First this is not Christian fiction, or even touted as Christian Fiction. It is from Random House the Children's/Teen/YA division.
This is a truly sophisticated story, written in the similar vein of To Kill A Mockingbird. Please do not misunderstand. I am not saying it has the same sophistication of, or the same literary quality of To Kill A Mockingbird, but, by golly, it is close. Think TKAM about 80 years later.Written from the view point of a 15 year old girl raised in the closed society of the Middle East, suddenly transported to America. You can see the loose values and morals of American teens quite clearly when viewed from the pinnacle of the Muslim faith... for girls at least. You can also see quite clearly how America breaks down Middle East societal walls.
You don't have a clear direction for plot, but Laila's (main character) growth is distinctive. The character development of Laila's mother is very subtle, done with a light hand. Quite effective. The brother remain a two dimensional character without much development, but perhaps that is the way older sisters are about their brothers who are about 10 years younger.
Quite a good read, although it drags somewhat in the middle. It has some bad language, and I stopped reading when I ran across God's name taken in vein. If that sound prudish to you, well, that,s the way I am. I'm allergic to that. There was absolutely no need to use that verbiage at all. For me it was a story flow dam that I couldn't get past.
Without the bad language, I would have given it 5 of 5 stars. But, I have to take that into consideration so it gets 2 of 5 stars.
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