August 10, 2009
Addonia's bold debut is more compelling as an indictment of the repressiveness of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism than as a love story. In 1979, Naser's mother arranges for him and his brother, Ibrahim, to be smuggled from a Sudanese refugee camp into Jeddah and the care of a fundamentalist uncle. Naser learns to despise and fear the hate-mongering local imam, merciless religious police and powerful men who lust after boys with impunity. He never stops feeling homesick for his mother and her friends or frustrated by the Saudi's strict segregation of the sexes, and when a young woman drops a love letter at his feet, he's quickly smitten. The girl he calls Fiore (flower) is bold, passing him notes and wearing pink shoes to be recognizable in her abaya. Addonia's prose, unfortunately, loses credibility when he describes their passion. Both lovers risk public flogging or even execution, but neither doubts their relationship's correctness. The consequences they fear are of daring to love in a society dominated by hatred of foreigners, nonbelievers, women and often of love itself. Addonia's troubling revelations make for thought-provoking reading.
July 15, 2009
Debut novel transplants Romeo and Juliet to an even more unforgiving setting, as a forbidden correspondence draws a young African immigrant into a passionate, potentially dangerous liaison in Saudi Arabia.
Naser, a 20-year-old refugee from the conflict in his native Eritrea, washes cars in the blistering heat of Jeddah. Missing his mother and abandoned by his friends, who have fled the city for the summer, Naser chafes under the precepts of Wahhabist Islamic fundamentalism that confine this black-and-white society, captured with perceptive detail by Addonia (himself an Eritrean now living in London). Naser is limited to the company ofivory-draped men who pursue distorted desires under the repressive rules. They're allowed to hold hands, stalk pretty young boys and, in the case of Naser's sponsor, rape younger men, while women are buried under long black veils. Naser is startled when a shrouded woman drops him a note:"I am writing to you in secret. No one knows about this except me and Allah. I just want to say that I like you and I would like to write to you again."A fretful, cautious dance plays out as Naser schemes to exchange notes with the woman while avoiding the intense scrutiny of the formidable and merciless religious police. (The author sets his story in 1989, before technology made furtive communications easier.) The letters between Naser and"Fiore" (flower), as he nicknames his paramour, can be rather florid, but Addonia gives the story tension by spotlighting the dichotomy between the lovers' naive ardor and the deadly fate that awaits them if they're caught.
The love that blossoms between innocents is special, and its rare gift is given solemn gravity here.
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August 1, 2009
As a young boy, Naser flees ravaged Sudan with his brother to live with their uncle in Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian city. Growing up in a Muslim culture is difficult for Naser. Shunned by his uncle and, eventually, his brother, he struggles to find an identity as a refugee. By age 20, he is disillusioned with his menial life. Nasers despondence lifts when a mysterious young woman, veiled from head to toe and only identified by her pink shoes, begins dropping secret notes to him in the hope that they can learn more about one another. Thus begins a precarious relationship in a city where an association between an unmarried man and woman is punishable by death. As the relationship slowly progresses, the couple manages to meet in secret, sharing their dreams and desires. When Naser falls under suspicion of the religious police, however, the two are forced to consider and face the repercussions. Blending passionate romance with gritty reality, Addonias gripping debut makes for a distinctive love story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)