early reviewer book time!

i just finished reading A Map of Home, by Randa Jarrar. being sick means i had a lot of time to just lie in bed reading, and i took full advantage of it. out of all the books i've gotten through the early reviewer program, i believe i liked this one best. how can you resist a book with a smart-assed, foul-mouthed heroine? here's the review i posted on library thing:

A Map of Home tells the story of Nidali, a girl born of a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother sometime in the late 1970's--early 80's. Through the book her family moves to various places in the middle east, and Nidali tells the story of her own childhood as well as the history of her family and country. The story is mainly centered on Nidali and her family; the way war has shaped it in the past as well as the present, as well as exploring what it means for her to grow up all around the world, sandwiched between cultures and homelands.

The writing is lovely and lyrical, interspersed with Arabic poetry and quotes from the Koran. In later chapters, hip hop exerts its own influence. What I enjoyed about the book was how even the tragic and unsavory parts of the story were written about with the same care. Nidali is unblinking when she recounts beatings at her father's hand, yet she never paints him as a stereotypical angry Arab male. She's as quick to point out that her father never tries to marry her off early, he's far more concerned with her education and future as a great professor. All the characters in Jarrar's book receive similar treatment; never are they reduced to mere cultural stereotypes; all are fleshed out, three-dimensional characters.

Nidali is a smart, funny girl who is easy to like, and her family and history make a compelling read. She's sassy and a bit of a smart-alek, and at the books end I wanted to know what was going to happen to her. Based on the small author bio on the back of the book, I wonder how much of Jarrar is built into Nidali. It doesn't really matter; I found the book a delightful read, the characters moving, and would definitely recommend this book to friends.

do you think you'd like it? let me know, and i'll send it off to you.