Country of Origin

by Dalia Azim

Country of Origin is a multigenerational family saga that cuts between political revolution in 1950s Egypt and the personal revolutions of four family members whose lives intersect around the disappearance of one of their own.

Seventeen-year-old Halah Ibrahim has always known a privileged life and never had cause to question it until Cairo goes up in flames. Not only does she start to doubt her father and his role in the new military-backed government--but she ultimately decides to flee to America with a young soldier she hardly knows, an impulsive act that has far-reaching consequences on both sides of the ocean. A powerful and universal debut novel about family, identity, and independence, Country of Origin is as much about a nation's coming-of-age as it is about secrets and lies, love and truth.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Egypt, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Middle East, Novels

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2022

Reviews

[Dalia Azim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello. I am the author of Country of Origin. Yes, I am rating my own book. I love it, because I love all my babies. I hope you like it, too!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but slightly confusing to me. This book has three separate but related segments with not always tidy circumstances.
The beginning of the book involves a woman who leaves home in order to NOT be in an arranged marriage.
Next we read of that woman's daughter.
Finally, the first woman's brother-in-law.
Not everything is tied up with a nice bow at the end, but neither is everything in life. I was completely absorbed in this family story.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book falls into one of my favorite genres, the multigeneration family saga. This book take place in Egypt and the United States, starting in the 1950s and ending in the 1980s. This was a time of huge political upheaval in Egypt as it obtained independence from Great Britain, fought several wars with Israel and was governed by several military dictators. These changes did not initially affect Halah who has grown up wealthy and sheltered. She runs away with scholarship student Khalil as he lives Egypt to emigrate to the US for medical school. I was interested in the characters and the changes in Egypt, but ultimately, I found it a little too grim.

[Jo Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deserves a great review - but for now, this is a wonderful book!

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a 2 point 5 but we round up at 5 (or bigger) so...

This book is solid technically but maintains a robotic or stiff tone. Despite the clinical and flat emotionality, I found the story intriguing while reading it. I think the mystery (or unanswered questions) and the historical setting kept me interested. However, the resolution felt unsatisfying.

I was impressed by how quickly the reading went while I did not appreciate the tone and feel of this title.

[Suzan Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book read for Booktopia 2022, and it was outstanding! This multi-generational historical family saga was moving and powerful, offering different perspectives within a single family of Egyptian immigrants. The Northshire Bookstore booksellers chose another winner - I can't wait to meet the author!
Read my full review:
https://bookbybook.blogspot.com/2022/...

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully written novel begins in 1950s Egypt. Teenager Halah is caught between culture and tradition and her own dreams and desires. From there it spans years and continents, wars and political upheavals. But ultimately, this is a story of family. Of fathers and daughters, brothers, husbands and wives. Of parents lost and, ultimately, homes found.

[hanna هنا · Rating 2 out of 5]

although i loved the idea of this book, i did not enjoy the execution. it didn’t flow very well, chapters would alternate between different time periods and people that by the time we got back to the same person, i got very confused. not only was it difficult to read, but i found it a bit difficult to like characters thus making this book drag. also, i refuse to belive that halah became a bird and that was it. nonetheless, i would still pick up dalia azim’s next books.

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Azim’s debut novel Country of Origin starts in gripping fashion with the story of a courageous, determined young woman named Halah Ibrahim growing up during the Egyptian revolution for independence against British colonial rule in the 1950s. What begins as Halah’s quest to take control of her life by resisting a prearranged marriage turns into a mishmash of circumstances and then abrupt twists in the overall narrative direction of the plot.

When Halal is introduced as a feisty, bold, and also impulsive young woman, I liked her character and rooted for her decision to escape a prescribed life for herself. She’s daring and unafraid to make a momentous choice, but once she does, her character becomes unrecognizable from what she seems. She has no determination to make something more of herself. Maybe that’s Azim’s point: her impulsiveness creates a new life that even the strength of her courage cannot counteract?

Once the story went through her escape, marriage, and pregnancy, Halal’s pluckiness vanished and transformed into total dependency. Then her focus became an immediate, almost obsessive, need to thrust all her energy back to Egypt in seeking forgiveness for what she’d done, as though her courageousness meant nothing, because now she wants only for her parents to accept her again. Such drastic shifts in her character puzzled me, as did the rest of the novel with its sudden narrative change in perspective.

