Like Brick Lane and The Kite Runner, Camilla Gibb's widely praised new novel is a poignant and intensely atmospheric look beyond the ...
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Jul 20, 2011
Karen
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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 learn more about 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 More...
The author creates a number of compelling characters who inhabit a variety of positions in the More...
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Mar 05, 2009
Endah
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Nama Etiopia pernah sangat terkenal pada tahun 1980 hingga 1990-an. Hampir setiap malam, layar televisi kita menampilkan gambar-gambar mengenaskan tentang situasi di negeri tersebut yang dilanda kelaparan berkepanjangan akibat kekeringan dan juga perang saudara.
Di negeri dengan sejarah yang panjang ini pernah memerintah seorang kaisar, raja di raja, dengan kekuasaan bagaikan dewa, Haile Selassie. Ia juga sangat dipuja oleh kaum penganut ‘agama’ Rastafaria. Nama Rastafari diambil da More...
Di negeri dengan sejarah yang panjang ini pernah memerintah seorang kaisar, raja di raja, dengan kekuasaan bagaikan dewa, Haile Selassie. Ia juga sangat dipuja oleh kaum penganut ‘agama’ Rastafaria. Nama Rastafari diambil da More...
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Apr 02, 2009
Destinia
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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.
But...
The 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 know more about Islam' but are actually misled. True, it's not Miss Gibbs responsiblity (why woul More...
But...
The 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 know more about Islam' but are actually misled. True, it's not Miss Gibbs responsiblity (why woul More...
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Nov 30, 2009
Rahim
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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 was more like '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 th
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Apr 02, 2009
John
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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 a lot about the story's eventual outcome. while the story might be more about the journey than the destination, none of the revelations or realizations really sneak up on or enlighten the reader.
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Dec 16, 2009
Jessica
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At first I thought this book would be a journey through the life of a young convert raised with a strong spiritual background. Like most books today it just ended up undermining the beauty and importance of Islam as a spiritual inspiration. They only thing the character seems to learn is that she doesn't have to be a practicing Muslim, she can just be believe in the message. This undermines one of the most basic tenants of Islam and Sufism, that practice and spirituality meld to make the well
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May 25, 2008
Kate
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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, and more are used throughout. I won't have any trouble rememberin
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Jun 25, 2011
Michelle
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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 symphony...artfully composed and flowing with notes both wistful and poignant. Ms. Gibb transports the reader into the dusty streets of Africa, squatting in the dirt to dry chillies, or chewing qat to get high. Then readers struggle along with the characters in their daily grind as depose More...
This is a work of fiction that reads like a colourful symphony...artfully composed and flowing with notes both wistful and poignant. Ms. Gibb transports the reader into the dusty streets of Africa, squatting in the dirt to dry chillies, or chewing qat to get high. Then readers struggle along with the characters in their daily grind as depose More...
Mar 27, 2011
Jane
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Camilla Gibb takes you on a journey through Lilly's life in Ethiopia and her new life in London. Although Lilly is born to an English father and Irish mother, she is taught the Qur'an and lives as a Muslim. When she arrives in Harar, she begins to teach the children of Nouri, a woman who gives her a home. Her skills are noticed by other inhabitants and Lilly is soon teaching several children of different abilities. When one of Nouri's children is taken ill after circumcision by a local midwi
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Feb 02, 2011
Christie
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British born, Canadian raised writer Camilla Gibb’s stunning new novel Sweetness in the Belly divided my book club. I was among those who loved it. The book tells the story of Lilly, born to hippie parents and brought up, after their death, in the city of Harar as a Muslim. Her story is told by layering her young years in a politically charged Ethiopia with her life as a nurse in London. It’s a fascinating picture of a world torn apart by poverty and prejudice and by Lilly’s own beliefs. It is a
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Jun 04, 2010
Friederike
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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,
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Jul 24, 2009
Debbie (Readerbuzz)
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Lilly’s parents, British citizens, lead a life of reckless wanderings. While the family is traveling in Ethiopia, Lilly’s parents are killed and Lilly is sent to stay with the Great Abdal, a teacher and leader of his people. She is taught to be a devout Muslim by Abdal and she learns much about literature and art by visits from a great teacher, Muhammed Bruce. Eventually she is sent to live with a young mother, Nouria. Lilly finds she can supplement the income of Nouria and her children by teach
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Sep 02, 2010
Agnes
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A troubling book to read, as it was about the difficulties experienced by life in a slum in Harar, Ethiopia in the '70s.
