Norma Khouri

**I should preface my review by saying that the book was revealed to be fiction, despite what it says inside the book. I only found this out after reading it.

To be honest, I chose this book from a bookbox because it was set in Jordan, making it perfect for my Olympic Challenge.

Norma Khoura tells the story of Dalia, her best friend, who fell in love with a Catholic man, thus dishonouring her Muslim family.

Norma and Dalia grew up to be very close, despite their different religions. They ran a salon together, as a way to spend their time and earn money. One day at the salon, Dalia meets Michael, a young Catholic man and the two click. As the two try to see each other, they need the help of Norma and Michael's sister to cover up their clandestine meetings. Secret the meetings must be kept because even talking to a man not related to her can cost a Jordanian woman her life.

The book tells us of the danger in the everyday lives of Jordanian women, be they Catholic or Muslim. Their lives are held in the hands of their male relatives, who believe themselves to be the centre of the world. From entry into womanhood, at the age of ten, women are segregated, their social sphere sharply reduced, beholden to men to accompany them when they wish to leave the house. There seems to be no real love between the brothers and their sisters, rather the latter fear the former. Understandably so in a culture where an honour killing can receive, according to the book, as little as 3 months in prison, or even a suspended sentence.

Khouri makes great pains to point out that honour killing is not an Islamic practice, rather it is deeply rooted in Arab culture that predates both Christianity and Islam. Just as likely to take place in Jordan as in Palestine or Afghanistan.

Khouri gives an in-depth description of her life in Jordon, from the food they eat to the songs she loved. It is a rare glimpse into a country that is still rather unknown to many Westerners.

Having read that this book was revealed to be fictional does leave you wondering what, if any of the book is true. Certainly parts concur with other works I have read about the subject and region, but how much is the author's own spin, I don't know. For that reason, I can't give it a rating out of 5.… (altro)

Originally billed as a memoir, now pretty conclusively revealed to be fiction. In a way I was glad to learn this, since the story contained puzzling discrepancies (for example, and glaringly, why would the families allow the young women to operate a unisex salon?). In addition, the story was told with such chick-lit bathos that I felt bad because I couldn't muster up sympathy for the women in this dreadful situation. I'm glad it turns out to be fiction, and not a regrettable failure of empathy on my part.

The plot, which can be summarized as "boy meets girl, girl dies" would be tragic if true, and is tragic in the greater sense that women are victims of honor (sic) killings in the world at large. Had this work been represented as fiction, I would comment on how this theme was expressed in the novel. Since it was represented as a memoir, however, I have the same bad feelings about Khouri that I do about James Frey. I think it's disgusting for writers to co-opt the horrific experiences that others have suffered and represent them as their own. or this reason, though I could count this novel for Jordan in my Books of the World Challenge (since Khouri was born in Jordan and lived there for for 2-3 years. However, I'd rather read a book by a writer who hasn't attempted to deceive me.… (altro)