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Aug 31, 2011

Niki rated it:

Wow, where do I start? Saffron Dreams is an endearing love story, and yet so much more. I fell in love with the characters. I couldn't help it. Shaila M. Abdullah portrays their courtship in a uniquely romantic way. How they express their love and desire for each other is tender, humorous, and very sensual.

I enjoyed learning about Muslim culture. Diversity is an extradordinary gift we have been given on Earth. This book gracefully delves in to several important issues. For inst More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2009

Holly (2 Kids and Tired) rated it:

Fascinating. A fictionalized story, written as a memoir. Arissa is a young Pakistani-American woman who loses her husband in the 9/11 tragedy. Pregnant with a special-needs child, she struggles to find her place in this post 9/11 world. A world without her beloved husband, and a world where many people do not understand the life and faith of Muslims.

Arissa's story is told first-person through flashbacks and present day. Her childhood in Pakistan is covered: an affluent family, a lovi More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

"Saffron Dreams" by Shaila Abdullah is an eloquently written and moving story of a Muslim woman living in America, whose world is turned upside down on September 11th.

Arissa Illahi is a Muslim artist and writer living in New York City with her husband Faizan. Expecting their first child, they are happy with life. But on the morning of September 11, 2001, Faizan would go to work in the World Trade Center...and never return.

Always free to live as a Muslim in Amer More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2009

cecilia rated it:

I really appreciated Shaila's writing. It was lyrical and beautiful, something that I have come to expect from South Asian authors. I loved her analogies and descriptions. To me, that helped bring Arissa to life and I felt her sadness and despair at suddenly being a widow in a world that might hate her for the color of her skin.

Complete review on my blog

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2011

Sebrina rated it:

This was one of the very first "Adult Fiction" books I have read. I have always shied away from this genre because I felt it was not age appropriate for me. But now that I am actually an adult and married, my YA faves are feeling a bit too young.
Saffron Dreams was a perfect book to introduce me to this genre. It is a wonderful and emotional story about the meaning of marriage and commitment. I could not help but laugh and cry along with Arissa as she recounted her life with her h More...

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Nov 14, 2010

Deborah rated it:

"Saffron Dreams," is about letting go and learning to live despite every challenge life brings. It's about the strength of women and relationships. It's about the experience of women left behind in the 9/ll Twin Towers/World Trade Center terrorist attack. And, it's about the Muslim woman's experience in America.

Ms Abdullah has a big order to fill on her proverbial plate, and she comes shining through like a bird of paradise! I loved this book for so many reasons, it wil More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 20, 2010

LiteraryMarie rated it:

HOW DO YOU END A STORY THAT’S NOT YOURS?

Saffron Dreams is a fiction novel written by Shaila Abdullah, a Pakistani-American author based in Texas. It is an emotional tale of lost love, unexpected twists of fate, and survival. In a span of 41 days, the main character, Arissa Illahi, went from a blissful married life to bleak widowhood, escaping an attack, ostracized by stereotypical people, and the realization of raising an unborn son alone.

Arissa lost her husband in the co More...

3 comments like

Jan 14, 2010

Alyce (At Home With Books) rated it:

Saffron Dreams is an emotional story about one woman's struggle to live a fulfilling life in the United States. This wouldn't be so hard for Arissa if it wasn't for the death of her husband in the World Trade Center, and the social stigma of wearing a veil after the attack. Add into that her estrangement from her mother and the challenges that she faces with the health of her baby, and you've got a book that's just chocked full of ups and downs.

Shaila Abdullah does a wonderful job of t More...

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Dec 13, 2009

Laura rated it:

I was immediately drawn to the beautiful cover of this book. It depicts a veiled Middle Eastern woman with sad eyes shielding her face with her bejewelled arms. How appropriate for this novel about a Pakistani-Muslim woman who loses her husband to the tragic collapse of the World Trade Center.

I love novels that are of the multi-cultural genre. And this book is filled with the flavours and traditions of the Middle East. Abdullah’s writing is lyrical and poetic, with a sad tone that pe More...

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Nov 21, 2009

Darcy rated it:

In "Saffron Dreams" author Shaila Abdullah gives voice to Arissa Illahi, a Muslim Pakistani-American who loses her husband Faizan in the terror attack on 9/11. Arissa's story begins in Karachi where she is raised by a loving father and an absentee mother. When Arissa's mother moves out, Arissa must fill the void for her younger siblings. In Karachi, Arissa's family is affluent; her father is a doctor. Arranged marriages are a fact of life in Karachi and for Arissa as well.

