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The Moment Before: A Novel
America’s global ambitions are reduced to one father, his daughter, and the two men who seek to reunite them. The unflinching story of an American-Arab’s life in limbo. Tricked by the two people closest to him, Elias Haddad leaves his beloved daughter Cheryl Halia for what he believes is a short trip home to Syria to visit his dying father. Largely ignorant of Middle East politics, Elias is detained upon arrival in Damascus and conscripted into Assad’s army, beginning a forty-year geopolitical odyssey from hell which culminates in his captivity in Guantanamo during America’s post-9/11 War on Terror. In her search for her father, Cheryl meets John Veranda, an idealistic lawyer who risks his family’s land, his marriage, and his aspirations for his hometown’s future for a relationship with Cheryl neither are prepared for. Stuart Eisenstat, a dedicated federal bureaucrat, thinks he’s doing an old friend a favor when he picks John’s hometown as the perfect site for relocating Guantanamo detainees only to come face to face with the personal cost of America’s global ambitions. As the author of both fiction and non-fiction, and the winner of 2017 Independent Publishers IPPY GOLD and 2016 Foreword Reviews INDIE SILVER, Jason Makansi’s writing has been praised as “immensely readable,” “entertaining, enlightening, and essential,” and “relevant to today’s political and cultural environment.”
- GenresFiction
360 pages, Paperback
Published March 6, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 18, 2018
The plot of The Moment Before is what made me sign up for the book tour. I think any chance to personalize the immigrant experience and help us see the very real individual people and families that are behind broad sweeping political decisions. The Moment Before focuses much of the story on a father, Elias Haddad, who against the wishes of the family that sent him away from Syria and to the U.S. as a young man to keep him safe, attempts to return to visit his ailing father. He doesn't make it, being immediately detained in Damascus, forced into Assad's army, and then tossed around, country to country, as a prisoner before ending up in Guantanamo. Meanwhile, his daughter Cheryl, grows up without him, alone with her cold mother who doesn't seem to want to do anything to find Elias. Cheryl reaches out to several people to find her father--including a young attorney, John Veranda, working for a senator, who she later crosses path with again.
I don't want to go into a lot of the plot details as there is a lot going on in the book and I think it would involve spoilers for some of the drama. In addition to Cheryl, Elias, and John, we get the stories and perspectives of John's friend & DOHS contractor, Cheryl's mother, and Father Moody--a friend of the family who got a young Elias into the U.S. and may be involved in his disappearance. It does get a bit convoluted between the different perspectives and the back and forth in time from 1959 through 2012 as the story is woven together. I found myself frequently checking back to the chapter headings with the dates to understand where I was in time. I was pulled more to the stories of Cheryl and Elias, they are the most poignant and my heart broke for both of them. Other characters and their actions made me very angry, and some sections although they added to how everything comes together, just weren't quite as interesting.
The Moment Before is not always an easy read--both in complexity and subject matter--primarily the injustice of Elias's experience and what it does to his family. It is a book that made me think and is both timely and relevant. There is beauty, sorrow, and hope in Jason Makansi's writing and this story hasn't left my mind since I finished it.
You can see my review, as well as a recipe inspired by the book here: http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/20...
Note: A review copy of "The Moment Before" was provided to me by the author and the publisher, via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.
I don't want to go into a lot of the plot details as there is a lot going on in the book and I think it would involve spoilers for some of the drama. In addition to Cheryl, Elias, and John, we get the stories and perspectives of John's friend & DOHS contractor, Cheryl's mother, and Father Moody--a friend of the family who got a young Elias into the U.S. and may be involved in his disappearance. It does get a bit convoluted between the different perspectives and the back and forth in time from 1959 through 2012 as the story is woven together. I found myself frequently checking back to the chapter headings with the dates to understand where I was in time. I was pulled more to the stories of Cheryl and Elias, they are the most poignant and my heart broke for both of them. Other characters and their actions made me very angry, and some sections although they added to how everything comes together, just weren't quite as interesting.
The Moment Before is not always an easy read--both in complexity and subject matter--primarily the injustice of Elias's experience and what it does to his family. It is a book that made me think and is both timely and relevant. There is beauty, sorrow, and hope in Jason Makansi's writing and this story hasn't left my mind since I finished it.
You can see my review, as well as a recipe inspired by the book here: http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/20...
Note: A review copy of "The Moment Before" was provided to me by the author and the publisher, via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.
April 25, 2018
Thank you to @tlcbooktours for me free copy to review. All opinions are my own.
This book packs quite the punch! There are so many different storylines - sometimes it feels like too much - but for the most part, it seems to work. The author certainly could have bypassed some of them, but it did help make the characters interesting; however, the characters did ultimately come off a little flat and underdeveloped.
I loved how Makansi took political events (past and present) and gave them life. I really enjoyed his writing, but at times, the metaphors felt a little forced and too perfect. (To be fair, this is Makansi’s debut novel, so I honk some of these complaints are common.)
One thing that drove me absolutely nuts is the crazy amount of editing errors throughout the book. It’s no fault of Makansi’s; the blame definitely falls on the editor/publisher, but it was so distracting to me. A good editor could have cut out some of the unnecessary side stories as well.
Overall, I was interested in the story and invested in the characters. I was curious how it would wrap up. At times, it felt overwritten and under-edited, but if you can see past those issues, it’s an enjoyable book with an intriguing story.
This book packs quite the punch! There are so many different storylines - sometimes it feels like too much - but for the most part, it seems to work. The author certainly could have bypassed some of them, but it did help make the characters interesting; however, the characters did ultimately come off a little flat and underdeveloped.
