Customer Reviews

Saffron Dreams

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Exquisite. That best describes the book, SAFFRON DREAMS. The story is from a woman's perspective with true pain, ambition, desperation, duty, and love all mixed together.

Arissa Illahi is a Pakistani-Muslim artist and writer whose childhood was spent in an affluent family in New York City. Her mother is overly flirtatious with her uncle and her parents eventually split. She meets an interesting man who she would like to meet again and regretfully, doesn't until her parents contact a matchmaker and show her the pictures of prospective husbands. There he is and their life together begins.

All is not perfect as they do have the everyday problems and challenges of being overly educated and not being able to find profitable careers to match. Her husband works as a waiter in one of buildings that are part of the World Trade Center. In his free time, he is writing his first novel, which he hopes, will allow him to become a full-time author.

Arissa discovers that she is pregnant and her life changes. Her husband was working on the morning of 9/11 and he did not escape the tragedy that occurred. Arissa has to deal with his death, being pregnant, finding a job to support the baby and herself, and also, how to be a Muslim in New York City at this time. To add to this challenge, she discovers that her child will be handicapped; it is just not known yet to what degree.

SAFFRON DREAMS possesses a strength of dreaming, reality, and a personal voice in literature. You truly feel you are Arissa as her life continues daily. She wants to be a good mother, continue her faith, rely on her family, and also to fulfill her husband's wishes of completing his novel. There just isn't always enough time for everything.

Shaila Abdullah is a Pakistani-American author currently living in Austin, Texas. She has also written, BEYOND THE CAYENNE WALL which is a collection of stories about Pakistani women and the changes and challenges in their lives. SAFFRON DREAMS is truly an exquisite novel. The care of the characters, complete with flaws exposed, makes this a reflective and insightful read for everyone.

REVIEWED BY TERI DAVIS

Shaila Abdullah's "Saffron Dreams" is a moving, sensitive and eye-opening novel about Arissa Ilahi, a young Pakistani woman living in New York City, who loses her husband in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Towers. While the novel has scenes in Pakistan prior to the 9/11 attacks, the focus of the novel is Arissa grieving for her lost husband, Faizan, her efforts to get her life back together in a country whose people are becoming intolerant and prejudiced against Muslims, and being a single mother to a newborn son with multiple disabilities. Along the way, Arissa learns to find support in loved ones, especially her in-laws, and to sever dysfunctional relationships, even with family members. Despite many difficult decisions she must make for the independence of herself and her son, Arissa remains strong and hopeful.

The September 11th attacks are wounds still healing in the United States. Readers of "Saffron Dreams" will better understand the grief experienced by those who lost loved ones during that critical time. The novel also offers insights into Islamic, particularly Pakistani, culture and the difficulties faced by immigrants to the United States in their efforts to assimilate yet retain parts of their culture. As Arissa notes in the novel, immigrants come to love both lands as their own.

"Saffron Dreams" is as American a novel as any written because the immigrant experience is an integral part of the American story. The novel is part of Modern History Press's "Reflections of America" series, and its young female Pakistani narrator provides a unique perspective on how Americans are still trying to cope with and interpret the events of September 11th and the wars that have followed. While the story is not as full of dramatic conflict as other recent Middle-Eastern immigrant novels such as "The Kite Runner," the internal conflict of Arissa is just as moving and perhaps more meaningful to readers who will see in Arissa someone not so unlike them, someone who simply wants a better life for herself and her child.

At the background of the novel is the theme of the value and importance of each human life. Arissa is determined to carry on her husband's legacy, to make sure his life is remembered and valued. At the urging of her mother-in-law, she decides to complete her husband's novel, "Soul Searcher." Equally, Arissa makes the decision to give birth and raise her child despite his disabilities. Through it all, she learns to value her own life, not allowing prospective lovers, dysfunctional family members, or Pakistani and American culture to control or define her future or identity. Arissa's story shows the individual importance and value of each person. Her voice is so distinct the reader is surprised to recall that "Saffron Dreams" is a novel rather than a personal memoir.

Author Shaila Abdullah was born in Karachi, Pakistan but now lives and works as a freelance writer in Austin, Texas. While she did not experience the terrorist attacks of September 11th firsthand, her experience as a Muslim woman who immigrated to the United States speaks for many men and women who have left their native lands to seek a better life in the United States despite the additional difficulties it can cause. Abdullah's previously published short story collection "Beyond the Cayenne Wall" received laudatory reviews for its depiction of Pakistani women struggling to define themselves as individuals against the barriers imposed by the traditional wall that separates the acceptable from what is considered sinful in their societies. Like the veil the Pakistani women wear, the wall prevents them from exploring who they really are.

Now in "Saffron Dreams," Abdullah returns to her topic of Pakistani women with an in-depth portrait of one woman trying to reconcile her new freedoms with her Pakistani culture and the prejudice of many Americans toward the Muslim religion. "Saffron Dreams" captures the tone and emotions of the early twenty-first century, while leaving the reader much to think about in terms of what it means to be an American, what the future of America may be, and the hope that exists in future generations. Abdullah's writing offers a new and intriguing perspective on the American experience, one I hope to continue enjoying in future novels from her.

-- Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and author of "The Marquette Trilogy"

We have read numerous stories in the mainstream media about the widows of 9/11. Not so many about the Muslim victims. In her novel "Saffron Dreams," Shaila Abdullah fills a void in that literature by providing the perspective of a pregnant Pakistani woman who loses her husband--a writer with a masters in literature who worked as a waiter in the Windows on the World restaurant--on September 11. Inspired by the true story of Baraheen Ashrafi, a Bangladeshi woman who was widowed two days before the birth of her second child, Abdullah's novel follows her main character on her journey through the five stages of grief as she reconstructs her life in a worldthat views her as a perpetrator of the violence, not as a victim.

Intertwined with flashbacks to Arissa's childhood in Pakistan, this novel provides a valuable insight into secular, upper middle class Pakistani society. A much-needed perspective in the void of the American Muslim experience, this is an unflinching look at the societal pressures of widowhood, the role that art can play in the healing process, and the impact of media bias and stereotyping on the Muslim American community in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The murders of September 11, 2001 were the shock of a generation, a morning forever etched into the memories of those who watched the events unfold in person or on live television. In a world seemingly gone mad, some celebrated the deaths of 3,000 innocents while others yearned for revenge against those responsible for the senseless murders. Lines seemed to be clearly drawn.

Some few people, however, had a foot on both sides of that line and Shaila Abdullah tells the story of one such woman in her novel, "Saffron Dreams." Arissa Illahi, a Pakistani Muslim pregnant with her first child and living in New York City, has her own world shattered on that tragic morning when her husband is killed as the Twin Towers collapse. Not only is her husband, Faizan, suddenly snatched from her forever, Arissa is left alone to cope with the birth of her child in an environment in which many see her obvious Muslim faith as the only proof they need that her sympathies are with those responsible for what happened that day.

Arissa is helped through her initial shock by family members who rush to her side, but noticeably absent is her mother, a woman who had abandoned Arissa's family years earlier. Her in-laws stay behind when everyone else leaves to make certain that Arissa will be able to cope with her loss and her new life, themselves quietly grieving while they help Arissa through the worst of what she has to face.

And cope, Arissa does. Showing remarkable strength, and determined to ensure her husband's legacy, she prepares for the birth of her son despite the multiple handicaps with which he is expected to enter the world so recently left by his father. At the urging of her mother-in-law, Arissa also eventually agrees to complete the unfinished novel left behind by Faizan as another way of marking his place in the world. Her new world is bounded by her son, her writing and her job, but especially by the unique bond she forms with the son who needs her so much.

Because Arissa Illahi is not the typical 9-11 widow, "Saffron Dreams" is much more than a novel about coping with the sudden loss of a loved one. The book deals effectively with racism, religious prejudice, fanaticism and hatred on both sides of the divide, the difficulties and rewards of raising a handicapped child, and the slow healing that finally allows a survivor to get on with the rest of her life. Despite the senselessness of what happened in New York City that morning eight years ago, "Saffron Dreams" is filled with strength and hope for the future. It is a reminder that the world is what we make it, one little piece at a time.

Length:: 3:05 Mins

Here's a brief book video to introduce you to this remarkable work.

For many people the loss of a spouse, especially in something like the tragic events of 9/11, would be almost more than they could bear. In this engrossing and beautifully written novel, the author shows how additional losses can actually strengthen and provide a sense of meaning and purpose. The birth of a child with severe disabilities, in contrast to the devastating loss of a spouse, can come to be a positive experience by enabling us to see the beauty in creation that is sometimes missed in the glow of perfection. This is not a story of happy but rather of hopeful endings. Our lives are uncertain, but with hope and courage bitterness can be replaced by an appreciation for what is present.

This is about widowhood. It reminded me somewhat of The Pilot's Wife minus the mystery. It is a book basically that goes on and on about a woman's grief. Whereas, I sympathize with Arissa, I felt the story could have used more details regarding her "malfunctioning" son and the stress of raising such a child by oneself and less of the mourning stuff.

Arissa has lost her husband in the Trade Towers collapse. She is five months pregnant. Forty One days later, she finds out that the child she is carrying has a cleft lip, malformed kidneys, bad urinary tract, and much more. (Upon birth, he is also half blind and deaf.)She carries the child to term, struggles as a single mom, faces predijice due to her veil and tosses it in the wind, attempts another relationship, and completes her dead husband's book.

My issue is the jumping back and forth. In one paragraph, Arissa is 5 months pregnant and taking vicodin. (Funny, she never once stops and asks herself if her usage of both vicodin and valium while pregnant has caused her child's retardation! Another issue for me.) The next paragraph, her and the husband are making love or having a fight. The third paragraph may go back ten years and be about her mother abandoning her.

