Days of Ignorance

by Laila Aljohani

Is he dead? Medina, Saudi Arabia. A young man, Malek, has been brutally attacked for being of the ‘wrong’ race. Malek’s lover, Leen, waits by his bedside and reflects on their relationship and her life as an unmarried, childless woman. All around her are voices of judgment and concern; in the twenty-first century it is still unforgivable, and dangerous, for a Saudi woman to enter into a relationship with a black man. In the distance US planes hover over Iraq, primed to embark on yet another senseless conflict. Malek’s attacker was Leen’s brother. Flinging wide a window onto the second holiest Islamic city--a city in which people observe daily prayers and preach equality and justice --Days of Ignorance is a novel about honor, hypocrisy, war and fear. And, glimmering beyond, beneath and behind it all, love.

Genres: Fiction, Middle East

200 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2014

Reviews

[Nele · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pace was good in the beginning, but then it fell flat for me.
Not my cup of tea

[Declan Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Featuring a sharp and in-depth critique of Saudi society, it certainly isn't a page turner. But the layers of symbolism and meaning unwrap to lay bare the ugliness and hegemonic power of modern day Saudi society. The stream-of-consciousness writing style is also very effective at conveying the effects of such restriction on the psyche.
Not an easy read, but with some thought it's highly rewarding.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book fell flat for me. The character development was weak and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the protagonist's behaviors/choices, which goes back to the weak development. The exploration and consequences of racism in Saudi society was shallow, other than the main character not being able to get married to a man that she didn't seem that set on marrying anyway.

[Amanda Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

So that's hours of my life I'll never get back reading this book. Perhaps quite a bit was lost in the translation of this book to English, but I am confused and pretty sure I missed much of the point of this book. What I think happened is this: A Muslim woman and black man fell in love, however he didn't have citizenship and because of the color of his skin was viewed as beneath the woman, and the woman's brother beat up and hospitalized the black man, and the woman had to decide if she really wanted to be with the black man or not. That's about it. There was backstory that was somewhat torturous to read and a thin vagueness about what happened to the boyfriend and the fact the brother was the one responsible for the beating. Like I said, I feel like I didn't really "get" this story, but if I did it was really dragged out for something that could have been better as a short story instead of an entire book. I got this book through Goodreads First Reads.

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Days of Ignorance was a different reading experience. The writing wasn't "laid out" in the manner to which I am accustomed, however I found it engrossing reading. I'm not quite sure I grasped everything there was to hold in the reading, but what I did grasp kept me interested.

I received this book free from Goodreads First Reads