I loved how Makansi took political events (past and present) and gave them life. I really enjoyed his writing, but at times, the metaphors felt a little forced and too perfect. (To be fair, this is Makansi’s debut novel, so I honk some of these complaints are common.)
One thing that drove me absolutely nuts is the crazy amount of editing errors throughout the book. It’s no fault of Makansi’s; the blame definitely falls on the editor/publisher, but it was so distracting to me. A good editor could have cut out some of the unnecessary side stories as well.
Overall, I was interested in the story and invested in the characters. I was curious how it would wrap up. At times, it felt overwritten and under-edited, but if you can see past those issues, it’s an enjoyable book with an intriguing story.
March 28, 2018
“The Moment Before”, Jason Makansi’s debut novel, is an exploration of the lives of Arab-Americans in the United States and the prejudices they confront. Holly Haddad is a young woman whose Syrian father disappeared mysteriously years earlier on a visit to his homeland. What she doesn’t know is that he was swept up in the turmoil of civil war, imprisoned as a terrorist, and sent to Guantanamo, where he has spent the last many years. The plot takes an odd twist (and this may be too much for some readers to accept) when it is decided to close Guantanamo and move the prisoners to a new facility in the town of Saluki, Illinois—Holly’s hometown. Meanwhile, Holly is carrying on a hesitant love affair with an older married man, John Veranda, whose family’s land has been taken over by the government as the site for the new prison. The story takes us up to just the moment before father and daughter will find each other again. Makansi shines alight on the disruptions of war and politics as they affect the generations.
The character of Holly—tough, feisty and independent and yet filled with longing to reconnect with her lost father—is touching and well delineated. The social setting of a small mid-western town strikes a note of reality. Altogether, “The Moment Before” provides valuable insights.
The character of Holly—tough, feisty and independent and yet filled with longing to reconnect with her lost father—is touching and well delineated. The social setting of a small mid-western town strikes a note of reality. Altogether, “The Moment Before” provides valuable insights.
May 1, 2018
I was drawn to this book by the synopsis; we are certainly living in uncertain times. It was a surprising read in many ways; I was expecting a far more political read and what I got was more of a family drama. In some ways that was good but when the politics did enter into the story it was a hard fit.
Cheryl Haddad loves her father and they spend a lot of time together. He is a taxi driver and her mother is a police officer. Her parents marriage is not a happy one but she does not realize this until much later in her life. One day her father heads off to his homeland to visit his dying father and he just disappears. She never hears from him again and her mother does nothing to try and find him. This impacts her entire life.
While this is Cheryl’s story there are other subplots going on at the same time involving an idealistic man trying to save his town. There is the story line that sort of tells what happens to her father. There is another that follows a DHS honcho working to bring a prison project to fruition to house detainees from Guantanamo. There is also Cheryl’s mother and a mysterious priest who may or may not be a priest. All of these stories go back and forth in time with no real sense of order. It took me quite a while to sort out the back and forth and forth and back.
There is a very good book in this book somewhere, you just have to work a bit to find it. It’s not the kind of book you can stray from or skim through. You have to pay attention or you miss which year you’ve gone back to or which character’s life you are now inhabiting. I think my poor addled brain was just not up to keeping it all straight.
I wanted the answers. I wanted to know the whys. I wanted to know how in the hell the horror at the center of this book could even be imagined. I think I need to read it again because I’m still confused. I don’t understand how Cheryl’s father could be THAT naive. I don’t understand how Cheryl’s mother could be THAT evil over issues that could be dealt with in better ways. I don’t understand how I could get to the end of this book and still be so unsatisfied.
But I guess there is much to be said for a book that gets a person thinking to this degree. As I noted – there is a good book in here. I think it’s just over my head somewhere. I think I may be just too literal a reader. It’s certainly a provocative book with a laundry list of issues to get you thinking. Imma gonna read it again to see if I can get it to make more sense for my poor little brain.
3.5
Cheryl Haddad loves her father and they spend a lot of time together. He is a taxi driver and her mother is a police officer. Her parents marriage is not a happy one but she does not realize this until much later in her life. One day her father heads off to his homeland to visit his dying father and he just disappears. She never hears from him again and her mother does nothing to try and find him. This impacts her entire life.
While this is Cheryl’s story there are other subplots going on at the same time involving an idealistic man trying to save his town. There is the story line that sort of tells what happens to her father. There is another that follows a DHS honcho working to bring a prison project to fruition to house detainees from Guantanamo. There is also Cheryl’s mother and a mysterious priest who may or may not be a priest. All of these stories go back and forth in time with no real sense of order. It took me quite a while to sort out the back and forth and forth and back.
There is a very good book in this book somewhere, you just have to work a bit to find it. It’s not the kind of book you can stray from or skim through. You have to pay attention or you miss which year you’ve gone back to or which character’s life you are now inhabiting. I think my poor addled brain was just not up to keeping it all straight.
I wanted the answers. I wanted to know the whys. I wanted to know how in the hell the horror at the center of this book could even be imagined. I think I need to read it again because I’m still confused. I don’t understand how Cheryl’s father could be THAT naive. I don’t understand how Cheryl’s mother could be THAT evil over issues that could be dealt with in better ways. I don’t understand how I could get to the end of this book and still be so unsatisfied.
But I guess there is much to be said for a book that gets a person thinking to this degree. As I noted – there is a good book in here. I think it’s just over my head somewhere. I think I may be just too literal a reader. It’s certainly a provocative book with a laundry list of issues to get you thinking. Imma gonna read it again to see if I can get it to make more sense for my poor little brain.
3.5
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews