قبل أن تنام الملكة

by حزامة حبايب, Huzama Habayeb

“حتى إذا أدركنا الليل وأوت الأحزان إلى مخادعها، أتيتِ إليّ حافية، وقد هطل نصف شعرك على وجهكِ، تفوح منك رائحة عرق طازج، من أحلام يقظتك المتهوّرة، وبقايا شوكولاته تتلمّظينها في فمكِ دون كبير شعور بالذنب لأنك خُنتِ حميتكِ الغذائية الهشّة، وخبز محمّص، حدّ الاحتراق، فتافيته ترشم بلوزة بيجامتك. تندسّين في السرير إلى جواري. تتشمّمين ذراعي العارية. تقولين إنك تحبين رائحة لحمي. تقولين إنكِ تفتشين عنها، أو ما يشبهها، في مدينتكِ البعيدة، فلا تجدينها. تغرسين أنفكِ في عنقي، قائلة: إحكيلي حكايتك!”.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Middle East, Adult, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Historical

322 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

حُزَامَة حَبَايِبْ هي روائية وقاصّة وكاتبة مقالات ومُتَرجِمة وشاعرة فلسطينية حائزة على جوائز، من بينها جائزة محمود سيف الدين الإيراني للقصة القصيرة وجائزة مهرجان القدس للابداع الشبابي في القصة. بعد أن تخرّجت من جامعة الكويت عام 1987 بدرجة البكالوريوس في اللغة الانجليزية وآدابها، عملت في مهن التعليم والترجمة والصحافة قبل أن تحترف الكتابة، حيث صدرت لها أعمال عدة في الرواية والقصة والشعر. وهي عضو في كل من رابطة الكتاب الأردنيين والاتحاد العام للأدباء والكتاب العرب

Reviews

[Wissal H · Rating 4 out of 5]

جهاد الفتاة الفلسطينية اللاجئة مع أسرتها في دولة الكويت ثم في الأردن. تقص لنا حكايتها منذ طفولتها ودارستها ثم زواجها الفاشل الذي إنتهى بالطلاق وأخيرا طفلتها الملكة
♥️

رحلة معاناة و البحث عن الذات و رحلة الهرب من واقع مرير طمعا في إيجاد الأفضل و الأنسب، هروب من الحرب و القصف و الألم بحثا عن حياة مستقرة في دولة الكويت الشقيقة، رحلة الطفلة المشردة تحت القصف و الفتاة اليافعة الباحثة عن مستقبل مشرق و معاناة زوجة في زيجة فاشلة و أم تطمح لتقديم أروع ما يكون لابنتها و توفير لها حياة سعيدة و مستقرة

رواية سردت بكل حنين للوطن الأم والحياة الأسرية الجميلة بكل المشاعر الجميلة و المؤلمة أحيانا

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the ShelterBox Book Club.

Not my usual thing, I enjoyed the book in the end, but it did take me a while to get into it. There are a lot of characters, and because the names were unfamiliar to me, I found it hard to follow who was who. That said, the writing is beautiful (if a little flowery at times), and the whole thing is well observed. I did want more plot, but this came slightly more in the second half, and by the end I had a fondness for some of the characters and wanted to know what happened to them next. It felt very ‘real’, and we get a real sense of a culture that I personally have no experience of, which gave a learning layer to the book that I enjoyed. Someone who could relate to those cultural aspects would gain something entirely different, and would probably have an element of nostalgia, which I can imagine would be a delight.

I joined the book club to explore a different style of reading to my usual, and I definitely got that. It’s a great charity and a great idea.

[*nawaf · Rating 3 out of 5]

تحكي الرواية حكاية جهاد فتاة أردنية الجنسية فلسطينية الأصل عاشت في الكويت قبل الغزو العراقي وأثنائه وهي تحكي قصتها لابنتها ـ المسافرة ـ ما كانت تعانيه هي وأسرتها في الكويت والأردن من شضف العيش وعسره.
تنقلت في روايتها في ومضات سريعة عن عائلتها الممتدة من أجداد وأعمام وخوال ، ووصفت حالهم وعيشتها في الكويت وكيف انتقلوا للعيش في الأردن بعد الغزو وكيف التقت بزوجها الذي لم يدم طويلاً.
أول عيب في الرواية بعض الألفاظ التي فيها تعدي على الذات الإلهية لم ينبغي ذكرها، كما أن هناك بعض الألفاظ السيئة لا مسوغ للتصريح بها وكان يكفي أن يكنى عنها، وأخيرًا عاب الرواية الإسهاب في ذكر التفاصيل غير المبررة.

