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Book report
Sep. 26th, 2008 01:32 pmHere’s my latest book report –
Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi – This book was really good. It’s Mernissi’s memoir; she great up in an actual harem in Morocco in the 1940’s. (Her father had “only” one wife but her grandfather had several, and so many generations of this family all lived together). I felt like I was looking into a secret, forbidden world. It was also a very sad one; while some of the many women in the family liked their lifestyle others felt like caged animals. (They could not set foot outside without an escort and permission, which were rarely obtained). Mernissi’s writing is subtle; she doesn’t hit you over the head with her feminism but she gets it across while also sharing the sights, sounds, and smells of harem life and Morocco. She also shares the different perspectives of the women of the household – from the more respected wives, to a disgraced divorcee, to the children, and to the slaves. It’s really interesting when she and a male cousin, who were close to each other when children, slowly realize they are growing up and growing into two vastly different worlds – one for men, one for women. Grade: B+
A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews – I had read two other novels by Toews (A Complicated Kindness and Summer of My Amazing Luck) and loved them both. She’s a fantastic writer who creates realistic, quirky characters, makes you care about them, and wraps them up in great storylines. This novel, though, wasn’t as good as the rest. It had her trademark characters and it wasn’t bad – but it just wasn’t as moving as her other work; I didn’t experience any of those magical or surprising or just insightful moments that are in Toews’ other novels. Sometimes when I like a few books by an author my expectations get too high, I know. I’ll still eagerly look forward to her next one. Grade: C+
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Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi – This book was really good. It’s Mernissi’s memoir; she great up in an actual harem in Morocco in the 1940’s. (Her father had “only” one wife but her grandfather had several, and so many generations of this family all lived together). I felt like I was looking into a secret, forbidden world. It was also a very sad one; while some of the many women in the family liked their lifestyle others felt like caged animals. (They could not set foot outside without an escort and permission, which were rarely obtained). Mernissi’s writing is subtle; she doesn’t hit you over the head with her feminism but she gets it across while also sharing the sights, sounds, and smells of harem life and Morocco. She also shares the different perspectives of the women of the household – from the more respected wives, to a disgraced divorcee, to the children, and to the slaves. It’s really interesting when she and a male cousin, who were close to each other when children, slowly realize they are growing up and growing into two vastly different worlds – one for men, one for women. Grade: B+
A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews – I had read two other novels by Toews (A Complicated Kindness and Summer of My Amazing Luck) and loved them both. She’s a fantastic writer who creates realistic, quirky characters, makes you care about them, and wraps them up in great storylines. This novel, though, wasn’t as good as the rest. It had her trademark characters and it wasn’t bad – but it just wasn’t as moving as her other work; I didn’t experience any of those magical or surprising or just insightful moments that are in Toews’ other novels. Sometimes when I like a few books by an author my expectations get too high, I know. I’ll still eagerly look forward to her next one. Grade: C+
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