Didn't work for me, but I can see it hitting Oprah's book list.

This year I decided to read mostly foreign authors and multicultural themed books and this week's selection was a fiction novel, Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah. This book looks at the treatment and lives of Muslims in America after 9/11.
Arissa and Faizan married in Pakistan in a traditional Muslim wedding and were the love of each other's lives from the beginning. They moved to New York where Faizan worked as a waiter while secretly writing his first novel. After two years of marriage, Arissa finally became pregnant and they were both excited about their first visit to the doctor for an ultrasound. Then, 9/11 happened and Faizan never made it home.
"That's how God made us, in pairs so we complete each other. And then he snatches one away, I thought, and makes us dispensable mortals. Alone we come, and solo our return." Pg.101
Shaila Abdullah gives us a clear picture of what it was like to be Muslim and a widow in America after 9/11 through the story of one courageous woman who faces raising a child alone and the possibility of finishing her husband's novel. She addresses the balancing of cultural traditions with American realities and her writing flows like a river from the first paragraph to the last sentence. Ms. Abdullah provides an accurate and insightful story of love, loss, fear, anger, and finding the strength to survive. This book is a must read for everyone and can provide understanding for those with little experience with other cultures.
Luckily I have had the great pleasure to experience many different cultures, religions, foods and customs and met many wonderful people while traveling and working internationally. I have found many women indicative of the values that Arissa displays in this novel which made this book very personal and identifiable to me. I give this book a big "thumbs up" and can't wait to read the next novel by Shaila Abdullah.

When I first heard about Saffron Dreams, I was really intrigued. The story of a Muslim woman who lost her husband in the World Trade Center attacks seemed compelling and timely. Indeed, after reading the book, I am moved at how beautifully and tenderly Ms. Abdullah handled a controversial subject and made the book about our common humanity, rather than about the differences that divide us.

What really struck me about Saffron Dreams is that the 9/11 attacks aren't the only serious subject addressed in this small novel. Abdullah manages to talk about racism, fundamentalism, widowhood, culture clashes, and the challenges of raising a child with disabilities within its pages. With all those weighty topics, you would think the book would be a heavy read, but surprisingly, it isn't. Instead, it's an honest look at the life of a woman trying to live a normal life while chaos is reigning around her.

Despite the seeming lack of hope in Saffron Dreams' premise, the book is full of wonder. The novel is never depressing; even in the darkest times, Arissa never seems to lose that hope that the future will be a brighter, happier place. That feeling permeates the novel, leaving the reader with a sense of optimism after the last pages are turned.

Abdullah's writing is crisp, sharp and clear. She does not mince words; her writing is very precise, each word chosen carefully. Her words have a way of conveying raw emotion; because they are so stark, the feelings are so much more clear and powerful on the page. It's a wonderful writing style for a novel such as this.

In the end, the message I took away from the novel is that what we, as citizens of this earth, have in common is much greater than all those differences than set us apart from one another. We must look to our common humanity to bring us together. This is a message full of hope and love, much like Saffron Dreams itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed Saffron Dreams and recommend it to anyone interested in multicultural fiction - it's a great read and you won't be disappointed. I am eager to pick up Shaila Abdullah's book of short stories, Beyond the Cayenne Wall.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

[...]

"Saffron Dreams" by Shaila Abdullah is an eloquently written and moving story of a Muslim woman living in America, whose world is turned upside down on September 11th.

Arissa Illahi is a Muslim artist and writer living in New York City with her husband Faizan. Expecting their first child, they are happy with life. But on the morning of September 11, 2001, Faizan would go to work in the World Trade Center...and never return.

Always free to live as a Muslim in America, after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Great American Melting Pot doesn't seem to blend so well. People who greeted Arissa with a smile before that fateful day, barely look at her. Feeling adrift after her loss, Arissa wanders through the days awaiting the birth of her unborn son, a son Faizan would never hold. The discovery of her husband's unfinished manuscript may be the key to her survival. And perhaps by finishing Faizan's legacy, Arissa will redeem a race.

If ever there was a book more eloquently written than "Saffron Dreams", I would like to see it. The words simply fly off the page and float into your consciousness; their power touching you in a way like no other book might ever touch you again. The struggles of being a 9/11 widow and a Muslim, come together in a moving story that will find you filled with every emotion ever experienced by a human being.

Abdullah's masterful storytelling draws you in from the very first moment and does not release you until you've turned the very last page. Anyone who has ever loved and lost will be touched by this heartrending, yet triumphant story of one woman's difficult journey to pick up the pieces of her shattered life in a country that has suddenly put her and an entire race under a microscope in order to make sense of a monumental tragedy. The descriptions and details put you right alongside Arissa so that you are totally captivated by her world, her dreams, her struggles, and her triumphs.

"Saffron Dreams" is destined to add more awards to Abdullah's portfolio. This is a must read book for 2009!