A review by jules_writes
An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons

4.0

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‘An act of love’ surprised me in quite a few different ways, mostly because I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I have to admit that this isn’t the type of book that I usually read, I tend to avoid most fiction to do with war, politics, racism and real contemporary violence, which were among some of the difficult subjects that this book deals with. But having said that this book is far from a difficult book to read, in fact when I started it I just couldn’t put it down. Yes it deals with tough subjects, but it does so in an honest and thoroughly gripping way.

It is clear from reading this book that a lot of time and effort has gone into the research and not just about the timeline of terror attacks, such as the terrible events of September 11th as well as the London bus bombing, but also about the cultures of the characters and the setting of the story.

The writing was impeccable and the story hurled along with never a dull moment, but it was the two main characters of Chris and Imran that really made this a memorable book for me. The story is told from both of their perspectives, with the use of flashbacks chronicling their childhood friendship and the different paths that their lives took them along even thou in some small way their futures were always connected. Even despite the fact that one has joined the Army and served in Afghanistan while the other is a potential jihad recruit. The book spans about 11 years of their lives and the lives of their families, for me this was a great insight into the Muslim community, which is something that I know very little about.

Sometimes titles for books can have little actual relevance to the book, other than being an eye catching and fun way of getting people’s attention. However, this title really works well for the story because at the heart of this novel was love, the love between brothers, between parents and their children, between friends, between partners. Love although not a dominant theme within the novel was certainly the driving force of a lot of the actions of the characters. Also the ending, which I won’t spoil for you really wraps the story up nicely and completely encapsulates the title.

If I did have anything negative to say about this book it would be that I just don’t like the cover of the book. On first glance this really doesn’t make me want to pick it up and it could be to too easily pigeon holed as a war story, which although in some respects it is, it really is so much more than just that.

I would highly recommend this book to people, it is a brilliant story and one that has been told with excitement, compassion and honesty. Even if you don’t initially think that this book might be for you I would still recommend it, because like me you might just be surprised at how much you enjoy the story of Chris and Imran and the balanced portrayal of some very emotive and immensely important current day issues.

GREAT – 10/10, this has been one of the best books that I have read all year.