Lily is orphaned at age 8, raised by a saint's diciple in Morocco; travels to Ethiopia; gets put with a washerwoman with four children; falls in love with a doctor; gets sent to London when the government falls; becomes a nurse; has another doctor fall in love with her, only she cannot love him because she keps thinking that Aziz will show up.
During a More...
Lily is orphaned at age 8, raised by a saint's diciple in Morocco; travels to Ethiopia; gets put with a washerwoman with four children; falls in love with a doctor; gets sent to London when the government falls; becomes a nurse; has another doctor fall in love with her, only she cannot love him because she keps thinking that Aziz will show up.
During a More...
Feb 13, 2009
Traycee
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A delightful find that I wasn't really expecting. Written by an up-and-coming young Canadian writer, I found Sweetness in the Belly to be a very mature and sophisticated story about a white English woman living as a Muslim in 1980's Ethiopia. I loved that the descriptive writing took me into the cramped alleyways and the dark huts of Harar and allowed me to feel the atmosphere through words. I became engrossed in the love story of Lilly and Aziz... hey, I'm a girl! But I also became invested in
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Jan 26, 2009
Kate
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Lily is the orphan of British hippies brought up by a Muslim holy man in Ethiopia in the sixties then forced to flee to England in the Red Terror years of the seventies where she works as a nurse during the week and in a centre for refugee assistance on Saturdays attempting to reunite Ethiopian scattered by the violent diaspora. In a series of back and forth in time and space sections between England and Africa, we follow Lily's history and the history of Ethiopia from a very personal point of v
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Feb 12, 2011
Monica
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This book surprised me. I took part in a discussion about "Sweetness in the Belly" before i started reading it. The reviews and comments were varied, but i walked away feeling that this wouldn't be my type of book and would just frustrate me. Someone made a comment that the main character, Lilly, didn't really grow, that her character development was never pushed and that she seemed to think and feel the same throughout the book no matter what her age or circumstance. However, i felt t
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Sep 07, 2009
Ozma
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I really loved this book. I think every Muslim should read it. It captured how I feel about being a Muslim -- that sense of brother/sister-hood with your fellow Muslims of all different races and backgrounds; the misuse of culture. The descriptions of Harar, the ancient, walled, Muslim city of Ethiopia, were beautiful and wonderful. I have actually visited Harar, so it might have meant more to me, but I think anyone reading it gets a sense of the magical grit of Harar. Also, the author captures,
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Aug 08, 2011
Nura
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"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 spok More...
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 spok More...
Jan 21, 2012
A. J.
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I really enjoyed the glimpse into Harar life that this book offered. I didn't know a lot about Ethiopian history and the story made me want to find out more. The main character was convincing and the description of life in London for recent immigrants seemed all too realistic. Sometimes I got the feeling that the author was using British English words a little self-consciously (loo, rubbish bin, bung) and there was one use of a Canadian English word or phrase which quite threw me out of the stor
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Sep 14, 2009
David
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Lilly Abdal spent her childhood traveling throughout Europe and the near east with her "hippie" parents. After they are murdered in Morocco when she is only 8 years old, she is raised by one of their friends, an devout Muslim, who teaches her Koran and the Muslim way. She spends several years in Ethiopia living among poor and trying to help other girls and women learn to read and understand Koran. She is exiled to England in the 1980s, and works as a nurse in helping the poor immigrant
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Aug 05, 2011
Un merveilleux livre! Une très belle découverte d'une Ethiopie méconnue, celle d'Harar, la 4e ville sacrée de l'Islam et refuge de Lilly, une "farendja" ("étrangère"), orpheline élevée dans l'amour de l'Islam et qui doit pourtant trouver sa place au milieu des diverses ethnies et religions. Un apprentissage des traditions, des parfums, d'une culture et d'une langue propres à l'Ethiopie.
Une quête qu'elle doit poursuivre à Londres où elle tente de faire survivre ce qu'elle a hé More...
Une quête qu'elle doit poursuivre à Londres où elle tente de faire survivre ce qu'elle a hé More...
