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A review by zainub_reads
Bird Summons by Leila Aboulela
3.0
An intriguing story of three Arab women in Scotland who embark on a journey of sorts to visit the grave of Lady Evelyn Cobbold (The first British woman to perform The Muslim Pilgrimage).
Salma is a headstrong leader, though a qualified doctor from Egypt she ends up working as a masseuse in Scotland leading to growing sense of discontent with the life she’s built for herself.
Iman is a very beautiful young Syrian refugee who has already been widowed once and divorced as well but cannot return to her family in Syria and must make a life for herself all alone in a foreign land.
Moni is of Sudanese heritage, a successful banker before she had Adam, her son born with cerebral palsy.
She becomes his primary caregiver neglecting her marriage and herself unable to find any semblance of a balanced life.
The first half of the story is a nice smooth sailing journey but the second part is where the waters get rough.
What I mean is out of nowhere we have a talking Hoopoe coming to visit Iman in the lodge and narrating stories a la Arabian Nights but the stories are really good and the reader can assume the episodes to be the product of a vivid imagination so all good until the whole story goes full on magical realism that makes the plot feel like a supernatural fantasy which is so not my cup of tea.
The themes of spirituality, introspection and mystic symbolism are strongly represented.
I enjoyed reading the book but would have preferred a different second half.
Salma is a headstrong leader, though a qualified doctor from Egypt she ends up working as a masseuse in Scotland leading to growing sense of discontent with the life she’s built for herself.
Iman is a very beautiful young Syrian refugee who has already been widowed once and divorced as well but cannot return to her family in Syria and must make a life for herself all alone in a foreign land.
Moni is of Sudanese heritage, a successful banker before she had Adam, her son born with cerebral palsy.
She becomes his primary caregiver neglecting her marriage and herself unable to find any semblance of a balanced life.
The first half of the story is a nice smooth sailing journey but the second part is where the waters get rough.
What I mean is out of nowhere we have a talking Hoopoe coming to visit Iman in the lodge and narrating stories a la Arabian Nights but the stories are really good and the reader can assume the episodes to be the product of a vivid imagination so all good until the whole story goes full on magical realism that makes the plot feel like a supernatural fantasy which is so not my cup of tea.
The themes of spirituality, introspection and mystic symbolism are strongly represented.
I enjoyed reading the book but would have preferred a different second half.