An Unnecessary Woman in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Apr 12, 2016 Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016books

A lovely novel that ignores plot to such an extreme that you don't even miss it! Instead, the book is one long stream of reminiscence, commentary, analysis, and exploration...with a few memorable incidents woven in for good measure. As long as you don't come for an action-packed thrill ride, following along with our narrator Aaliya, the painfully shy yet powerfully opinionated lover-and-translator-of-literature, is a delight and a pleasure. Maybe it takes a bookish introvert to know one? But I e ...more

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Aug 16, 2015 Lianne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, international, 2015

I love a good character study, and this book certainly fit that bill. It was unique in its in-depth look at an older woman, especially one in a culture that does not value older, unmarried women -- and Aaliyah's life was fascinating from that perspective. I also knew very little about the Lebanese Civil War that shaped so much of her life.

Alameddine did an impressive job writing from this perspective. There were some political passages, however, that pulled me right out of the story -- they seem ...more

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Apr 03, 2017 Deb rated it really liked it

It only took a couple pages for me to fall in the love with the narrator's voice-her tone was sassy, the writing fantastic. Aaliya is complicated, a puzzle that I was trying to figure out. As her story progressed I was anxious, secretly thinking "No, No, not another book without redemption!" Turns out, I shouldn't have worried... :) ...more

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Jan 14, 2015 Denise Cormaney rated it it was ok

Shelves: one-more-page-book-group

I really wanted to like this book. It had such potential, but the author kept going off on random stream-of-consciousness tangents that I found distracting. (I'm not a huge fan of Virginia Wolff either, so there you go). There were so many moments where the book would start to grab me, and I'd think, "Finally! It's getting good!" only to have it drift off again. I'm in the minority, however...my book club really liked this book, and a few people loved it and said it was one of their all-time fav ...more

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