Customer Reviews

Minaret

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was captivated by this novel from beginning to end. As a Muslim and a woman I really related to the character Najwa. Her gradual tansformation from a spoiled, somewhat shallow teen, to a pensive, observant Muslim is a pleasure to observe. This story is fictional, but the message is definitely real and it's something that could affect anyone. Najwa loses everything and hits rock bottom, but through faith in God, she's able to gain strength and not lose hope. This novel was wholly entertaining and superbly written. The characters were well developed, especially the despicable Anwar, one of Najwa's chief antagonists. I would recommend Minaret to anyone, especially Muslim women. I look forward to Aboulela's future novels.

This is a novel to both devour and savor. As a white American woman, I was allowed to briefly pass through a doorway into a culture I know little about. Aboulela's tale is one of exile and rebirth. Her character, Najwa is a woman who loves family and has nearly lost them all. As the story progresses, the Westerner in me sometimes saw her as being foolishly self sacrificing, yet I couldn't deny the beauty and redemption the character finds as she joins the women at the mosque. Ultimately, Najwa sacrifices two loves -- one for her own good and one for the greater good of another.

I was particularly struck by the passage wherein Najwa has adopted more traditional attire and walks by the construction site where she had been whistled at earlier when she was dressed in Western clothes. Ironically, the men now pay no attention to her and she experiences a sense of liberation.

A wonderful and thoughtful read.

This book isn't about "fundamentalist" Islam, or women in Islam, or why people convert, or why a woman would wear a scarf on her head. This is not a book about "the Muslims." It is not about theology or Islamic law. Beyond that, no single author or book -- or worse, fictional character -- can speak for all Muslims at all times. This book doesn't even speak for all converts or returnees, all Muslim women, or all Sudanese Muslim women. It isn't fair to the author, Leila Aboulela, to the character, or to Muslims in general for non-Muslim readers to expect that this book will answer their questions about Islam and Muslims.

This is a book about one woman -- Najwa -- dealing with loss: the loss of her family, her home, her status, her country, and her sense of self. The only time "Islam" comes into play here is that it is with her faith that Najwa finds some answers for herself. The book doesn't bash you over the head with Islam. Any Christian, Jew, Buddhist, etc. who has found their own sense of peace through their faith will relate to Najwa.

This Novel was not only pleasently written but also gave the reader a true piece of mind experience reading it. Najwa's story is one very interesting, one that carries a lot of truth with it on how everything around people can change so suddently, their place in society, their wealth, lifestyle, educational paths, marriage plans, etc. It is something people in many parts of the world have been experiencing for real, like people in Iraq and Palestine, even people in countries as strong and rich as the United States have lived this dramatic change, like in the case of New Orleans. It really shows one that nothing in this world is certain, no matter how rich, educated or place of society you hold. Things can change overnight, and the only thing that would keep people's heads up, is the devout belief in Allah swt.

Minaret is a very insightful novel about the inner worldview and frame of mind that Muslims experience. I am sure many Muslim readers (especially converts, and those who weren't practicing in their past) can relate to Najwa's reversion to Islam. During Najwa's youth, while she was always intrigued with Islam, she nonetheless lived a normal modern life under the influence of her family and friends. But once she realized the significance of Allah, only then did she truly understand the meaning of life. The novel also brings up many common issues faced by Muslims today, regarding the supposed hypocritical double-standardness for men and women in the Muslim world, having "blind" faith in religion, gender relations in Islam, varying Muslim attitudes to Islam, and the importance of repentance and the grand mercy of Allah. Through Najwa, Ms. Aboulela is able to portray the psyche of a true Muslim in ways most people, especially with the common western-modern/scientistic world view would otherwise be unble to grasp. Excellent Read, as I completed reading the (almost 300 page) book in 3 sittings, as I couldnt put it down.

I already cant wait for Ms. Aboulela's next novel...

This book is an easy read that I found to be very inspiring. Leila Aboulela takes the reader on a journey from Sudan to England incorporating the cultural and religious differences, biases and ignorance that occur in today's world. Najwa started off as a rich pampered unreligious girl who grew up in the lap of luxury. She ended being a victim of a huge socioeconomic drop and having to survive in the western world. Along this journey she gets reintroduced to her religion of birth and undergoes an enormous physical and spiritual transformation.

The icing on the cake, and truly the saddest part of the novel is the ending. It defies all clichés and really makes this novel genuine work of art. Who ever said happy endings make a book good?

I am an american woman in my 50's, not a Muslim but taking a college course in Islam fundamentals. This book helped me take the dry material from class and feel what it might be like to have grown up in this system and these beliefs. Even though I am American and not a Muslim, I am middle-class and so is this heroine. Her evolution from giggly teenager becoming aware of her sexual power to responsible womanhood is a universal story of middle-class women coming of age in the late 20th century. And the role Islam plays in her life gave me new understanding and respect for the potential of Islam to help people become more truly human.

really enjoyed reading this book. It is written in a calm and soothing manner. The feelings and the method in which the characters are shown is excellent. The book has all the write ingedients. The manner in which religion was adapted by Najwa with so calm and smooth and imformative.

The emotions and feelings of Najwa were shown in a very good way. This story shows how a life of priveleges can change so dramitically. Najwa is put through a test of her faith and she comes out with flying colours. She goes through four loses in one go and it all turns her life apart (loosing her fathers wealth and a life of privelege, loosing her father, mother and then the imprisonment of her brother); but she finds the right path. Going through so much at a young age can either destroy you and lead to the wrong way (like her brother had)or you can find your faith and the right path. Najwa chose the right path for her and transformed her life in the best way. She found solace in her dreams of her parents and the good life, her faith for Islam, her friends at the islamic circle and her love for Tamer. Even that was not meant to be and she comes out of that relationship for other peoples benifit-as her faith in god always supported her and lead her the right way.

A great book and each chapter is linked greatly to one another.

Finally, a healthy perspective of Muslim women! I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. It provides an excellent view of Islam, Sudan, and the life of immigrants.

I have enjoyed all of Leila Abulela's books and short stories, which represent a new genre of Middle-Eastern / African / Muslim writing. Unlike what we have been accustomed to from writers from the afore-mentioned regions (where it is usually centered on the village, poverty, the subjugation of women, mythology, and quaint anthropological traditions), Abulela tackles a new theme: the affluent Western-educated upper class, their social interactions, how they relate to their faith and ultimately how they deal with the loss of privilege and insertion into Western society. The society she depicts is one that has absorbed western values while remaining steadfast in their core religious beliefs, touching upon the contradictions with which they are faced when uprooted and implanted into the West. Life in the hectic, indifferent, multicultural cities in which they now live does not resemble the West which they grew to idealize from books, music and holidays, and the stark reality confuses them, questions their beliefs, and tests their values. Abulela's prose is smooth yet unpretentious, and the atmosphere she evokes is a "huis-clos" with few protagonists, populated with their memories, and centered on their fringe existance in an alien culture.