Reviews

Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela

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musingsonliving's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

blessing_aj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative lighthearted 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

4.25

4.25🌟
Main themes are faith, friendships and self-discovery.

The imagery and character development in this book was so well done, you get a sense that this story was very much alive in the author’s mind before she even put it down.
The magical realism bits went over my head a lot but I have a good idea of where the author was going with it.

t_rex_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

justanotherbookworm2021's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.5

sagarific's review against another edition

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The premise was interesting enough, and I really was curious about these characters. I expected the story to move slowly, but I honestly found this character-driven narrative to be a bit of a drag because the characters didn’t really move me in any way. I *really* tried - I did almost get to the halfway mark - but this was not it for me.

totesintobooks's review

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5.0

If you’re into Sufi stories (or Sufisticated ones), this one’s for you! The content is as beautiful as the cover. Inspired by Farid Ud-din Attar’s The Conference of Birds (which I also love), Lela explores deeper realities of sins like adultery and disobedience towards our spouses born from humanity, dignity and strength and while these are qualities which outward seems good to the sinner it might not necessarily be so when it comes from our egos. Salma, Iman and Moni are three women struggling with their own sins trying to find the path back to redemption. There are many lessons that you can draw from the stories being told by the Hoopoe. You’ll also learn that it is about greed, laziness and despair over one’s circumstances.

“Remember it, though, when things become too difficult and your instinct is to scream out, that's not fair, that's not fair. Because more likely it is fair, even though by all accounts and appearances, it looks like nothing of the sort.”

To put the cherry on top, Lela wrote about trusting a guide and following a guide instead of relying on ourselves.

“'In every journey,' said the Hoopoe, ‘there comes a point, around three quarters of the way through, when the traveller, without a guide, can go no further. But not everyone finds a guide. Not everyone accepts a guide. Not everyone is convinced. Many would rather keep fumbling on their own, trying and trying again. They would rather risk not completing the journey, they would rather risk getting lost or content themselves with the advance already made, than follow in trust.'”

10/5⭐️ I probably won’t shut up about recommending this book and might just buy a physical copy for myself. LIKE HELLO I FOUND MY NEW FAV AUTHOR!!!

aish_dols's review against another edition

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4.0

'They underestimated their own importance and exaggerated their shortcomings. They inflated their problems and followed their egos, counselled each other but rejected what was right. Their quarrels taking up space, their connections weakening. And now they were far away, deep in the realm of consequence.'

Three immigrant women – Moni, Salma and Iman, will journey through the Scottish Islands to visit the grave of a revert in the Victorian Era, Lady Evelyn Cobbold (the first woman to go for the Holy pilgrimage to Mecca, who happens to be british and the daughter of the Earl of Dunmore//This is a fact//), to strengthen their faith & roots.

Iman, young and gorgeous/has a record of two past marriages/known to have possessive partners. Salma, the oldest/also the one willing to leave her four kids and husband for a parallel life with a man it could've worked out with & Moni, the richest but with a huge trial/has a son with cerebral palsy and the whole dilemma is rocking her young marriage – on their way to visit the grave, would face their own souls, desires and longings in what seems to be a fantasy aspect of the book.

The human journey, faith, spiritual guidance and destination in Bird Summons is defined using stories, fantasy, imagination and reality. There are etiquettes for visiting the grave in Islam and Salma sort of broke that in the mix of the fantasy aspect in the book, Salma ended up asking late Lady Evelyn for help next to her graveside, got some visions too by the bronze plaque of the gravestone. I didn't really feel that part. I get the grave visitation to reflect on the death and life of the individual and pray for them but the fantasy infusion was very thick (for me) at some point.

Above all, I drew several lessons from Bird Summons when it comes to human desires, temptations and how holding on to Him regardless of our own inclinations turns out better for us.