The Read Around The World Book Club discussion

Final thoughts

What’s the name of the book?

Dune Song by Anissa Bouziane - you can always find the current book by looking at the bookshelf or by checking out the polls and find the winner for the relevant month.

Thanks! My from the phone it’s very very confusing system here, where I don’t understand anything:)

Ah yes, goodreads is not good on the phone when you want to access groups. Better on the computer

I really enjoyed this book and was impressed with how many things it managed to do at once. The commentary on American attitudes towards Muslims post-9/11, the thriller-esque human trafficking storyline, the more meditative sequences in the desert which took on an almost fever dream quality. The short chapters worked for me and made the book very difficult to put down. Very happy to have read it.

Unfortunately, this book didn't really work for me. I felt the parts in New York were full of cliché-characters and the Morocco-part moved so slow it bored me.

I really enjoyed the build up but felt disappointed in the final chapters. Ali was quite a vague character to me all the way through and I wasn’t sure why she was bothering with him. He suddenly then becomes the hero involved in everything!

The human trafficking and aftermath felt a bit sudden, rushed and I was left with questions!

I really enjoyed this story. I think the novel dealt with important topic post 7/11, including racism faced by the muslim community in America. I thought the protagonist was a well developed character and enjoyed her journey of self growth.

I enjoyed this book. Like Jenni, I really like the poetic feel of the desert scenes. I would have liked it better if Jeehan had spiritually evolved to stand firmly on her own two feet. Instead, Ali reappears at the end to save the day.

I enjoyed parts of this book more than others. The meditations on the aftermath of 9/11 were interesting but I felt that Jeehan was in a way too stereotypically American making everything too much about herself. The parts on the desert were slow but I like them, although I think that the trafficking storyline moves too quickly and as I have seen mentioned before I'm not sure how I feel about Ali coming last minute to save the day.

I have enjoyed reading this. Maybe the short chapters set in the US became a bit forced and did not flow as well as the Moroccan chapters. One comment mentioned stereotyping of the characters. Good story but agree with some comments that Jeehan needed a good push at times to get her up and
moving. Was that the author intention to have her seemingly unable to take control of her own destiny? Overall a great read of a book I may not have otherwise come across.

Thank you all so much for joining in, I think this may be the most discussed book we had so far.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I'm about half way through and may not finish it. It's too bad because for me the idea is great and unusual too, switching between NYC scenes in the aftermath of 9/11 and then scenes in Morocco where Jeehan is trying to come to terms with it all. The problems for me where first, the caricatures of the 'ignorant' and racist Americans in NYC - really, office workers in cosmopolitan new york city aren't aware even that Islam is a religion and Arab is a race/culture? Such a ham fisted and un-nuanced approach. I do understand that American attitudes to the Arab world are an issue though, but am missing a bit of nuance and humanity.

Second, Jeehan never really came alive for me - I'm not sure why I should care about her and feel lukewarm about her throughout.

Apparently there's still a whole other plot to come - human trafficking, though there's not a lot of book left to deal with that.

I am very interested in Morocco and have never read about it before. The dessert scenes are interesting and compelling. In human terms, I found the book does come alive when Jeehan is dealing with the two young Arab boys who are exasperatedly making her aware of the realities of life in Morocco - one in the airport, and the son at the hotel. The back and forth there is really funny and engaged me at last.

Lastly, the native healing stuff also appealed to me.

Maybe I'm not the best person to have an opinion on this as I read mostly lighter books, but these are my two cents. I'm looking forward to the next!