Monday, March 20, 2006

“Sweetness in the Belly”, by Camilla Gibb


At a time when the news scene about Islam looks more and more like a bashing contest, with Pat Robertson and F. Graham taking over Wafa Sultan’s "legacy", "Sweetness in the Belly", a new novel by Camilla Gibb, comes out as an escape from this sheer madness!

"Sweetness in the Belly" tells the story of a white Muslim woman, Lily, raised in Africa, who shifts between London and Ethiopia. Lily’s childhood is spent on many places, among them Tangiers when her Anglo-Irish hippy parents relocate in Morocco.

The novel, reviewer Bernardine Evaristo writes, explores themes of female circumcision, politics, war, tribalism, yet it is also an exquisite homage to Islam. Some of the most beautiful passages are about Lily's (the main character in the novel) faith. Islam is her guiding force, as she seeks to discover the true meaning of jihad, "The holy war we have within ourselves ... Our internal struggle for purity."
I gotta get hold of it!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

me too!!

Anonymous said...

so passez le moi quand vous avez fini! ;)

Jallal EL Idrissi said...

Ok, nbdaw ndirou chi book club, 7naya :-)

Anonymous said...

Jallal> ou 3lash lla? ma kaynach manfa3a akbar :) (admire le mot manfa3a lol)

Jallal EL Idrissi said...

Manfa3a 3adhima fal ha9i9a!

Anonymous said...

Jallal> Lol hey this moderated comment thing is really frustating :(

Jallal EL Idrissi said...

U r right. We'll try to sort it out!

Erin said...

Hey, I have to say this is one of my favourite books at the moment. I could not put it down and found myself dazed for days afterwards.