مما اقتبسته من الرواية ووضعته في هاشتاق #حزامة_حبايب

• هناك بعض الوجيه لا تعلق بذاكرتنا كما أننا لا نعلق بذاكرتها
• تقول في معرض حديثها لابنتها: أحدثك عن أخطاء الثورات ؛ تحدثينني عن جرائم الأنظمة !!
• لا يحب الإنسان البكاء ـ على الأقل ـ أمام من يُحب.
• هناك من يعرف القلّة أكثر من الكثرة ، وإن كانت هناك كثرة ففي الهم والهموم وسوء التدبير والتقدير.
• بعض الجهل محمود كي لا تُسبب له المعرفة الزائدة وجعًا في القلب.
• السعادة تُحلّي الإنسان ، وتُجمل حياته.
• كنتُ لا أزال أحاول أن أنفض آثار جسده الذي تنشقّه جسدي في لحظة التجائي إليه.
• طيلة الوقت عيناه لم تقرباني ، لكنهما ـ مع ذلك ـ لم تسقطا عني.
• لم أفعل شيئًا خلال ساعة سوى انتظار نهايتها
• سرى اسمي بصوته ، من سمعي إلى جسدي فدبّتْ فيّ رعشة خفتُ أن تفضحني ، ودرتُ حولي لأطمئن أن أحدًا سواي لا يسمع اسمي.
• أحببْتُ اسمي … إذ لامست الأحرف الصادرة من فمه أذني ، ثم تعشقّت فوق لحمي.
• طبع أحرف اسمي على أذني بذات الموسيقى التي شُغفتُ بها أول مرة.
• كيف نعرف أننا نُحب من نُحب ؟ بين الحب في خَلْقه الصحيح والحبّ في اختلاقه ؟
• الموت يرفع الحظر ، والكثير من الحرج ، عن الذين يهجروننا .
• قد لا نملك أمرنا في الحب ، لكننا نملك أن نصنعه.
• الرجل الذي يجعل المرأة تضحك هو محب ، وأكثر من ذلك أنه قابل لأن يُحبّ.
• إننا إذ نتعثر بالحب؛ فإن القلوب تلحق بها الكدمات
• أيمهّد رحيلٌ لآخر؟ أنتدرّب على رحيل أقصر لنحتمل رحيلًا أطول؟

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book from @ShelterBox, allowing me into a world I’ve never experienced before. Jihad is our narrator, and she (yes), is one of many, many strong women in this story of displaced Palestinian families, moving from Kuwait, Jordan and Dubai as a result of invasion.
She tells her story in episodes to her daughter Maleka (Queen), before she leaves to study in England.
And for us, these are not headline stories; we read those stories at the time of The Gulf War, but stories of family love, achievement, betrayal, need, hunger, and everything in between
Very funny and yet heartbreaking, the tangled lives finally somehow resolve.
Have to congratulate the translator Kay Heikkinen.

[Philip Horspool · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this in part because of the breadth of characters and their complicated lives and relationships. It touches on so many themes of family life, love and survival. Captures what it means to be a Palestinian in a world which in large parts considers you at best an annoyance and at worst inferior. All held together by the main character. Another great Shelter bookclub choice and probably my first Palestinian novelist.

[Nadirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across "Before the Queen Falls Asleep" by chance since it was on sale during Kinokuniya's monthly sale where they featured books by Palestine or about Palestine, and what a book this was. Told in a non-linear writing, this novel focuses on Jihad, who was so named by her father who had wanted a son for his firstborn and had a daughter instead. Brought up as a boy in style and name, Jihad soon has a daughter of her own, and it is to her daughter -- dubbed The Queen -- that she narrates her story.