Overall, the novel’s leaps in time came off a little disjointed, and the emotional intensity which starts out so well quickly devolves into flatness. Even as Azim’s prose remains strong and fluid, and she certainly captures the momentousness of history, I became disengaged from the fate of the main characters.

[2TReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
In Azim's #CountryOfOrigin, our Halah comes of age in turbulent times in Egypt as it casts off rule of the king and moves towards independence, which may come at a cost as there are still western powers and an eastern nation who would not hesitate to exert their power over the liberated nation.

Halah's fire and awareness is immediately noticeable as she grapples with how their staff exist, the repression of women's rights, and how she will be able to wrest what control she can over her future.

But we also get to see how her impulsiveness carries her away from all she has known, with a man she barely knows, into a situation that impacts her mental stability.

I was sucked in by the ease with which Azim writes this story of firsts: first and impetuous love, migration, familial dissonance, disappearance and the legacy that all these leave behind.

What transpires after will surprise the reader and leave them wondering on the other possibilities if certain steps were taken to address or even be attentive to mental health. Though being cognizant of the time period in which the story is set, we have to wonder if correct and empathetic responses would have been the norm.

[Mainlinebooker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Displacement, third world literature, identity and political turmoil are subjects that have engrossed me for time immemorial. Azim does a satisying job of addressing these issues. Set mostly in Egypt and the United States it follows one family and its descendants through jail, death, war, reckoning with divergent religious issues with parents, and unfairness of the political system. Though I had no trouble reading through the text, I found myself increasingly irritable and disappointed at the structure of the novel. Transitions were abrupt and did not flow smoothly. In my opinion, there was a lot of extraneous issues that could have used an ample amount of editing. Ironically ,an artistic ant farm highlighted in the novel was similar to one I viewed in Japan but was mounted on plastic tubes on a board. I think the author had a lot of deserving messages, but it fell completely flat for me.

Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me an honest review of this ARC

[Sara Raquel Cervantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dalia Azim's multigenerational saga explores how the secrets and traumas of an Egyptian family interweave with political and societal realities to shape how their individual lives unfold. Beginning with a daughter who flees the country to marry a man she loves and winding through the lives of her father, mother, daughter, husband, and brother-in-law, Country of Origin is a multitude of expertly told human stories.

[Sarah Ernst · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounding to 3….I really wanted to like this book, but found myself dragging through. Multigenerational family narrative based in 1950s-60s Egypt. I really liked this element, especially as part of my quest to expand my knowledge of cultures and history. However, this novel follows 4-5 characters through various, loosely connected subplots. The author chooses to leave every one of them open ended, and we don’t really get closure on any of the storylines. Many of the storylines also seem to appear out of nowhere without context or connection (other than being related family members). I’m all for a good open ending, but with this novel, think I need a bit (significantly) more context and connection between the characters.

[Katie Bruell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably a 3.75. The author writes very matter-of-factly, but she has some beautiful sentences, too. I'm not a huge fan of multi-generational family sagas, which this turned out to be, and there were a lot of loose ends. But I enjoyed the historical perspective and learning about a country I don't know much about.

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting debut novel by an Austin author. I love learning more about Egypt and the struggle of being an immigrant coming from a incredibly sheltered life as a young Egyptian woman.

[Janis · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Country of Origin, author Dalia Azim explores how your “country of origin” shapes your life whether you continue to live in that country or migrate elsewhere. This multi-generational saga begins in 1952 during a time of unrest in Egypt. The main characters are related to each other by blood or marriage, and the settings alternate between Egypt and the United States. Their stories take some unexpected twists, and as in real life, not every ending was happy.

[Nikki Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Dalia Azim’s writing, and this book kept me interested. I guess I didn’t really end up liking the characters that much as people. I would definitely try other works by this author.

[Chaitali Sen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got to read an advanced copy of this book and thought it was so lovely and immersive. What I wrote about it right after reading it:Country of Origin is an unforgettable story of an Egyptian family living through waves of separation and connection. In this dangerous landscape of historical trauma, incarceration, and migration, Dalia Azim portrays a hunger for freedom - political and personal, mental and physical - with tenderness, humor, and hope. This is a beautiful book.