Oct 06, 2008
Miranda
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I really liked this book. Very readable; immerses you into Lilly's world of poverty, war, and exile. Despite these depressing topics- this story uplifts as Lilly rises above her circumstances. I recommend this book to everyone- its truly wonderfully written!
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Feb 21, 2010
Kellie
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This is the story of the white, British-born daughter of nomadic hippies who is orphaned in Morocco and raised in a shrine by a Sufi teacher. She finds the security with her guardian and with Islam that she never had with her parents. Politics in Morocco sort of force her on a pilgrimage to Harar Ethiopia when she is a teenager. There she falls in love with an young idealistic doctor, Aziz, who is himself a bit of an outsider. Most of the book is split between her life in Harar and her life
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Jan 19, 2010
Summer
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An English girl's life journey through Africa. From Morroco to Ethiopia and finally back to England. The story tells of her guidance from and love of the Koran, and later the desruction of a country, religion and people she loved.
I did not think this book would hold my attention but was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed the reader (book on CD) and learning about a way of life and culture I knew nothing about. It was also interesting to listen to what Ethiopia was like before More...
I did not think this book would hold my attention but was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed the reader (book on CD) and learning about a way of life and culture I knew nothing about. It was also interesting to listen to what Ethiopia was like before More...
Dec 03, 2011
Magdelanye
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Imagine that you are the child of Rimbaud or Baudillaire,or Lord Byron or Paul Bowles, trailing after him throught Europe and into Morrocco, living a hallucinatory life,never knowing stability or allowed to put down roots.
Such was the life of Lilly, plopped into the care of a certain Sufi Sheikh while her parents were dealing with rough trade in Tangiers.When they are murdered, Lilly becomes a ward of another friend of her parents,and remains in the household of the Sheikh where she More...
Such was the life of Lilly, plopped into the care of a certain Sufi Sheikh while her parents were dealing with rough trade in Tangiers.When they are murdered, Lilly becomes a ward of another friend of her parents,and remains in the household of the Sheikh where she More...
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Jun 03, 2010
Lizinka
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Meh. The story in this book could have been so intense, but it felt like the book had no true soul. I felt unconnected, especially to the protagonist, whom I neither liked, nor disliked - I felt I couldn't get a fix on her or her beliefs at all. You would think falling in love would provide such complex spiritual and philosophical angst for such a devoutly religious person, but the book just skimmed the surface of this possibility. There were times when it mentioned that she was a teenager -
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Dec 30, 2011
This is the second novel set in Ethiopia that I've read recently; I really didn't know much about the country or its recent history and I feel that both books have helped me learn a lot. When I first started the book I liked it, then in the middle I started disliking it, and then the end redeemed it a bit for me. The writing is beautiful and evocative and I think the writer handles the alternating sections between 'now' and 'then' well. My main problem was that I didn't like the main character f
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Feb 22, 2009
Christine
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I really enjoyed this book about a white woman who was raised (after her parents died) as a Muslim. She lived in Morocco, Ethiopia and ended up in England helping other refugees fleeing Ethiopia find their families and friends. I loved her writing which gave me much insight into her life in all those places. I particularly liked her description of creating her own family tree in which those she loved hung on her tree's limbs. Since they were not related by blood to her, she found that it was
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Jul 27, 2011
Sarah
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Sometimes I wonder if circumstances sometimes lead to one not really enjoying a particular book that is supposed to be really good. I don't really know why I couldn't get into this book. Maybe it's because I was just coming off of Three Day Road( which is amazing by the way) or maybe it's because I had to rush to read it because of the stupid postal strike that delayed the arrival of my book until two days before book club, but I didn't really like this one. I was bored for most of it and anytim
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Oct 21, 2010
Julie
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Lilly, born of English/Irish parents in the late fifties, lives a nomadic life in Europe and North Africa until her shiftless parents are murdered during a drug deal gone wrong. Orphaned at the age of eight, she has neither attended school nor had any place outside a hotel room or hostel to call home. She is offered shelter at an Islamic shrine in Tangier, Morocco and is raised by a Sufi scholar. As a teenager, she makes a pilgrimage to Harar, Ethiopia to pay homage to the Sufi saint of the Moro
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