I just finished reading this book. Sammar is a shy, Sudanese translator who works for Professor Rae Isles, an Islamic scholar in Aberdeen, Scotland. After being widowed, she sinks into a depression that is gradually lifted as she finds herself falling in love with Rae. The conflict is that Sammar deems it necessary that Rae convert to her faith (Islam) to marry him. Rae is not sure that he is convinced in the Shahadah (the Islamic creed that says that there is no God but Allah, and Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). The book is in two parts - the first deals with Sammar's life in Scotland with generous descriptions of the cultural shock she experiences in a foreign land. The second part is set in Khartoum, Sudan, highlighting the cultural differences between Sammar's present and past.
I found the book fairly interesting till part two - the detailed descriptions of Sammar's family etc. in Sudan seemed a bit too distracting from the main plot. It could be that I am a bit jaded by the fact that almost every NRI author has written about adapting to life in a foreign land. I also felt that this was not a good love story. I could not relate to the fact that Sammar just needed Rae to say the Shahadah in order to feel comfortable about marrying him. I wonder what message the author was trying to convey - what is the significance of converting to Islam? Would Rae become more Muslimized in some way? He is still Scottish and grew up in a very different culture. Why did she feel the necessity for him to convert? So he could be Muslim in name? If she wanted him to believe that Allah is the only God, isn't that religious dictatorship?
7 years ago
