Holly S. Warah

Where Jasmine Blooms follows the trials of Palenstinian-American family from the view of Zainab, the recently-widowed matriarch, Margaret, Seattle-born wife of Zainab's eldest son Ahmed and Alison a student of Near Eastern Studies of student descent engaged to Zainab's younger son Khalid.

Where Jasmine Blooms looks at the conflicts within this extended family, focusing on the cultural and generational conflicts that these women must negotiate. Margaret has been married to Ahmed for twenty years and has converted to Islam but is increasingly frustrated by the demands of his family, particularly Zainab who has moved into their suburban home since the death of her husband.

Alison is a new member of the family. Fascinated and intrigued by Arab culture she meets Khalid at university and is swept off her feet, desperate to explore the culture of his new family and learn about lives of those Mansours still living in Palestine.

Zainab feels solitary and homesick, trying to manage her family the best she can in the absence of her husband. She is isolated by her lack of English and the imperfect Arabic of her daughters-in-law and worried about her family in the Middle East.

Warah provides an honest and unflinching look at a multi-cultural family trying to negotiate the difficulties of their many differences whether it is of faith or family roles. Her characters are generally sympathetic and their frustrations understandable; love and affection are not always enough to solve the many problems. Despite the well-rounded way the characters and thoughts of these women are described the rest of the family is weaker. We get to know the men far less and the extended family and friends are a little too governed by stereotypes. The final few pages represent such an abrupt change of heart that it doesn't quite fit with the convincing representation of the spectrum of belief and option constructed in the rest of the story. Ultimately it is a nuanced and forthright picture of acculturation that does not gloss over the realities but is ultimately hopeful.… (plus d'informations)

It’s complicated being married to someone from another culture. Add in the challenges faced by Muslims after 9/11, this story about a Anglo woman married to a Palestinian man living in Seattle, brings insight to challenges. It’s not just the cultural differences like discovering how in Palestinian culture the oldest son is responsible for the entire family, but it’s having your mother-in-law move in and visits to Jordan and her husband’s wanting to return to the Middle East to live. This well written story shows the commitment and love that sustains a marriage despite major differences.… (plus d'informations)

Cross-cultural marriage.
This excellent book is primarily an observation into the issues of cross-cultural marriage, its joys and problems, as seen through the eyes of three women. However, it is also so much more, for not only does it delve into the lives of displaced Palestinian families living in America, it also shows us life in the refugee camps of Jordan, portrays the business of Palestinian weddings and takes us on a visit into Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The three main female characters represent three generations; Zainab, the elderly, recently bereaved mother-in-law, Margaret, married for twenty years to Zainab's son, Ahmed, and Alison, recently graduated and about to marry Zainab's younger son, Khaled. Zainab is a displaced Palestinian, living in America and Margaret and Alison are both American (although Alison has Syrian roots).

Tragically, the author died not long after publishing this book, so her planned sequel will never see the light of day - a sad loss for us all.
As a general rule, we are not an overly generous book group when it comes to the star ratings at the end of our discussion, but this novel was almost unanimously a 4/5 star book for our members. The author had planned, several months before, to join our meeting and we were were sorry not to be able to pass on our enthusiasm. However, we were very lucky to be able to invite one of her writer's group to our discussion to help explain some of the background to the story and fill us in on interesting editorial changes.

This is an excellent read, highly recommended...and the cover is stunning.… (plus d'informations)