Displaced from one country to another, Jihad recounts how she and her family were forced to flee their Palestinian homeland, ending up in Kuwait, Jordan, and Dubai while trying to make their lives fit into various places. Stories of the diaspora are no strangers to the Palestinians, though the novel's true focus is on the familial threads that bound Jihad and her father together. The complex relationship between Jihad, her father, and her daughter is compelling and heartbreaking, made even more so by Huzama Habayeb's beautiful writing & Kay Heikkinen's wonderful translation.

This book is for fans of character-driven literature, as it portrays how we can love and hate (or tolerate) our family in equal measure. "Before the Queen Falls Asleep" brims with emotions; it's definitely a read that will stay with me for a while.

[hayatem · Rating 1 out of 5]

ألخص ماجاء في الرواية ببيت شعري ل_نعومي شهاب ناي :
"كُلُّ مُرَبّعٍ في صفحة التقويم يفتحُ فَمَه الجائع" !

أتمنى ل-حزامة حبايب التوفيق في أعمالها القادمة.

[Ed Canham-Wilkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of the Shelter Box book club (highly recommended), but couldn’t get into it at first and wasn’t sure why. I came to realise that being translated to English from the original Arabic means the sentence structures and tone of voice are incredibly different from anything I’ve read before and at first felt jarring for my western influenced brain. So pleased I stuck with it though because it’s always special reading something completely unique to the norm, once I got used to the style I found this to be a moving and fascinating tale about family and displacement, which sadly is particularly pertinent at the moment as it’s (presumably) semi-autobiographical and written by a Palestinian author.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept waiting to log this when the paperback edition was added, but I’m worried I’ll just forget while I wait.

Took a while for me to get into the story & I think that cames from reading through a western mind. I love the complex array of women in this book & the self exploration of gender, power & the resulting relationship between the main character & her father.

[Mariana Osorio Schlögl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jihad is a girl but her parents treated her as a son, a son that is supposed to help the family. This is a story of a Palestinian family living in exile in Kuwait (and later in Jordan). This is a story told by a mother to a daughter.
This story is not told chronologically – the author chooses to tell it using themes. It is a nice way of telling a story but sometimes it just doesn’t work for me. And this was, unfortunately, one of those times.
It was slow paced and too much embellished for my taste. The book was written in Arabic and translated to English - maybe I am not used to this literature, or something got lost in translation…
However, I did enjoy the humor (mostly dark) and, as usual, learning about other cultures and history.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as part of the Shelterbox Book Club:

took a long time to get fully stuck into this one but once i did, i really enjoyed it. beautiful prose, a cast of wonderful characters to get to know, and a delicate conversation about palestinian and more generic diaspora. would recommend!

[Rei · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is customary in every Arabic household that the newlywed’s couple would be expecting a son as their firstborn. But Naeem was disappointed not because his firstborn is a girl, but because it was his wish to name his baby Jihad so that he became ‘Abu Jihad.’ Naeem got his wish, but the name turned out to be a heavy burden for Jihad. With 7 younger sisters and brothers to be fed and schooled and a landlord banging on the door of their 2-rooms cramped ghetto apartment for an overdue rent money, Jihad had no choice but to become ‘the man of the family’.

Jihad’s large family came from the first generations of The Nakba’s victim. Evicted from their own land, Jihad’s parents settled in Kuwait while most of their relatives stayed in refugee camps in Jordan. At the time of Iraqis invasion of Kuwait, Jihad was a single mother of a baby daughter, and her family was forced to flee to Jordan. This is the story of how a Palestinian family struggled to survive harsh realities and identities, from one borrowed homeland to another.

Reading this book, I discovered a lot about the culture and traditions of the Palestinians. One that especially new to me is their inclination to produce a lot of offsprings that is different from Kuwaitis (‘It (their apartment in al-Nuqra) had the mark of a ghetto, and the small, overstuffed apartments there were unsuitable for Kuwaiti families, despite the Kuwaitis’ relatively limited capacity for multiplying, compared to the enormous reproductive capacity of the Palestinians.’). They’re incline to attach great importance to the meaning of names, there’s a whole chapter talking about this. The women have this comical habit of hiding their cash in unthinkable ‘secret spaces’: inside their bra stuffed to their bosom or in the knickers with sewed-in pockets. They also have a distinct quality of being very hospitable and affectionate. Despite the struggle to feed their own children, they’re always welcome the neighbors’ kids for supper. I conclude, this came from their shared suffering as an exile in a borrowed homeland.