[Jennifer Charlton-Faia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and immersive story, exploring the concept of home and the familial obligation to understand your culture and history. Love the location details and thoughtful relationships throughout this novel.

[S. Kirk Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to be given a galley of Dalia Azim's stunning debut, COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. This multigenerational story explores the complexity of identity, freedom, and what it means to discover one's home (both literally and metaphorically). Told via multiple perspectives and places and time periods, Azim captures the complicated immigrant experience—and what her characters gain and lose when they move from Cairo to the States. There is a richness and a depth to this narrative that speaks to the universality of the human experience: We all want to belong to a family of sorts. We all want to love. We all want to be free. But the obstacles to these basic desires can be insurmountable due to one's circumstances. For example, with Hassan, he is literally imprisoned for unexplained reasons but managed to find footing in a new kind of life. For Amena, she must contend with the gaps and absences in her personal history and her own internal struggles (that can sometimes create a prison of their own). Taken altogether, this novel is thought-provoking and memorable. Highly recommend. Don't miss this debut from a wonderful independent publisher (A Strange Object, here in Austin, Texas) on March 15th, 2022.

[LKay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so wanted to like this - it had the familiar feel of a multigenerational family saga but in an unfamiliar setting that I was eager to learn more about. It started off strong and I was intrigued to know what was happening with the characters, however I felt like I was held at arms length from figuring out their motivations or what they were feeling, and I couldn’t connect with them very well. So many of the scenes felt surface level or rushed and glossed over.

The structure of this was also very frustrating to read, and I wish that the story had been told chronologically with the different character POVs interspersed throughout. It’s very tedious to have to go back through history multiple times for each character. The majority of the book is told from Halah and Amena’s perspective, so why towards the end of the book should I suddenly care to hear Hassan’s entire life story when no one else’s stories have been resolved?

I had lots of unanswered questions in the end that left me feeling unsatisfied with this book, but it was thankfully a very quick read.

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiet, beautiful writing that evokes feelings of loneliness and displacement causing you to recall times you have felt out of place or have struggled to find purpose and connection in your life. With so much left unspoken between the characters, you’re forced to find your own answers to the questions, mysteries, and conflicts that are shared on the page. If you are like me, I know embarrassingly little about Egyptian history so it also provided an immersive learning experience regarding the impacts of colonization, politics and religion on this country throughout the latter half of the 20th century.

[Tracy Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this story. Yes, the beginning baffled me after such an impetuous decision was made by Halah after meeting with Khalil only a couple of times. From there, it’s such a well written, tense, character driven force. The sections by each of four characters get right in their heads. I liked and disliked each of them at different times. Was all resolved neatly? No. Some of life is beyond knowing.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an electronic ARC from Deep Vellum through Publishers Weekly Winter/Spring Grab-a-Galley.
Readers take a journey with two generations of women. Halal beginning in 1950's Egypt and her daughter Amena from her childhood into the 1980's.
Halal is a bright girl and young woman but readers see hints of impulse control problems. These continue until she simply disappears in Cairo. She leaves behind her husband and daughter. He, her mother and the police search but find no trace.
The story then shifts to Amena and readers begin to see the same pattern of depression with bounces of extreme joy. Fortunately, she is diagnosed and get the help she needs to handle her mental health.
Though we never find out what happened to Halal, hints occur later in the story. Readers have to process and decide for themselves as Azim leaves this as a loose thread. It's a frustrating piece of the book as Halal simply stops. More of her story is told when the narration switches to her brother-in-law when he is released from prison. Readers do see him find peace after decades in the Egyptian system.
Even Amena finds moments of quiet and acceptance by the end.
The story has some pretty abrupt changes and has plot holes in transitions. However, it offers readers a chance to think about mental health care and how each of these women might have been helped with better support.

