the_cry_of_the_dove epitome of incomprehensibility A novel by Fadia Faqir. It switches between past and present in a vivid and comprehensible way, usually running three parallel narratives told in first-person: as a teenager in the Middle East the narrator Salma got pregnant and was sent to jail to prevent her angry brother from killing her; in her twenties she was smuggled out of jail by a group of nuns and adopted by one of them so she can move to the U.K.; and in her thirties, the present, she's settling into life in Europe and her two jobs (neither pay well) and struggling to deal with her erratic landlady and the complications of dating and friendship, not to mention the thought of the child that was taken away from her after birth. The middle time (twenties) struck me as most intriguing, since it sketches in key parts but leaves others mysterious - for instance, what was her relationship to the Irish minister guy who doesn't try to convert her like the nuns do? Is it love? A one-sided crush on her part? More of a mentor thing? And there are funny moments when Salma is learning English. She says "adapted" to the immigrations officer instead of "adopted," and then there's this exchange with her Pakistani-English friend Parvin (at first Parvin, whom she meets at a hostel, is grouchy and suspicious of Salma - she's just run away from her more traditional family and perhaps this hijab-wearing stranger reminds her too much of them): After she drank the tea to the last drop, she sat up and asked, 'Where do you come from?' 'Over the sea,' I answered. 'Are you Arab?' 'Yes, Bedouin me.' 'Wow! A fucking Bedouin Arab!' 'I fucking no allow,' I said. from p. 85 - seems like she's telling Parvin not to swear - at any rate it made me laugh. Parvin is a great character; her direct speech conveys a tough and determined personality, and besides she's a good friend. She reminds me a bit of the character Stella I'm writing... but I have a tendency to make my characters talk too much, especially too much at once, so I need to do a lot of self-editing before I get anything good. I wonder what the professional editing process is like? (Well, e_o_i, get something done and find out!) ...Anyway, I recommend this: it has a good mix of moods, scenes, and subtle but pervasive social critique without vilifying anybody. I have about fifty pages left to go and then I'll fly it back to Dorval Library. Since it's a dove, you see. Or at least the sound of one. Sounds fly, don't they? 140611 ... e_o_i I think I misinterpreted the line "I fucking no allow." It probably means that she doesn't want to have sex because the last time she did so she nearly got killed. That would make more sense! (She got pregnant without being married, and her neighbours or family, I don't remember, sent her to jail - they kept her kid but she escaped and moved to the U.K.) She does end up having sex with someone in the U.K. and nothing terrible happens. But she expects a relationship and he's indifferent to her, so she's disappointed. ... Why am I going back to read these old blathes? Anyway, it did remind me of The Cry of the Dove, which was a good book. 191012 what's it to you? who go blather from