Author: Holly S. Warah
Genre: Fiction
Series: No
General Overview:
The story revolves around three women, two American wives to men of Middle Eastern descent, and the mother of those two men who lives with the oldest son and his wife. This interesting family dynamic faces trials, struggles, and misunderstandings as attempts at breaching cultural barriers are forged. Told from the differing perspectives puts different spins on the story as a whole as both the differences and similarities of their worldview collide. It is a story of compromise, heartbreak, and love, all in the elusive 'family' that they are trying to create.
Here is what GoodReads has to say:
My take:American-born Margaret Mansour wants nothing more than to rekindle the struggling twenty-year marriage to her Palestinian husband, Ahmed—but not if it means uprooting their home and children in America and moving halfway across the world.
Young and ambitious Alison Mansour has a degree in Near East Studies, but her American education and Syrian background are of no use when her new marriage begins to crumble under the weight of cultural and religious differences. The communication between Alison and her husband is already shaky; how will they cope with the arrival of their first child?
Zainab Mansour, the matriarch of her family, never expected to live in America, but after the death of her husband she finds herself lost in a faithless country and lonely within the walls of her eldest son’s home. She wants what’s best for her children but struggles to find her place in a new landscape.
Emerging from the interwoven perspectives of these three women comes a story of love and longing, culture and compromise, home and homeland. Exploring the complex political backdrop of the Middle East from a personal perspective, Where Jasmine Blooms travels from the suburbs of Seattle to the villas of Jordan and the refugee camps of the West Bank, on an emotional journey exploring what it means to be a family.
I love learning about different cultures and being able to see both sides of the coin was really enjoyable. The reader gets to not only be the outside American, but the Middle Eastern character struggling to adapt in America. Both sides try to understand the other's traditions, beliefs, and cultures, often failing miserably at all three. You find yourself alternately rejoicing and mourning through triumphs and failures, often seeing the same situation through different eyes. It was refreshing to read a book where neither side is painted as the hero (or the villain), but both sides are given validity. I highly recommend this one.