Jihad’s story is mostly about the usual family struggle of surviving a harsh, poor life due to their status as Palestinian’s refugees with limited access to decent housing and employments. There are also the undeniable feelings of exile, the identity crisis of someone’s difficulty to find a sense of home, disguised by imaginary certainty. What I especially love about this book is how Jihad narrated her life as a bedtime story for her daughter Maleka (meaning ‘Queen’, hence the title). Indeed, in some part it was a bit too long-winded, but mostly it felt really personal, she even brought the minor characters to life, and I felt a close relation to them.

Have you ever been told your family history before bed, by your mother or grandmother? This is how the book feels like.

‘Living in oil-producing country like Kuwait did not make us Kuwaitis, as was said, accusingly or enviously, by the many relatives we left behind us in camps. As a matter of fact, our life in Kuwait was an extension of our life as it might been in the camp, still marked by diaspora, with a few improvements and additions. We lived in an apartment building crowded with people and with contradictory, contentious feelings, due to the shrinking spaces in al-Nuqra, which was among those residential neighborhoods that had come to seem like camps for Palestinians in Kuwait.’ -page 131.

‘My father was happy that we were eating, that we were eating a lot and getting fat under his roof, in his domain that was shrunken spatially but vast emotionally. According to his deep-rooted convictions, we could go to sleep naked, but we could not go to sleep hungry.’ -page 60.

[rina dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A powerful novel about a Palestinian womans experience of displacement and exile. Before The Queen Falls Asleep is timely and important.
Jihad, who was born a girl but expected to be a boy, grew up being treated as such. She wears boy's clothing and helps with the financial burden of the family.
Now middle-aged, she tells her daughter Maleka a story from growing up in exile in Kuwait every night. Preparing her to go to university abroad.
Jihad revisits her past and talks about her own loves and losses. Jihad tells the story of a displaced Palestinian family.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book it has a rich tone to the writing and a great sense of place. It did take me a while to get to grips with how many characters there were, but it didn't affect my enjoyment. I just wish the book had been longer, so that was explored more. I loved the tenderness of Jihad telling her daughter stories of a life that was often difficult.
I did feel the ending was slightly rushed, and although I really enjoyed this novel, I still wanted more.

[Aysha Haddington-Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some really sweet and tender parts and I enjoyed the depiction of a busy household home to many children and a safe place to more. Some parts read like poetry and had a lovely flow but I felt overall it was a bit slow and lost my interest towards the end.

