Reviews

Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela

mominakamran's review

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

_elisabr_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

cayla_claasen's review against another edition

3.0

This was definitely an interesting read and honestly, I had no idea that the book would take such a wild symbolism turn. the book is about three women who goes on a vacation, each with their own set of problems. they hope the time away will give them comfort, however, the past has a way of catching up with you and you can never outrun your problems.
About halfway in the book, the symbolism kicks in and the weird things happening finally makes sense.
I would definitely recommend this book for someone in searching for some casual reading material. this book also gave me a big insight on Arabic culture and that was interesting to read.

nezzaaa's review

4.0

don't know how I feel about the magical realism, but the rest was good

I want to visit Scotland now...

milliepaterson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

alisha94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

benereads's review against another edition

challenging inspiring slow-paced

4.0

liltaytay's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.75

jochno's review

4.0

Leila Aboulela has a remarkable skill for communicating the internal life of her characters and the book's best points are when we are plunged most deeply into the sometimes circular, inane but never dull trains of thought that drive, Moni, Iman and Salma. I have to admit though I was caught slightly off-guard by the book's shift from realism to magical realism over the last fifty or so pages and it ended up detracting somewhat from what came before. There were signs that the strange might be lurking round the corner but judging from the reviews I am not the only one who was caught by surprise!

kikireads's review against another edition

Leaving the rest of this struggle book until I get the confirmed book club schedule.