Reviews

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi

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sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

4.0

When it comes to diversity, International Man Booker presents nice trends - 3 of 4 winners have been from the third world and 3 have been women. That said, it ain't the most deserving one in my arrogant opinion - Annie Ernaux's 'The Years' is the best of 5 books listed in the long list this year that I have read.

The summary saying it is the story of 3 sisters might suggest it is a family story - which it is, but it manages to capture a lot of Onami life including the slave trade, politics, changing education scene, smuggling, etc. In fact, at times, it seemed like the book might as well be described as the story of Abdullah who has to his credit the biggest number of chapters. The stories of 3 sisters, by themselves, get a much smaller number of chapters - in fact, the stories of two younger sisters don't start till much later.

For the most part, the book occurs in flashbacks. Alharthi would pick a character and give his or her character history in a flashback. At times, she takes a character in flashback, then gives a flashback for talking about the history of this new character. It seems that she has used the technique to add flesh to what would otherwise have been a much smaller story. This backward moment doesn't help the confusion created by the excessive multitude of characters though. There are a number of stories lines that have very little by way of inter-connectivity.

Two of four stars are for non-aesthetic reasons like getting a chance to know about life in Oman, a chance to read about modern Arab women, getting a chance to read from Oman where literature in general and women literature in particular have found liberty so late.

kelli_jean_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

laura_corsi's review against another edition

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4.0

I found this book to be fascinating. It follows the normal every day lives of a few families who live in the village of Al-Awafi, Omar as they navigate the changing cultural norms that occur in Oman in the middle and late 20th century. It was so interesting to see how their lives weave together even as their ways of coping with things varies wildly. However, they are family or kin and therefore must hang together to survive. A beautiful depiction of a resilient community in the midst of change grappling with how best to live.

My one criticism was that the ending didn’t feel like an end. I wondered if I was somehow missing part of the book.

mollyjones's review against another edition

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3.0

Before reading this book I knew very little about the culture or people of Oman, so in this sense it was a very interesting read; it was amazing at portraying the ideas and culture of the characters, the descriptions were rich and set the scene perfectly. My only problem is there were a lot of mini-stories that made up the entire plot, it almost felt like the individual stories weren't as in-depth as you'd want it to be and the book didn't really feel like it had a destination but was more of a description of an overall story.