being taught this currently in school (pairing it with Othello). At its core its a good story that definitely picks up as you go along. But I like the fact that I am being taught it. You can easily miss so much. Abu-Jaber is a great writer with a lot of hidden meaning

I really wanted to like this book. Folktales, food, and contemporary Iraq (for the time the book was written). And briefly in the middle I was hooked. But it felt lacking.

The main character other than cooking has no personality and acts as if she has no free will. There are plenty of creepy male characters that she’s constantly making excuses for.

The pace, especially at the beginning isn’t engaging, even though there is conflict it doesn’t feel like it’s building up to it. Instead the whole thing plods along punctuated by the “folktale” which felt gimmicky to me.

Honestly I kept going back and forth on this book, but I was continually recaptured by the author's beautiful, life-giving descriptions of Sirine's food and emotions and memories, and of course by the familiar scenes of Westwood and UCLA. I also learned some interesting things about different middle eastern communities and I particularly enjoyed the parallel plot that started each chapter and the different take on storytelling that it presented.

At last a sweet love story with other delectable tidbits: cultural information about Iraqi/Arab culture, food, music, folklore, and a wonderful cast of characters. We had our best book club discussion over this book to date.

(Catching up on reviews for books read before blogging/Goodreads days, made from notes made at the time the book was read. Written on 7/27/21.)

Loved this novel! The food descriptions were so mouth-watering that it inspired me to try some Mediterrean recipes for my book club. I actually listened to the audiobook version courtesy of hoopladigital and my local library. Will be reading more by Diana Abu-Jaber,

At first, I was intrigued by the book but around the middle, the plot just fell flat for me. For some reason, I could not care less about what happened to any of the characters. Nathan was creepy as hell, Aziz was disgusting, Sirine deserved to lose Han after she cheated. Han was kinda stupid for returning to a country knowing full well that they would kill him and even if he didn’t die he still had to put himself through a lot of pain for no reason at all. The man was safe and sound in America yet he wanted to go back to Iraq. I understand that he wanted to say a final goodbye to his mother but I’m pretty sure that his mother understood why he couldn’t be back in Iraq and honestly, I think she would have been mad at him for putting himself in danger like that. Well… at least I finished it.
2.5⭐️

A story of the search for home, love and cultural identity told in luminous, fluid language by a master storyteller.

This one's not a memoir, but a lovely dreamy romantic tale of memory, loss and redemption. Sirene's mistakes are unbearable, impossible to conceive of but are inevitable on her path. Love her focus on food, on being lost in the act of preparing food, tasting, serving and how food draws community.

I have been meaning to read this book almost since it came out in 2003, and finally I have done so! I don't think any book could really live up to 17 years of anticipation, but I did enjoy it -- there's a past-tense frame story and a present-tense current-day story, and I really loved the parts about food and how much of Sirine's selfhood was shown rather than talked about. It did feel a little facile in places, like it is coming from a place of weird innocence about American racism, and even though it is 2003 I think it is set before 9/11 -- but it is hard for me to tell where my sense of too-easy lay, if it was in the story itself (which I am not really in a position to criticise) or if it was in the structure, it was a bit well-made in the way the strands tie together and that often frustrates me in realistic novels. Looking at other reviews, I think the latter; I did not like that Nathan's love was Hanif's sister and all the other strands tying together, the world is enormous, why did everyone have to be connected so directly?  I prefer more openness and ambiguity in my reading. Anyway, I am glad I read it, and I may well read it again eventually, but I am not quite at ease with it.

So there is no way to mark a book "partially-read, intentionally abandoned," but that's my actual status with this book.

I picked up this book because I write for a matcha company and I wanted some good food writing for inspiration. And I wasn't disappointed in this aspect. The descriptions of food and the description and imagery of a lot of things in this book are really beautiful and poignant.

However, this book falls in the category of not quite Islamophobic but maybe Islamophobic. The most Muslim characters are 1/ manipulative and petty and 2/ not really practicing and full of misinformation. Anytime Islamic belief is brought up-- specifically within the context of gender politics--its completely inaccurate and seems very much from a Western feminist perspective. And it's not even represented as, "This is how Islam manifests in this culture or country."

I really can't handle when people who aren't practicing write about Islam this way. It's one thing to write about your experience of oppression due to the way Islam is practiced in a culture. It's another thing to completely do the whole Western-assimilation-thank-God-America-saved-us-from-Muslim-men thing over and over.

Clever novel of American cook of Arab descent meets Iraqi immigrant in LA. Love, food, ethnic bonds co-mingle w memory, history, and myth. All occurs just before 9-11 and Iraqi War, but only the insanity of then current conditions in Iraq enter the story. Arab culture, food memory concoct the savory stew of this lovely story, and in the end a very poignant one. I read too slowly but didn’t ruin it this way. I’d enjoy reading more by this author.

3.5 stars rounded up

Crescent was a mixed bag for me - there were aspects I really loved and some that did not quite make sense to me. I absolutely loved the descriptions of food and scenes in the story taking place in Nadia’s Cafe. I felt as if I was in “Tehrangeles.” I also loved the relationship Sirine had with her uncle and their discussions about life. I grew to love the story of Abdelrahman Salahadin that sirine’s uncle was telling to sirine at the beginning of each chapter as the story started to allude to the novel’s current storyline. I also really enjoyed reading about Han’s childhood.

Things that did not make much sense to me included the intensity of Sirine and Han’s relationship. I didn’t see much evidence of reason for an emotional connection - it seemed purely physical. Also Nathan...his character was handled so weirdly to me.

All in all I rounded up to 4 stars because the parts of the story that I loved were absorbing, and I felt as if I was taught the importance of family, identity, and forgiveness. I believe those scenes will stick with me over time.