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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
This was my first book by Leila Aboulela, an author I have been looking forward to reading for a while now. This is the story of Natasha Wilson (previously known as Natasha Hussain) who is half Sudanese and half Russian. Throughout her life, Natasha has done everything possible to dissociate herself from her identity by changing her last name, ignoring her father’s Muslim faith, and moving to Scotland. She is, in short, desperate to conform. Natasha is a university professor researching Imam Shamil, the 19th century Muslim leader who led the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasian War. During one of the discussions, a student Oz (real name Osama) tells her that his mother is in fact descendant of Imam Shamil and is in possession of Shamil’s sword. This set the story in motion, which in turn divided into two timelines. In one timeline. Natasha goes to visit Oz’s mother to see the sword. and other family heirlooms, while in the other timeline we get to meet the legendary hero Imam Shamil.
This is a story that examines what it means to be a Muslim from two different views- one from an extremely provocative time period in history and the second one from a more recent past in the light of post 9/11 repercussions. The writing is lovely and the story flows seamlessly. This entire book was an educational experience for me since I had not even heard of Imam Shamil. To separate fact from fiction, I ended up doing a lot of research on Shamil which helped me build my knowledge. This book gave me Ertugal vibes with Shamil portrayed as a hero who is bigger than life itself.
I liked the book but I didn’t love it. I believe it provides a wonderful learning opportunity and for that reason I recommend everyone to pick it up. People who are fond of Turkish dramas and literature may like it more than people who do not and unfortunately, I fall in the latter category. However I am not giving up on the author, I have another book of hers lined up which I will be reading shortly.
This is a story that examines what it means to be a Muslim from two different views- one from an extremely provocative time period in history and the second one from a more recent past in the light of post 9/11 repercussions. The writing is lovely and the story flows seamlessly. This entire book was an educational experience for me since I had not even heard of Imam Shamil. To separate fact from fiction, I ended up doing a lot of research on Shamil which helped me build my knowledge. This book gave me Ertugal vibes with Shamil portrayed as a hero who is bigger than life itself.
I liked the book but I didn’t love it. I believe it provides a wonderful learning opportunity and for that reason I recommend everyone to pick it up. People who are fond of Turkish dramas and literature may like it more than people who do not and unfortunately, I fall in the latter category. However I am not giving up on the author, I have another book of hers lined up which I will be reading shortly.
Earlier this year I read my first book by Leila Aboulela [b:Bird Summons|52634103|Bird Summons|Leila Aboulela|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568907492l/52634103._SX50_SY75_.jpg|64098430]. I really enjoyed it for so many reasons, which can be read in my review here, but it also confirmed that I wanted to read more from this author and so I chose as the next book to read, one I have had my eye on for some years, but refused to buy because of the terrible cover. That might sound whimsical, but I think that earlier cover does this book a great disservice, the way it turns readers away.
I was completely drawn into this dual narrative story and loved both parts of it, a contemporary story of Natasha Wilson (born Natasha Hussein to a Russian mother and Sudanese father, themselves the product of Russian university education), who is now a university lecturer in Scotland, after her mother leaves her father and remarries a Scot. Natasha is friends with Malak, who is also mixed race, of Russian/Persian parentage, an actor, her son Oz, is in Natasha's class. Natasha is in their home when Oz is arrested and she too comes under suspicion.
Meanwhile, in Sudan, her father whom she hasn't seen for 20 years is dying and there is pressure for her to go and see him, along with resentment and ill-will, all of which are demands for her to stand up for herself and her existence, in her authenticity.
Interwoven between Natasha's story, we are taken to the Caucasus territory in the 1850's, to a period during the conflict between the Highlander mountain men lead by Shamil Imam, and the Russian army.
In earlier years, to settle a conflict, Shamil was only able to negotiate peace by surrendering his son Jamaleldin, who for the next ten years or so was raised as part of the Tsar's family (as his godson). Now Shamil's men have captured the (now) Russian Princess Anna (previously of Georgia- her grandfather ceded that territory to Russia), her French governess and two children Alexander and Lydia.
The Kindness of Enemies follows these stories and although one carries the heavyweight magnitude of a well-known story of significant characters in history, the foreshadowing of it by a modern story, brings to light the many aspects of the past, whose threads might be seen as being current today.
