages!), and didn't act like she was superior to anyone she met on her travels. This is, after all, her memoir and therefore about her, which is fine.
Zora O'Neill is respectful of the culture(s) she encounters, expresses a genuine desire to learn Arabic, and appreciates the people she meets and adventures she has. She doesn't dismiss cultural differences, but rather acknowledges and learns from them; she doesn't put down those with whom she shares little background, but rather treats them respectfully and courteously. The entire book was a refreshing balm after the frustrating lack of self-awareness that was Eat, Pray, Love. Although it was slightly disappointing that O'Neill never really delves into the political aspect of being an American woman travelling across various Middle Eastern countries for tourism purposes, I did feel as though she were keenly aware of her own privilege (and disadvantages!), and didn't act like she was superior to anyone she met on her travels. This is, after all, her memoir and therefore about her, which is fine.
An American woman traveling the Arab World seeking to improve her Arabic conversational skills and writing a memoir of her journey, sounds interesting?
Except it’s not actually.
There isn’t much content wise and the book feels like a long class on Arabic grammar that somehow had no effect on me.
The travel part is mainly absent and lacks charm when it is present.
However I do think this is one of those books that will have more of an impact as an audiobook, when the book can really speak to you.
Except it’s not actually.
There isn’t much content wise and the book feels like a long class on Arabic grammar that somehow had no effect on me.
The travel part is mainly absent and lacks charm when it is present.
However I do think this is one of those books that will have more of an impact as an audiobook, when the book can really speak to you.
All Strangers Are Kin is a fascinating book about travel, as well as the logistics of the Arabic language. Throughout the memoir, the reader comes to understand Zora and why she is motivated to travel the world. Zora discusses the nuances of Arabic and its many dialects and colloquialisms. By the end of the book, the reader understands that, through her travels, Zora not only better understands the Arabic language, but now better understands the breadth of the human experience.
As someone who has not studied Arabic, I think that an audiobook version would have benefitted me in understanding the struggles and successes of Zora in regards to the dialects and vocabulary . I found myself skimming over the paragraphs that were filled with phrases and explanations of sentence structure because of my unfamiliarity with the language.
As someone who has not studied Arabic, I think that an audiobook version would have benefitted me in understanding the struggles and successes of Zora in regards to the dialects and vocabulary . I found myself skimming over the paragraphs that were filled with phrases and explanations of sentence structure because of my unfamiliarity with the language.
What happens when a middle-aged woman from the US decides to try and master her limited Arabic by travelling around the Middle East to different countries, learning some of the ins and outs of each version of the language? A bit of chaos, a bit of confusion, and an interesting history lesson thrown in. In short, you have 'All Strangers Are Kin'.
This book was a bit of a toss-up for me in regards to the actual reading. The parts where the author emphasized so much of the language were slow and confusing - not a surprise, really, since the language is one of the more complicated ones. However, the parts where the author spends more time talking about the places, the people, and the history of the different locations were far better and are what kept me going throughout. She has an easy way of writing that really works in getting her story out. Frankly, I recommend skipping the second chapter in the Egypt section, because she seems to have gone on a word-bender...the rest is good to go.
Overall, while I'm not sure that I would really recommend this to many friends, it was worth the reading time simply to get a different perspective on the culture of the area, as well as the constant wars. For me, this would be a library book rather than a purchase.
This book was a bit of a toss-up for me in regards to the actual reading. The parts where the author emphasized so much of the language were slow and confusing - not a surprise, really, since the language is one of the more complicated ones. However, the parts where the author spends more time talking about the places, the people, and the history of the different locations were far better and are what kept me going throughout. She has an easy way of writing that really works in getting her story out. Frankly, I recommend skipping the second chapter in the Egypt section, because she seems to have gone on a word-bender...the rest is good to go.
Overall, while I'm not sure that I would really recommend this to many friends, it was worth the reading time simply to get a different perspective on the culture of the area, as well as the constant wars. For me, this would be a library book rather than a purchase.
I got halfway through this book and then had to stop because this book lacks heart and spirit. I kept waiting for the author to unpack some of the racial politics of travelling through the middle east, but she never does, and that was disappointing. Overall, this book lacked life.
I absolutely loved this book. I love languages and linguistics. Although I did not intend to read this book at this particular moment (I am currently attempting to read all the books on the SC Librarians Association book award nominee lists for middle grades and high school), after mistakenly checking the kindle version out from the library, I went ahead and read it. Devoured it, is more like it.
Although I do not hold a strong desire to learn Arabic, I possess an intense desire to become more fluent in Spanish, a language which I have dubbed my "heart language." To read this book while on vacation in Spain? The word "serendipitous" comes to mind.
Although O'Neill's chronology could use some work differentiating for the reader between what happened on her previous study abroad trips to these areas and what happened on the trips taken for the express purpose of writing the book (the reason for four stars instead of five), I loved this book. I could nearly feel her passion for the language and every other emotion she felt on this journey ooze out from the pages. I seriously want to undergo intensive study in Spanish now. Maybe two summers from now?
I highly recommend this book, especially to all the language lovers out there.
Although I do not hold a strong desire to learn Arabic, I possess an intense desire to become more fluent in Spanish, a language which I have dubbed my "heart language." To read this book while on vacation in Spain? The word "serendipitous" comes to mind.
Although O'Neill's chronology could use some work differentiating for the reader between what happened on her previous study abroad trips to these areas and what happened on the trips taken for the express purpose of writing the book (the reason for four stars instead of five), I loved this book. I could nearly feel her passion for the language and every other emotion she felt on this journey ooze out from the pages. I seriously want to undergo intensive study in Spanish now. Maybe two summers from now?
I highly recommend this book, especially to all the language lovers out there.
This was, for lack of any better words, linguistically delicious. An absolute must-read for anyone passionate about language learning, travel, and intercultural communication.
Really more of a 3.5, some of the language bits got rather bogged down, although her enthusiasm for grammar is pretty adorable. I was just expecting more travel stories than language stories and that wasn't the case, although I still enjoyed it and especially the 5-6 words of Arabic I recognized.