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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
An interesting memoir that moves quickly, filled more with incident that insight. I picked up Al-Maria's memoir because it was name-checked in the acknowledgements of [b:The Peripheral|20821159|The Peripheral|William Gibson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402651292s/20821159.jpg|40167043]. Al-Maria's story of searching for her identity as she traverses American and Arabic society is interesting & she brings up plenty of topics that curious readers can research themselves. But I frequently wanted to hear more about certain things she brought up. For instance, the author mentions reading [b:Dune|234225|Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1)|Frank Herbert|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389569143s/234225.jpg|3634639] while growing up in Qatar. While she does mention some events or associations that happened in her life that caused her to think on the book, they don't extend past more than a comforting mention when I wanted something akin to Nathan Rabin's pop culture devotions. I do get the feeling that Al-Maria has more to say, so I hope to enjoy further works by her.
Lovely! Initially felt like it might break under the weight of all the alien and space metaphors, but fortunately those fade away just enough (they're still very apt). Very interesting look into not-so-well-off Qatari life.
I think this book was perfectly fine. I'm sure it was probably better than fine but I've been totally off reading lately so a book like this that should have taken me a day to read took three weeks instead. I would totally ignore this review when it comes to deciding whether or not you should read this book.
Much better than I had expected. This is the memoir of a girl who grows up between an American family/childhood and her Bedouin family, constantly shifting from one to the other. Well written and sensitive to the realities of life as a young woman in a Qatari Bedouin semi-tribal environment.