An intriguing, at times humorous account of an American woman and her husband’s four years in a conservative Arab kingdom.
In this collection of letters, an American couple describe life with their young son in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s.
A month before the 1973 oil crisis, Doyle moved to a city on the Persian Gulf so that her husband, Jack, could teach English at the College of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. They stayed four years, returning to the United States in the summers. Throughout that time, Doyle regularly wrote home to friends and family explaining the peculiarities and pleasures of living in a country where women were (and still are) prohibited from driving and where princes sometimes commandeered planes from the national airline. Jack also wrote a few letters in the book, which includes explanatory footnotes throughout. Readers will learn little about Doyle’s or Jack’s backgrounds, but a vivid picture emerges of living in a compound with other expatriates, of surviving sandstorms and three-inch-long cockroaches, and of negotiating cultural barriers. At his university, Jack dealt with inefficient bureaucracy and students paid to attend school. Doyle eventually got a job of her own but ended up moving around partly because of the difficulties of being a woman in the Saudi workplace. As a writer, Doyle has a light, often graceful touch, as when she writes of a visit to a beach where fish “were flinging themselves out of the water like a handful of silver coins in the sun.” Her anecdotes are often funny, too. In one of her letters, for example, she tells how overseas phone calls were monitored and how one woman started speaking in German only to be interrupted by a censor, who informed her she could only speak in English or Arabic. Generally, Doyle is sympathetic to Saudis and people of other nationalities, though she objects to things like the Saudi treatment of women. Some readers might tire of descriptions of making wine or trying to get a refrigerator fixed, but others will likely enjoy hearing the various details of her life. Also included at the end of the book are recipes from Doyle’s years abroad.
An intriguing, at times humorous account of an American woman and her husband’s four years in a conservative Arab kingdom.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615662862
Page Count: 430
Publisher: Sand Rose Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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