Books - Book Review - Minaret - Leila Aboulela

My friend, KM, lent me her Surrey county library book. I read this book in TWO nights.

Najwa is the spoiled daughter of a high level official from Sudan. She and her family live comfortable lives and take many things for granted. They vacation in Europe. They have access to nice clothes. They have tons of servants. They are accepted in the top universities of Sudan. They are very Westernized.

However, one year, the father falls out of favor. Najwa, her mother, and brother have enough time to flee to London to their flat. However, life starts to spiral down for her financially. Najwa can’t afford tuition for university, her mom needs to sell the flat and move to a smaller one, medical bills start to pile up, and living permanently in London is not fun, if there is not enough money.

Najwa also starts an affair with one of her college classmates, who didn’t approve of her father’s politics and whose own differing views have caused him to flee Sudan, a few years after Najwa left.

After she realizes that he is not going to marry her, Najwa slowly starts becoming more religious and starts taking Islamic religious classes. The fellowship with the other women help her to become more grounded, more accepting of her lot in life. Being a housekeeper doesn’t bother her as much as it did in the beginning.

She even doesn’t feel that she has much in common with an old high school classmate, who left Sudan when she was rejected at the university, but is now a successful medical school graduate from a Scottish university.

This book tells a reverse journey, going from a Muslim country with Western views to going to a Western country and gaining Muslim views. Najwa is lucky that her search for the truth went this way. In Britain, there is a lot of religious tolerance, and its ways may not appeal to everyone.

Even though, it was not her fault that the family lost money, she accepts her life and grows a lot.

If you read this book, you will read about parts of London that are not normally on the tourist path. You will experience the London that refugees and immigrants encounter. Leila Aboulela did a great job on this novel.