A review by kszr
The Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah: Fear and Love in the Modern Middle East by Adam Valen Levinson

3.0

I wanted to like this book. I just couldn't bring myself to care about this selfish, self-destructive person that was trying to justify doing stupid things. While his ability to structure sentences is good, I was constantly confused about where he was and why he was doing it. The bar mitzvah this was titled for was so non-consequential at page 50. If that was meant as a metaphor for his becoming a grownup in Abu Dhabi it fell far short of the mark.