From amazon:
Banned in several Arab nations, this rich tale mesmerizes with its frank sexuality and scenes of war-torn Beirut. Zahra is a misfit mistreated by her mother, who brings her along to secret meetings with a lover, and by her father, a harsh disciplinarian who reacts angrily to her habit of picking at her pimpled face. She leaves her parents to stay with an uncle who has fled to Africa to escape being arrested for political activity. When his affection for her grows sexual, Zahra agrees to an unsuccessful marriage with his friend Majed. Eventually, she returns to Beirut, where "the war was like a weevil that had found its way into the heart of a huge bag of white flour and settled there," and begins meeting secretly to have sex with a man who may or may not be a rooftop sniper. A rotating first-person narrative gives everyone a voice; Zahra's is the most striking, but each character has memorable moments, as when Majed describes his adolescent arousal while reading Jane Eyre and seeing an illustration of the heroine kissing Mr. Rochester. Al-Shaykh ( Women of Sand and Myrrh ), a Lebanese writer now living in London, has a focused and original style.

Reserverd for thegoaliegirl.

Picked this up at the Toronto Convention. I am looking forward to reading it after graduation, which is coming up very fast! Thanks for bringing this to the convention! It was so exciting to have all these books I want to read just handed to me!

Interesting story. Wasn't sure what to expect but it was very intriguing. Can't say it is my favorite but it stayed with me and was hard to put down.

Book went out in the mail today as a RABCK, so that it may continue in its travels.

The Book arrived yesterday. Thank you so much thegoaliegirl for this RABCK

Das Buch macht sich nun als Rabck auf den Weg zu seinem nächsten Leser. Viel Freude damit!

This book arrived at my house save and sound. Thanks a lot for sending it, Charly83.

Hmmm, I couldn't understand Zahra and I don't think it was because I was brought up in a different culture by totally different parents and at peacetime. The story was nevertheless captivating and allowed me to immerse into a completely different world.
I liked the language in this book.

Reist weiter zu Mary-T.

many thanks book-a-billy - I'm excited to read this!

This was interesting to read - even though sometimes I had difficulties with the style. Specially in the second part I started to struggle following the story - but it was worthwhile reading.
Mainly I felt for Zahra she seemed so lonely and lost.
The drastic end one saw coming... nevertheless it was shocking.

Now Zahra is travelling abroad as my part of the sweepstake with the topic of uncommon writers. I hope you like it! Congrats :o)

Thank you - this has arrived safely in Edinburgh. :-)

Like Mary-T I felt so sad for Zahra. She really seemed to be without a friend in the world, and it broke my heart that only locking herself in a bathroom provided her with a bit peace and quiet. She hardly seemed to have any agency in her own life. The descriptions of living in a country during a time of war while Zahra was also struggling so much with life in general made it seem more poignant. Thanks for sharing this one. I've spotted it on a wishlist so hope to get it travelling again soon.

And off it goes to Pam99 as a rabck. Happy reading!

arrived yesterday, look forward to reading this!

took me a while to read this one even though it's a fairly slim volume. Quite a difficult read in places and like others, I felt sorry for Zahra. Thank you for sharing! Will probably wild release this one now.

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