Sweetness in the Belly

Posted on 08 August 2017 by Camilla Gibb

Like Brick Lane and The Kite Runner, Camilla Gibb s widely praised new novel is a poignant and intensely atmospheric look beyond the stereotypes of Islam After her hippie British parents are murdered, Lilly is raised at a Sufi shrine in Morocco As a young woman she goes on pilgrimage to Harar, Ethiopia, where she teaches Qur an to children and falls in love with an idealistic doctor But even swathed in a traditional headscarf, Lilly can t escape being marked as a foreigner Forced to flee Ethiopia for England, she must once again confront the riddle of who she is and where she belongs. New Download eBook Sweetness in the Belly author Camilla Gibb – kino-fada.fr The language is beautiful, the descriptions of the culture and landscape are intense, even her depiction of the main character s feelings in memorizing the Qur an is, to me, a Muslim, a mind opener ButThe Islam in her book is not the real Islamic teaching It s heavily mixed with cultural traditions, but still labeled Islam I can imagine the readers say Oh, now I knowabout Islam but are actually misled True, it s not Miss Gibbs responsiblity why would you learn about a religion The language is beautiful, the descriptions of the culture and landsca...I really need to revise my ratings, as this is one of my all time favourites, up there with People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks This is a work of fiction that reads like a colourful symphonyartfully composed and flowing with notes both wistful and poignant Ms Gibb transports the reader into the dusty streets of Africa, squ...The book was well written, and I liked how it jumped between time periods But I just didn t feel any pressure to keep reading it waslike a story of the life of book with no climax or hook just kinda ended Amazing how she was able to completely depict Ethiopia in the pages though I read this after coming back from there and I could completely picture the streets and imagine the characters Another caveat though her descriptions of Islam were not really accurate much of the The book was well written, and I liked how it jumped between time periods But I just didn t feel any pressure to keep reading it waslike a story of the life of book with no climax or hook just kinda ended Amazing how she was able to completely depict Ethiopia in the pages though I read this after coming back from there and I could completely picture the streets and imagine the characters Another caveat though her descriptions of Islam were not...Lilly is the only child of a couple of wandering, hippy English parents born in Yugoslavia, breast fed in the Ukraine, weaned in Corsica, freed from nappies in Sicily and walking by the time we got to the Algarve In Morocco, she s left in the care of the Great Abdal while her parents go jaunting, only to learn she is suddenly an orphan Raised by the Great Abdal, a muslim Sheikh, and Mohammed Bruce Mahmoud, a fiery haired ex British Muslim convert, she found that once I was led into the a Lilly is the only child of a couple of wandering, hippy English parents born in Yugoslavia, breast fed in the Ukraine, weaned in Corsica, freed from nappies in Sicily and walking by the time we got to the Algarve In Morocco, she s left in the care of the...Gibb depicts the life of a ferengi foreign white European woman Lilly living as a devout Muslim in two settings Harar, Ethiopia and London, England Through this character s eyes, we learnabout people in this African nation, struggling with day to day tasks amid political, economic, cultural and religious tensions both in their native country and abroad as refugees The author creates a number of compelling characters who inhabit a variety of positions in the spectrum of the Muslim Gibb depicts the life of a ferengi foreign white European wo...Sweetness in the Belly is the moving and heart warming story of Lilly Abdal Told in her own words, it adds to it a special liveliness, directness and authenticity Camilla Gibb has succeeded in creating a rich and detailed account of the life of a young woman caught between cultures and identities It is also a love story at different levels Her narrative alternates between periods during the four dramatic years in Ethiopia and those during ten years in London, after leaving Ethiopia in 1974, Sweetness in the Belly is the moving and heart warming story of Lilly Abdal Told in her own words, it adds to it a special liveliness, directness and authenticity Camilla Gibb has succeeded in creating a rich and detailed account of the life of a young woman caught between cultures and identities It is also a love story at different levels Her narrative alternates between periods during the four dramatic years in Ethiopia and those during ten years in London, after leaving Ethiopia in 1974, at the end of Emperor Haile Selassi s reign Gibb s novel is fast moving and particularly compelling in its portrayal of Lilly s life in the holy city of Harar At the same time, she is conveying in depth insights into the respective realities there and in England and establishes the religious and cultural context that surround the heroine with great subtlety and credibility Alternatin...Honestly i just finished the book and the one thing i can say is that it has enlighten something within me and this passage has left a strong impression within me For all the brutality that is inflicted upon us, we still possess the desire to be polite to strangers We may have blackened eyes, but we still insist on brushing our hair We may have had our toes shot off by a nine years old, but we still believe in the innocence of children We may have been raped, repeatedly, by two men in a K Honestly i just finished the book and the one thing i can say is that it has enlighten something within me and this passage has left a strong impression within me For all the ...i hesitate to outrightly use terms like predictable and cliche, but this book is rife with common now afflictions third world vs first world transition, cross cultural spirituality, etc that reveal quite...This story was so well written I had to check the front cover a couple of times that it was indeed A Novel The story switches back and forth in time, and the author does it so well I was easily able to read without the dissonance I often feel with the technique The story of a white Muslim woman in Ethiopia during the times of great changes, this story is also a scrabble lover s dream Words like QAT, SUQ, MIRQANA, andare used throughout I won t have any trouble remembering those words This story was so well written I had to check the front cover a couple of times that it was indeed A Novel The story switches back and forth in time, and the author does it so well I was easily able to read witho...weetness in the Belly is a quiet book, it creeps up on you slowly but surely with its poignant tale of love, lost and found set in a world of displaced people and cruel realities.I was apprehensive to read a story of a Muslim woman who is so steadfast in her faith, written by a non Muslim I shouldn t have worried much, as the Islamic themes both spiritual and cultural were handled with great sensitivity and understanding.Many reviews of this book spoke about the main character s constant s weetness in the Belly is a quiet book, it creeps up on you slowly but surely with its poignant tale of love, lost and found set in a world of displaced people and cruel realities.I was apprehensive to read a story of a Muslim woman who is so steadfast in her faith, written by a non Muslim I shouldn t have worried much, as the Islami...

English
08 August 2017

Camilla Gibb