Much of the literature read of the Caucasus in the literary imagination is told from the Russian perspective, by their grand novelists like Tolstoy, Pushkin, whereas Leila Aboulela, by setting the historical part during the time of the Princesses capture, takes us on that journey, re-imagining the events that took place, understanding better the complicated and mixed sympathies of Anna, her grief and how the 8 months in captivity changes her.
She also presents the perspective of young Jamaleldin in another light, how his childhood memories lie dormant yet present, his mixed feelings of the return, and his reality of feeling a part of himself belonging to both worlds, the Highlands and to St Petersburg.
In the contemporary world, Natasha experiences something of the same, born of culturally different parents, spending her childhood in country and her adulthood in another. She has to create her own sense of belonging, to find peace of mind somehow, with being neither one thing or the other, having no one place called home, her's, almost by necessity is a spiritual journey, determined by the need for her soul to find home, rather than her body or mind.
As I read the closing pages, I learn that Leo Tolstoy's final novella, a work of autofiction, also takes place in this world, during events that Tolstoy was a part of. I had never even heard of [b:Hadji Murád|135060|Hadji Murád|Leo Tolstoy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441248516l/135060._SY75_.jpg|2685699], but it feels like an essential read to follow on from The Kindness of Enemies.
Highly Recommended.
I was completely drawn into this dual narrative story and loved both parts of it, a contemporary story of Natasha Wilson (born Natasha Hussein to a Russian mother and Sudanese father, themselves the product of Russian university education), who is now a university lecturer in Scotland, after her mother leaves her father and remarries a Scot. Natasha is friends with Malak, who is also mixed race, of Russian/Persian parentage, an actor, her son Oz, is in Natasha's class. Natasha is in their home when Oz is arrested and she too comes under suspicion.
Meanwhile, in Sudan, her father whom she hasn't seen for 20 years is dying and there is pressure for her to go and see him, along with resentment and ill-will, all of which are demands for her to stand up for herself and her existence, in her authenticity.
“It was an effort formulating this summary, explaining myself. I preferred the distant past, centuries that were over and done with, ghosts that posed no direct threat. History could be milked for this cause or that. We observed it always with hindsight, projecting onto it our modern convictions and anxieties.”
Interwoven between Natasha's story, we are taken to the Caucasus territory in the 1850's, to a period during the conflict between the Highlander mountain men lead by Shamil Imam, and the Russian army.
In earlier years, to settle a conflict, Shamil was only able to negotiate peace by surrendering his son Jamaleldin, who for the next ten years or so was raised as part of the Tsar's family (as his godson). Now Shamil's men have captured the (now) Russian Princess Anna (previously of Georgia- her grandfather ceded that territory to Russia), her French governess and two children Alexander and Lydia.
The Kindness of Enemies follows these stories and although one carries the heavyweight magnitude of a well-known story of significant characters in history, the foreshadowing of it by a modern story, brings to light the many aspects of the past, whose threads might be seen as being current today.
Much of the literature read of the Caucasus in the literary imagination is told from the Russian perspective, by their grand novelists like Tolstoy, Pushkin, whereas Leila Aboulela, by setting the historical part during the time of the Princesses capture, takes us on that journey, re-imagining the events that took place, understanding better the complicated and mixed sympathies of Anna, her grief and how the 8 months in captivity changes her.
She also presents the perspective of young Jamaleldin in another light, how his childhood memories lie dormant yet present, his mixed feelings of the return, and his reality of feeling a part of himself belonging to both worlds, the Highlands and to St Petersburg.
In the contemporary world, Natasha experiences something of the same, born of culturally different parents, spending her childhood in country and her adulthood in another. She has to create her own sense of belonging, to find peace of mind somehow, with being neither one thing or the other, having no one place called home, her's, almost by necessity is a spiritual journey, determined by the need for her soul to find home, rather than her body or mind.
“I said that I was not a good Muslim but that I was not a bad person.I said I had a brother that I wanted to keep in touch with. I said that I wanted to give up my share of the inheritance to him. Apart from my father's Russian books and Russian keepsakes, I wanted nothing. I said that I did not come here today to fight over money or for the share of a house. I came so that I would not be an outcast, so that I would, even in a small way, faintly, marginally, tentatively, belong.”