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Sep 07, 2009

Ellen rated it:

Saffron Dreams is a beautiful story about a young Pakistani woman who is both an artist and a writer and considered the "ugly" of three daughters. She's not looking for love and is surprised to find that a man she meets in the New York Public Library startles her with emotion while she's on a trip to the United States. Upon returning to Pakistan, a matchmaker shows the young woman and her father pictures of two available men and one happens to be the young man from the library.
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 28, 2009

Jaime rated it:

Arissa Illahi is a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, Pakistani, American, and Muslim. When the United States, and consequentially the world, was rocked by the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Arissa's life is turned upside down. Her husband, Faizan, was working at a restaurant in one of the towers and lost his life. Reeling with the loss of her love, Arissa is left struggling and trying to make sense of it all. She is also pregnant with a baby who is destined to have severe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 03, 2009

Angela rated it:

Writer, Shaila Abdullah, takes you into the life of Arissa Illahi, a Muslim, born into the upper class struggling to find who she is. Abandoned by a mother, who could not find a way to love, hesitant to fall in love herself, until one-day fate intervened. Meeting an aspiring author, over a stack of books, who turned out to the man of her dreams. Marring

Faizan, moving to New York, and starting a family, life was starting to come together for

Arissa. Unfortunately, a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 16, 2009

Tara rated it:

This is about widowhood. It reminded me somewhat of The Pilot's Wife minus the mystery. It is a book basically that goes on and on about a woman's grief. Whereas, I sympathize with Arissa, I felt the story could have used more details regarding her "malfunctioning" son and the stress of raising such a child by oneself and less of the mourning stuff.

Arissa has lost her husband in the Trade Towers collapse. She is five months pregnant. Forty One days later, she finds o More...

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Nov 05, 2011

Dilorom rated it:

The Novel gave a taste of what is being victim and being treated as an enemy at the same time. Romance written very well. It is about grief and patience, I would say.
But I have a few notes regarding religious aspects of heroine Arissa or the author who decorated Arissa with. Sometimes she claims to be a decent Muslim. But everything she got as religious are from cultural background for her. She does not have a spiritual closeness with God. If yes, it would have been different. She would no More...

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Jun 28, 2009

ccqdesigns rated it:

Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah

This year I decided to read mostly foreign authors and multicultural themed books and this week’s selection was a fiction novel, Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah. This book looks at the treatment and lives of Muslims in America after 9/11.
Arissa and Faizan married in Pakistan in a traditional Muslim wedding and were the love of each other’s lives from the beginning. They moved to New York where Faizan worked as a waiter while secretly writing More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2010

Maria rated it:

American Authors Association Review -

The cover of this book is a beautiful hint of what the reader is about to experience. This is the story of a Muslim woman, her life in Pakistan, her marriage and her new life with her husband in America. Pregnant with her first child, she loses her husband who works in the restaurant at the of one of the Twin Towers in 9/11. Author Abdullah paints her novel with word pictures filled with color, emotion and even tantalizing scents. Saffron Dreams More...

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Aug 28, 2009

Natalie rated it:

A beautiful story about a Muslim woman from Karachi who loses her husband in the 9/11 attacks.
Arissa, married 2 years has lost her beloved husband while working a restaurant at the Trade Center.
The author poetically details Arissa's memories of her husband and how she attempts to deal with the grief . As Arissa tries to get on with her life, she faces the accusing stares , like she was part of the cause of the attack, the enemy. After receiving some life changing news she knows More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2009

Julie H. rated it:

This is the beautifully written story of Arissa Illahi, a Pakistani woman living in New York City and the 41 days during which her world falls apart after her husband (a full-time waiter at Windows on the World and part-time writer) is killed in the 9/11 attacks, she is attacked by skinheads in the subway, her unborn child is diagnosed with Charge syndrome, and her official period of mourning is over and she is supposed to "get on with her life"--whatever that means. Arissa's story is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 05, 2009

Suzanne rated it:

I have a special interest in multicultural fiction and also literature featuring families with children with special needs. This book, about a Pakistani Muslim 9/11 widow, has both. The characters and their relationships are never simple, and the writing is often beautiful. A wonderful book!