[Toby LeBlanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so hard to write about families well. Tolstoy was right about how unique and complex our unhappiness can be. This is especially true if you factor in differing cultures, forbidden love, immigration stories, deep questions about identity, all wrapped with the confusion and mystery of mental illness. As both a therapist by trade, and a writer, I find it hard to conceive of how to meaningfully tell a story like this in one book. But Azim nailed it.
The stories of our ancestors account for so much of who we are today. Azim does not flinch when connecting the actions of the past to the decisions of the present. I was reminded of Eugenides's Middlesex when Azim would show how family is something bigger than just the stories and people living at a given moment. Beautiful, too, was how her flawed characters, with insufficient knowledge and support, correct the mistakes made by those in the past. Those parts definitely felt a little like Roy's The God of Small Things. The tragedies of this novel struck deep in my heart. The resolutions were sweet in their denouement. Both the opening pages and closing pages are some of the best I have ever read. This was truly hard to put down. But I feel thankful for the sleep I missed out on.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book relates the lives of two young people who left Egypt during the conflict years in the first half of last century. They left for the US, grew roots there where Khalil became a medical doctor and started a family with Halal. Halal hailed from a family that was politically engaged during those turbulent years in Egypt history. Her father was a general. Khalil on the other hand, came from an ordinary lower income family which had two brilliant boys- the other being his brother Hassan who went to London but was asked to leave the UK midway through his studies as seemingly, the UK did not see Egypt as an ally anymore. Back home, he was out behind bars - supposedly by Halal’s father, in retaliation of Halal eloping with Khalil. Halal felt guilty and visited Hassan and over the years, developed a relationship with him. Halal eventually vanished from the surface of the earth. No one knew where she went and if she was still alive. What later was revealed as a possible cause of hee disappearance was her mental health. Khalil brought up their daughter Amena who was academically bright and adjusted well into the life in the US despite her ethnicity. She also suffered from mental health issues. The story ended well with a voice of hope where Hassan found a job that fed him post his release. Amena found a soul mate in Adam. All who survived in this novel seem to have a path of hope.

The writing was captivating for the first 40% of the book. What got my dragging my feet through the book was the part of Amena’s academic pursuits- good at science but wanted a career in the arts.

The storyline is quite gripping after I took a step back post finishing the book. Maybe some parts can be written more succinctly.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I'm visiting ALL the countries in my reading this year. This starts in 1950s revolutionary Egypt, then moving to a few other places, mostly places in America in the following decades. A young girl escapes arranged marriage by fleeing with the man she loves to America. The narrative follows a handful of characters in a family, which is just enough to keep it more interesting: the escaped bride and groom, their daughter, and the groom's brother who was incarcerated for most of his life and spent a lot of time trying to figure out why . It's a novel filled with rich detail on the culture of Egypt, so I'm glad it found its way to being published and I'm glad I read it. In spirit, it reminded me a bit of one of my favorite books: 'The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing' by Mira Jacob.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I like the idea of following a family between Cairo and NYC but this attempt at a novel was too amateur to make this interesting. It is full of boring, simple sentences as though a child wrote it or it was self published. The characters were unidimensional caricatures (poor family, rich brat, idealistic romantic, overachiever kid, political trouble maker,…). The second half was too contrived, following a family member who was a peripheral character until a quarter of the book was about him. But he was disconnected (literally and figuratively) from the others. I don’t understand why the author chose to leave every subplot ambiguous. If she is thinking of a sequel then she can count me out.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Country of Origin is a multigenerational family saga that cuts between political revolution in 1950s Egypt and the personal revolutions of four family members whose lives intersect around the disappearance of one of their own." Cairo is burning is the opening line from this book. A young Egyptian girl runs away with young soldier, Khalid. They travel to New York where he has been accepted for schooling. They marry. Her father in retaliation has his brother imprisoned for long time. Halah comes to visit her imprisoned brother-in-law sometimes when she returns to Egypt to visit her family. Her daughter grows up without her mom. Halah's last visit to see brother-in-law was time anyone ever saw her. Since I've never applied or had a passport, Country of Origin is term for your nationality.

[Critter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Country of Origin is a beautifully written book full of emotions. It explores many complex themes about history, religion, family, and immigration. The writing is excellent with very well written characters. The characters had a lot of dimensions to them. The writing brought out the emotions in this novel and was very engaging.

I would like to thank Deep Vellum for providing me with an ARC.