Customer Reviews

Mosaic

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

 

 

I haven't written an Amazon.com book review in several years; however, when I went to Amazon to look for Khashoggi's other books, I couldn't believe no one had written a review on "Mosaic", a book I finished just moments ago and will relish for some time to come. I picked up this book at a grocery store, but it deserves a far better venue. I typically shun Oprah's book recommendations, but "Mosaic" deserves that sort of publicity. It certainly would lend itself wonderfully to a book club discussion. Khashoggi's writing style is fluid in a way rarely seen in popular fiction today. I won't get into the details of the plot, but this one is a keeper. Kudos to Soheir Khashoggi for drawing me into a can't-put-down, beautifully written, unforgettable story.

Having read numerous other books on a similar subject, I have to say that I was disappointed in this one. While the writing style is nice, and the idea of having one's children taken away is indeed emotional, I found that in this book all conflicts wrapped up nicely, neatly, and FAR too easily and quickly at the end. So quickly and easily, in fact, that there may as well have been no conflict at all, and what's worse, the author starts setting up the easy resolution pretty early on. I kept reading thinking there would be a twist at the end, but nope--if you read this book and after about the first third, you start to think--it can't really be that easy, can it?--well, yes, it can.

If you're looking for a light read with unneccesary romantic side stories for the lesser characters, this is a great choice. Not a horrible book, but not a book that makes me want to read her other two.

Dina is the American wife of Karim, an Arab from Jordan. The couple live in New York in post 911 days. A working mother of young twins and an older boy who has just confessed to being gay, Diana is devestated when Karim takes the twins, without her knowledge until they are gone, to his family home in Jordan. His feeling is that America has corrupted his older son and he cannot allow that to happen to the twins, especially the boy. The book is an easy read and kept my attention. I titled this review "A Story With No Villains" unless one would classify the clash of cultures as such. Prepared to hate Karim, I came to understand how culture shaped his thinking,as culture shapes all our thinking. Eunice Boeve, author of Maggie Rose and Sass

I picked this book up at Barns and Noble, and as I read the back it sounded quite interesting. I decided to purchase it. I started reading and read the first 10 chapters in one night; I wanted to read more and more.....I think that the author did a good job in telling the story.