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 05, 2011

Adela rated it:

In the eloquently written novel Saffron Dreams, Shaila Abdullah tells the painfully moving story of Arissa, a Pakistani-Muslim living in New York City. Arissa is left a mourning, pregnant widow after her husband tragically loses his life during the events of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Delve into the emotional turmoil that haunts Arissa following the loss of her husband and the onset of Islamophobia in America, causing Arissa to feel like an outcast in her own home, unsure of where she More...

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Feb 17, 2012

Karen rated it:

This is one of the first books in almost a year that I have LOVED. I felt so invested with the character that I laughed, cried, and obsessed over decisions with her. I even wanted Arissa to be real, not because I wanted someone to have gone through this trauma, but because I wanted to meet her and continue to hear her describe her life in such an engaging, passionate way. I was honestly sad that the book ended.

In terms of my ESL students, the subject matter is perhaps too adult for a More...

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Jun 25, 2009

Wksocmom rated it:

I won this book on goodreads, and what a great find. This was one of those books I had to carry around the house, since I did not want to stop reading. I think it took me two days and I'm a busy mom. While I could not really relate to the character, I really like books that show me a whole new world, and in particular how people handle challenges. The main character had a wonderful life, and a very romantic story of how she met her husband, even though it was an arranged marriage. She was m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 08, 2009

Violet rated it:

Arissa is born in an affluent family in Pakistan. She moves to New York when she marries Faizan who works in a restaurant in the World Trade Center. Arissa is very happy with her life, her husband and their future prospects. Also, she is 2 months pregnant. On 11th September 2001, with the attack on the world Trade Center, her whole world came crashing down along with the towers. Faizan is dead and the last rituals are performed without a body, her baby is deformed in her womb and will probably n More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2009

Carla added it

This book was a story about a September 11th widow and her struggle to redefine her life in a world without her husband....only this widow was a Pakistani Muslim. The main character had not only to figure out how to live her life without her husband, but she had to deal with being treated not as a victim but as a perpetrator. In addition, she was pregnant on September 11th, so she had to figure out how to be a single parent to a fatherless child. The main character had to figure out a way to More...

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Jun 15, 2011

Emily rated it:

This book was good but not one of the best I have ever read. It's a tale of a woman who after the loss of her husband on 9-11 discovers herself again and struggles to move on in america due to her religion and race she finds many doors closed to her. Later finding her husbands manuscript she struggles to raise her son and to become more than what the world sees her as which is the skin, religion and creed of her life.

It's a touching tale. Something that I'm sure others will find more More...

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Apr 24, 2010

emma rated it:

Truly: this was astonishingly bad. Normally I stop reading books of this caliber, but the plot was great and held such promise; then, I simply kept waiting for it to get better. It never did. The writing is by turns overwrought and superficial, and it reads as though no one ever went back to read the manuscript as a whole once it was finished--not the author, and most definitely not the editor. In fact, the editing is so abysmal that it's as though those duties were divided up among many people, More...

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Jul 29, 2009

Ana rated it:

I enjoyed reading this book and I feel a connection with the main character, Arissa. Arissa comes from a divided family wherein she had to play the role of Mother. Her Mother is a shallow woman who lives through her emotions without understanding the toll it has on her family. Arissa seems to move through life with a heavy heart and yet musters to accept the challenges as they come to her with a deep sense of responsibility and courage. It is hard to see someone so young go through so much. But More...

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Nov 10, 2009

Serena rated it:

Saffron Dreams by Shaila Abdullah is printed on 30 percent post-consumer waste and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified book paper. It is also one of the best books I've read in 2009.

"Summer in Houston tastes like dirt, thick bellowing mounds of dust piling on and on until you can't breathe anymore. Sometimes a squalling wind arrives, pressing its puckered lips to the window panes. Whooooo, it shrieks, whooooosh, and then it cavorts over the pile of dust, depositing i More...

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Jun 06, 2009

Eileen rated it:

Shaila Abdullah’s novel, SAFFRON DREAMS, is a tale of how one woman, Arissa Illahi, literally rises from the ashes of the September 11th tragedy to remake her life. One heartache follows another: after losing her husband, Faizan, in the attack on the World Trade Center, Arissa learns that the baby she is carrying will be born severely handicapped. She does not give in to her endless grief, however, or succumb to self-pity. Instead she embodies the saying, “What does not kill you, makes you stron More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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