Huzama Habayeb

This was excellent. It is a life story, as told by a mother to her child. It is not necessarily in chronological order, the tale jumps about a bit and concentrates on the mother's youth and the child's first 2 years. It is told with such love and compassion for each of the family members and the found family that they acquire. the chapter on names and how they affect lives was exquisite. Not being in order, it is a little confusing at times, the child's father only makes an appearance very late, but that is how you'd tell a life, it would leap around, one thought following on from another, rather than being in strict order.
This is infused with love and it is beautiful. I was swept away by it.… (altro)

I received the book Velvet as an ebook from Library Things Early Reviewer Program. My opinion of the book differs widely from the other reviews written in Library Thing. After reading the first page, I was in despair at having to complete it as my obligation to Library Thing required. The only reason I did not throw this book across the room was because I was reading it on an expensive IPad.
I found the book to be full of misused words, trite analogies and pedantic interminable descriptions. Here is an typical example found in the second paragraph of the book:
"The rain beat down viciously on naked life, its hard drops splitting the rough crust of the earth. Daggers of water pierced the dusty flanks of the ground, thrusting rapidly and in quick succession, as if laden with emotion or haunted by ancient sorrow, or filled with deeply buried rancor. "
The author also makes some basic mistakes of storytelling in not establishing the setting and in switching from past to present without indication, resulting in a story line that while sympathetic to the main character, is confusing. The book was published by Hoopoe which publishes books in Afghanistan by Afghani authors.… (altro)