[Lesley-Ann ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

world book challenge | Kuwait 🇰🇼

[Marianne Dagevos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Als haar dochter het huis uitgaat om in het buitenland te gaan studeren, vertelt haar moeder bij het afscheid haar levensverhaal. Namen zijn belangrijk in deze roman. De moeder is Jihad (Strijd) genoemd omdat haar vader graag een zoon wilde. Haar vader behandelt haar ook als de man in huis en geeft haar een grote verantwoordelijkheid bij het runnen van het grote gezin. Jihad noemt haar dochter Malika (Koningin) en verwijst naar die naam als ze haar dochter aanspreekt met ‘Majesteit’. Ook de titel en de citaten bij de hoofdstukken verwijzen naar de dochter en naar de heel andere behandeling die de moeder haar wil geven.
In mooie, poëtische en soms ook gestileerde taal vertelt Jihad over haar jeugd en haar familie in diaspora. De Palestijnse familie woont eerst in Koeweit, moet daar vluchten vanwege de Golfoorlog en komt dan terecht in Jordanië. Altijd is er geldgebrek, altijd zijn er problemen en incidenten met de kinderen en andere familieleden maar Jihad straalt een enorm zelfvertrouwen en warmte uit. Zo is de familie in staat altijd nog meer kinderen op te nemen die het nog slechter hebben dan zij. Jihad legt uit aan haar dochter dat je je ‘homeland’ zelf kunt maken, in een huis, een tuin of in een kamer waar jij de regels bepaalt van liefde, warmte, zorg en vergeving. Natuurlijk is er ook veel tragiek in het boek, zowel als het gaat om het droevig lot van haar vader, als van haar gefrustreerde liefde voor een toneelschrijver.
Huzama Habayeb is een bijzondere schrijfster in de Palestijnse literatuur. Haar romans zijn niet expliciet politiek of Palestijns maar gaan over alle slachtoffers van diaspora en onderdrukking. Die onderdrukking is er in het groot (politiek en machtswisselingen) en in het klein (patriarchaat en huiselijk geweld). Tegelijk is er in deze romans veel aandacht voor de schoonheid die zit in kleine dingen, voor opvallende, hilarische anekdotes, voor familieverhoudingen en voor liefde en gulheid ondanks gebrek.
In 2019 kwam Velvet uit, de eerste vertaling van een roman van Huzama Habayeb uit 2016. Deze tweede vertaling is van een roman van haar uit 2011. Geniet bij deze vertaling ook van de prachtige omslag gebaseerd op een schilderij van de Gazaanse kunstenaar Malek Mattar uit 2021.

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Before the Queen Falls Asleep, Huzama Habayeb depicts the life of Jihad, a Palestinian woman who was raised as her parents' son. Jihad shares her life story with her daughter, Maleka, who is preparing to leave for college. The narrative circles through the family's displacement from Palestine to Kuwait, Jordan, and Dubai, articulating their experiences of love, loss, and resilience in exile.

Habayeb weaves a story that explores the depths of humour and sorrow, interrogating matters of family, structure, and identity in a global context. Jihad's experiences as son-daughter and her tenderness towards and complex emotions for her parents and her daughter are powerful. The non-linear structure, which recalls the Arabian Nights, in which Jihad's stories reveal a little more of her fragility and resilience with each shared tale adds depth to the narrative.

One of the most gratifying aspects of the novel is its characterization. Jihad is a compellingly imperfect and complex character who becomes impossible not to relate to; her love for her family, especially her Maleka, is enduring and sensitively written. The translation by Kay Heikkinen is exceptional in that it maintains much of the prose's essence, and is an accessible experience for an English reader, amplifying Habayeb's cultural richness as a writer.

The non-linear storytelling and numerous characters make the beginning a bit challenging, but persisting through the more challenging parts leads to a profound sense of the life of a Palestinian in exile. The book provides an entry point to a world unfamiliar to many, as well as an honest portrayal of the Palestinian experience with depth and authenticity.

In the end, "Before the Queen Falls Asleep" is a beautifully written novel that discusses the themes of displacement, identity, and family. It is a must-read for readers exploring Palestinian literature and for anyone who enjoys a well-told tale of human resilience and love.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As her daughter prepares to go abroad for uni, each night Jihad tells her a story from her life…

Jihad’s life story with her family’s displacement from Palestine to Kuwait to Jordan and her later move to Dubai were interesting to read about. The stories are filled with family dynamics, details of everyday life within their community of Palestinian refugees and women trying to make ends meet and run their homes with never quite enough resources.

I really wanted to love it, but there was something missing for me, and I’m struggling to put my finger on precisely what. Maybe it’s that I didn’t really click with the storytelling style - there was no preamble to the overall story and without reading the blurb, I’m not sure I’d have cottoned on until near the end that the book is Jihad telling her daughter a series of stories. Instead, I felt as if I’d been dropped into the middle of the overall story and never quite found my footing.

A Palestinian diaspora story rich with details of everyday life and family dynamics - interesting yet a little lacklustre.

[Paws with a Book · Rating 2 out of 5]

Born a girl to parents expecting a boy, Jihad is brought up as an eldest son in a Palestinian family. Now an adult, with a daughter of her own preparing to go to University, Jihad tells her daughter a story each night about her life.

I really loved the concept, and as a memoir-esque translated historical fiction, this book should’ve been entirely my cup of tea, but I just didn’t click with it.