As I read the closing pages, I learn that Leo Tolstoy's final novella, a work of autofiction, also takes place in this world, during events that Tolstoy was a part of. I had never even heard of [b:Hadji Murád|135060|Hadji Murád|Leo Tolstoy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441248516l/135060._SY75_.jpg|2685699], but it feels like an essential read to follow on from The Kindness of Enemies.
Highly Recommended.
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
at first, I find it hard to think about the connection between Natasha’s story and Imam Shamil’s, other than the fact that she was doing a research about his life and legacies. In the end, I understand the connection, and it was such a beautiful story... The historical story making me doing my own research on Imam Shamil, and the fictional story was so entertaining and heartwarming to read...
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This review has been a little difficult to contemplate doing, mostly because this book has become one of my favorites, and I'm not sure I could do it justice by reviewing it, but I want others to read it, so here it goes.
I grew up in a fairly conservative family made up of pastors. I really grew up with a fairly negative view of Islam and Muslims as a whole. I was taught at my private, Christian school that all Muslims hate "us" (us being Christian Americans, of course) and want to kill "us" on sight. This was taught to me by this school from kindergarten until I left it in 8th grade. I was taught this in a lesser scale at church, too. I thought that hadn't seeped into me, but reading this book I realized it totally had seeped into me.
I encourage anyone who has negative perceptions of Muslims and Islam but wants reasons to change their mind to read this book. I'm very grateful I did as it's caused me to re-investigate certain thoughts and feelings I had left over from that childhood, things I had thought I had for sure left behind that I realized I had not, in all actuality.
I grew up in a fairly conservative family made up of pastors. I really grew up with a fairly negative view of Islam and Muslims as a whole. I was taught at my private, Christian school that all Muslims hate "us" (us being Christian Americans, of course) and want to kill "us" on sight. This was taught to me by this school from kindergarten until I left it in 8th grade. I was taught this in a lesser scale at church, too. I thought that hadn't seeped into me, but reading this book I realized it totally had seeped into me.
I encourage anyone who has negative perceptions of Muslims and Islam but wants reasons to change their mind to read this book. I'm very grateful I did as it's caused me to re-investigate certain thoughts and feelings I had left over from that childhood, things I had thought I had for sure left behind that I realized I had not, in all actuality.
After 9/11, I feel like the western world got a crash course in Islam. The conversation about what jihad and spiritual authority in Islam are still going on. Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies takes that conversation and not only puts it into historical context but also gives us a story about three people who get caught out on the wrong side of religion, culture, and even race. Imam Shamil, an actual historical figure, provides a point of intersection for our three protagonists: a modern scholar, a nineteenth century Georgian princess, and the Imam’s first son...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Terminal illness, Kidnapping
Moderate: Eating disorder, Islamophobia, Death of parent
Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy
It looks like quite a few GR reviewers have thought that the historical portions of this book are stronger than the contemporary. For me, the first few pages had a bit of an info-dump feel, but after that I was equally wrapped up in both periods and didn't find it jarring at all to bounce between them.
I really like the way the author doesn't make the connections between the two periods obvious - it's only after I finished the book that I could start drawing parallels and contrasts. The Goodreads group 'Literary Fiction by People of Color' has started a discussion of this book, so I'm looking forward to a deep dive into it with a bunch of people, but in the meantime, ideas about 'culture' (in general as well as in the 19th century and 21st century) keep swirling in my head - the human need for culture/community and what happens to a person or a community when cultural identity is lost, challenged, stigmatized or even evolves over time.
I really like the way the author doesn't make the connections between the two periods obvious - it's only after I finished the book that I could start drawing parallels and contrasts. The Goodreads group 'Literary Fiction by People of Color' has started a discussion of this book, so I'm looking forward to a deep dive into it with a bunch of people, but in the meantime, ideas about 'culture' (in general as well as in the 19th century and 21st century) keep swirling in my head - the human need for culture/community and what happens to a person or a community when cultural identity is lost, challenged, stigmatized or even evolves over time.