Stephanie Jane recenzis Occasional Virgin de Ḥanān Shaykh
Starts well, but odd final third
3 steloj
The Occasional Virgin is an unusual novel that focuses on the, frankly, odd choices made by two outwardly successful women. Both are originally Lebanese, but emigrated in adulthood to Toronto and London respectively. The novel felt as though it naturally fell into three sections of which I loved the first. Muslim Huda and Christian Yvonne are holidaying together in a wonderfully evoked Italian seaside town. We see their reminiscences about their Lebanese childhoods which are dominated by similar repressive outlooks towards women - regardless of their families' differing religions. We also get to join the women simply enjoying the prospect of a holiday romance and eyeing up the local talent. Up until this point, I was happy reading and felt I understood the characters well. I didn't necessarily agree with all their decisions and opinions, but I had settled in for a good read.
When the action switches to London …
The Occasional Virgin is an unusual novel that focuses on the, frankly, odd choices made by two outwardly successful women. Both are originally Lebanese, but emigrated in adulthood to Toronto and London respectively. The novel felt as though it naturally fell into three sections of which I loved the first. Muslim Huda and Christian Yvonne are holidaying together in a wonderfully evoked Italian seaside town. We see their reminiscences about their Lebanese childhoods which are dominated by similar repressive outlooks towards women - regardless of their families' differing religions. We also get to join the women simply enjoying the prospect of a holiday romance and eyeing up the local talent. Up until this point, I was happy reading and felt I understood the characters well. I didn't necessarily agree with all their decisions and opinions, but I had settled in for a good read.
When the action switches to London however, I soon felt as though I must have accidentally picked up a different book. There's a convoluted scene set in Speaker's Corner which starts out making some excellent points about tolerance and people's right to make their own lifestyle choices. This leads into a weird triangle with both Huda and Yvonne narrowing their sights towards the same man. Don't be fooled by the synopsis though - this isn't love. One is driven by spite and the other by a blinding desire to get pregnant. I was disappointed that the interesting, rounded characters from Italy were abruptly flung into quite bizarre situations and I struggled to understand their decisions - particularly Huda's - due to a lack of realistic motivation. Would a woman really go through such a lengthy charade?
Possibly if I were Lebanese myself, or at least had a strong understanding of Arabic upbringings for girls, I might have made more sense of what happens. I look forward to reading some #OwnVoices reviews in due course which might help me. In the meantime though, I would highly recommend reading this book as an Italian holiday novella, but maybe then let Huda and Yvonne go on their way without following them!