I’m not sure if this would’ve been better in native tongue, because I felt the writing was one of the reasons it didn’t land with me. The writing took quite a lot of concentration to follow. It felt a little too technically perfect, and missed emotion and a poetic flow. As a nighttime story mother to daughter it could’ve afforded to be a little more free and less constrained in the writing style.

The front cover of this book is so so beautiful, and I persevered with it because I really wanted to love it, it just wasn’t quite for me.

[Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like a lot of the reviews here, I read this book as part of the Shelterbox Book Club and also struggled to get into this read, but once I did, I'm glad I stuck with it. The plot definitely comes a lot more naturally in the latter half of the book, whereas keeping up with the characters and plot in the first half was a little more challenging. This is an interesting and unique story about Palestinian diaspora and would recommend if you want a little insight into that world. The flow personally wasn't to my taste, and I have read other books that have been translated to English from other languages that have been a lot easier to read, so overall, I'd rate this 2🌟. Once you understand the way this book flows, however, re-reading helps to truly understand its beauty if it wasn't initially grasped upon the first read.

[The Bookmouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Written from the point of view of a mother telling her daughter what it was like to flee Palestine to live in Kuwait, and then from Kuwait to Dubai (after the invasion by Saddam's forces).
The lives of the many generations of Palestinian women and their hopes, dreams, quirks, the relentless work and loves (both realised and lost) are fascinating. Don't expect a rapid pace with this novel. It is of a moderate pace with some chapters where very little happens. But it stays with you, long after you have finished the book.
The cover artwork is gorgeous. And reading Palestinian literature and Palestinian authors is more important than ever before. Lift up their voices. Free Palestine!! X

[Swapna Peri ( Book Reviews Cafe ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Before the Queen Falls Asleep" is a novel by Huzama Habayeb that explores themes of memory, displacement, and survival. The story follows Jihad, a second-generation refugee from Kuwait, who becomes a prominent writer. The novel highlights the importance of memory in defining one's identity and perception of the world. The story's emotional resonance is evident throughout, as Jihad's experiences, such as secret funds during famine and the complexity of familial relationships, exemplify the spirit of perseverance in the face of hardship. The lyrical style and subtle investigation of issues make it a poignant read.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to get into but definitely worth persevering with. There were a lot of characters with very unfamiliar names so it was tricky to keep track of them all. The stories of Jihads life provided an incredible backdrop to life in a refugee camp in Kuwait and how the displaced families survived away from their homeland. So relevant to what is happening now in Palestine. I read this as part of shelterbox book club. Not an easy read but a very worthwhile one.

[Candia L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a beautiful book. This woman’s heart is so big it hurts - she rescues everybody, minds everyone, is so tender but so tough with it. She loves her father, her mother, her grannies and aunts but most of all her daughter with incredible generosity - such that is hard to fathom in the west. Great translation. Although there’s no magic in it, it felt not a million miles from Allende’s magic realism.

[Jess Penhallow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a surprise to me. I was expecting something heavy and although there were definitely dark moments, there was also so much warmth, humour and love in this book. I loved hearing how Jihad and her family faced the odds together and all of the fun anecdotes of their lives. I would love to read more from this author.

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this through Shelterbox book club, eye-opening for me, and led me to learn about the refugee camps in Jordan and the Gulf war, the prose was mostly got good, just chronologically confusing at times with the timelines jumping about.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and unique story, about the Palestinian diaspora, and the effect of global political issues on a family. I really enjoyed this book - my only sadness is that in translating Arabic to English I imagine it loses some of the poetry of the story.

[Afnani · Rating 3 out of 5]

“My sisters sewed dresses for their dolls from fabric scraps my mother gave them, leaving behind needles and pins on the tile that pricked our bare feet, so we
sealed our existence in blood on land that was not ours”

[Emma Rose Hurst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just couldn’t get into this. It doesn’t seem to flow with each chapter seeming disconnected. The characters are hard to keep track of and therefore string together. The language a little too flowery for its own good.

[Afsana Begum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I’d like this book but got 62 pages into it and I just couldn’t get into it properly. I feel like there’s a lot of words just put together and it didn’t really flow for me.