Book Reviews and Thoughts :: The world of Books and Literature

Amy Tan says this is a ‘Literary genius, humorously naughty’. I say this
is a ‘Well represented confused mind of a woman.’

Rabih Alameddine writes a journal of an utterly confused, rebellious
woman. I respect him for being able to represent feelings of a woman so
well. He must really know what goes on inside a female head to have been
able to write this book. But that is where my praises for the book end.

Alameddine has put together seemingly endless series of chapter ones
describing the supposedly exciting and definitely atypical life of Sarah
Nour El-Din. Sarah grows up in Beirut during the civil war and travels
to New York to lead a normal life, in vain. Her life story includes an
array of bizarre relatives: a psychotic sister who turns into a serial
killer, a homosexual lover, a devoted ex-husband, a not-so-devoted
ex-husband, a lesbian best friend, gay brother, a depressed mother, an
obsessed step-mother…the list goes on.

Alameddine writes the entire book in first chapters; this is a pain
after a while. He repeats the descriptions, the characters are
re-introduced, the scenario is restated. I get bored. A unique, novel,
and dull style of writing. The book has no beginning, and of course, no
end. It just goes on and on describing the events of Sarah’s life. Some
chapter ones are complex, deep, and run high on emotions. Others
describe mundane activities like taking a bath. In Alameddine’s defense,
the characterization is very well done. The book is full of people and
by the time you reach half way, you know them well. (The fact that most
characters are introduced at least three times helps this point.)

Read I, the Divine if you want to experience a book that travels in time
(not the Sci-fi way, silly!) Alameddine writes about the kid Sarah who
listens eagerly to her gramp’s mystical stories, about the rebellious
teen aged Sarah who is out to get them all, about young romantic Sarah
who marries the man of her dream, about the middle-aged Sarah who
marries for convenience, about the mother Sarah, about the aching and
lonely Sarah, about an incomplete woman Sarah. The author has a great
understanding but his writing style is what did not appeal to me. If you
like to read, give him a shot. May be you could tell me what I am
missing here.