Dust Settles North, by Deena ElGenaidi - 3.5 rounded up

[Booknblues]

I'm still getting my head around Dust Settles North and I have so many divergent opinions about this book. The essence of the book is about two post-adolescent, twenty-something Egyptian-American siblings who are working through their grief of their mother's death. They are both going off the deep-end in entirely different directions, Hannah, who remains in Egypt unexpectedly and Zain in Philadelphia trying to move forward his career in journalism.

The time is 2012, Mubarak has been displaced and Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Things are not going well, but Hannah who was ready to attend Columbia Law School in the fall decides to stay in Egypt after her mother's funeral.

There were parts of this book which were so painful that I nearly put it down:

Now, watching her dad rush them through customs, collect their bags, and usher them outside to hail a taxi, she felt nothing⁠—numb, a body detached from a soul.....She gasped. Her lungs felt like they were collapsing, being crushed under the weight of grief. She hoped her dad and brother didn’t notice. She wanted to disappear, to stop existing, for this moment to end altogether. She wanted something drastic to happen⁠—perhaps a sandstorm. They were in Egypt, after all. A rush of wind enveloping only her, pulling her away from here until she became part of the sand herself."

And then there were parts of this book which were so uncomfortable that I almost put it down. All of the crazy, misguided things which a twenty-something can do in the times of crisis are there. Throw in a culture which is at the sizzling point to someone who barely understands it and things are bound to happen with Hannah.

But don't let Zain off the hook just because he remains in America his mistakes are as great or greater than his sister.

The book is not entirely fluid. It moves from Hannah to Zain, back in forth shifting time. I'm not sure this always worked at least it didn't for me.

I appreciate that it gave me a better picture of Egypt during this time and how an American, despite background and ethnicity manages the culture.

While I experienced some discomfort reading the book, I appreciate that it took Deena ElGenaidi 9 years to write and that she dedicated the book to her cat saying:
"Most of all, thank you to my cat Sasha. Without you, I could not have survived this long, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it."

[Booknblues]

At one point they were eating at a restaurant and ordered hawawshi, so I of course had to look up. Here is one version:
https://amiraspantry.com/hawawshi-stu...