Sweet Dates in Basra audiobook

Kathmiya is a disarmingly beautiful Marsh Arab maiden. Instead of arranging her marriage, her parents send her off to Basra to work as a servant.Shafiq is a young Jewish boy who has grown up in Basra, side by side with other Muslim families. His sense of brotherhood with his Muslim neighbour Omar is proof that religion is no barrier to friendship.He falls in love with Kathmiya the first time he lays eyes on her.But in a world where honour is paramount and the loss of honour is punishable by death, the friendship that blossoms between Kathmiya and Shafiq is doomed from the start. Their story begins in the Iraq of the 1940s when British warplanes begin bombing and long-simmering tensions in the country erupt.Entwined in the socio-political struggles of the time, emerges a story of forbidden love and undying friendship. Sweet Dates in Basra is an exploration of two different cultures and how the bonds of brotherhood and love transcend physical and cultural barriers.As Shafiq begins a quest to teach Kathmiya how to read, Kathmiya is on a quest of her own - to find a suitable Muslim husband.But as their worlds crumble around them, Shafiq and Kathmiya find strength and solace in each other. Their relationship is a doomed one, but still they know that in such uncertain times, they may never get a chance at love again.It is a tortuous journey they embark on and it may only end in heartbreak.Jessica Jiji has based her novel on the life of her own father.His family too had an unreserved bond with a Muslim family - it was a solidarity that "endured through successive wars, changes in government and sanctions". These are the stories she grew up with as the daughter of an Iraqi immigrant in America. They were stories not of war and atrocities, but of love, warmth, friendship and humanity. Jiji says: "I wrote this novel in tribute to the Iraq that I was raised to revere. Unlike the war-drenched country portrayed on the news, it is a place of pleasure and adventure, richness and warmth, friendship and family." - Meneesha Govender

Recommended.There was a lot in this novel - the situation of the Jewish community in Iraq in the 1940s, the struggles endured as a maid coming from a poor background in the Marshes to work in bustling Basra, and the problems of friendships between different cultures and between unmarried men and women.There are two main charcters, Shafiq, a young Jewish-Iraqi, who starts to feel the effects of anti Jewish sentiment in Iraq as he reaches his teens, and Kathmiya, a beautiful young girl from the Marshes who should be entering into marriage at this age but finds herself shipped off to work as a maid in Basra.Kathmiya can't understand why she is not getting married like her sister Fathima, and why her father seems to hate her so much. But she makes the best of her life in Basra and works hard.There she is noticed by Shafiq, who is stunned by her beauty. In this society it would mean certain death for Kathmiya if her friendship with Shafiq were ever discovered and the relationship can have no future.The other main relationship in the book is between Shafiq and his Muslim neighbour, Omar. Not only are the boys best friends, but the families help each other in numerous ways over the years in a society where such friendships are becoming increasingly problematic.Jessica Jiji has never lived in Iraq but learned of this time in history from her father who left the country in 1947 as an 18 year old. HIs love for his homeland is reflected in her warm feelings towards this place and time. In spite of all the problems, I felt this affection and became involved in the narrative as it unravelled.I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book, excellently narrated by Adriana Sevahn Nichols, but I have to admit I struggled with the names of all the secondary characters, which can't be back referenced on audio.Possibly better to read this than listen to it, but certainly recommended.

Sweet Dates in Basra is a memoir about an Iraqi Muslim girl named Jessica JiJi. This memoir takes place during the 1940’s when Iraq was not yet flooded with war. The 1940’s are also considered the lost time in Iraq’s history. Jessica was a teenage girl who was removed from her home at the young age of 18 to the unfamiliar city of Basra in Iraq. While in Basra she falls in love with Jewish boy Safiq. This love is forbidden because the two are opposing religions. But Safiq thinks differently because he has a strong relationship with his Muslim neighbor, Omar. This makes Jessica feel like her religion should not stop her love for Safiq. Jessica’s father has different views of who Jessica can love or even marry, it is very common in Muslim and Middle Eastern house holds for the father to chose who the daughter lovers or marries. This issue will soon be over shadowed about what will happen to Jessica and Shfiq. This book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about the Muslim culture. People would also like if they wanted to learn about pre-war Iraq. I recommend this book for any age from 13-100 this book can really enrich your mind for other countries and cultures. To see hoe other cultures treat there women or how in many areas of the world certain religions have great tension between them. There are many parts in this book that really make you think about the decisions that you have made in your life and how it effects other people and how other people feel about the decision that you have made. I genuinely feel that it made me think about my actions more and not taking things for granted like most of us do.

Though being a muslim Arab I never seen Iraq before and may be never will and to be frank about it I never even thought of visiting Iraq someday. Yet Iraq remains this ache in my heart, this dear part, this lost dream flooded in oceans of blood through out its history. Seeing Iraq through this marvelous novel I see her as a beautiful lady wild haired and her twin rivers rund as deep as Kathmiya's eyes. A lady who had her share of misfortunes and happy times, a lady whose children give her hard times, a lady so beautiful that everybody envies her and wants to take advantage of her yet she remains so pure hearted and forgiving, a lady so burdened by massive superstitions. Jessica Jiji has wrote a very attaching novel based on a true story about a multi layered society in war time showing what politics, war and occupation can do to the relations among people and their fates.Shafiq with his pure love, sweet natured Omar and an always so worried Kathmiya, all share this exquisite relationship, loving Iraq each in his way, leading you through this engaging story.This is a story about forbidden love, a story about dreams that may never come true, a story about how people of different backgrounds and different religions can live together in peace and have their common traditions and superstitions.And what I love the most about this novel is how it shows that the problems in that middle east are not basically religion related there are always other reasons.

Set during and after WWII, the story follows two teens in Iraq. One, a Jew, and the other, a Muslim. Their journey becomes one of star-crossed lovers and was an easy read.

I just finished this book and I still have tears in my eyes. It is set during WWII in Iraq and at the end the author calls this time period in Iraq the "relatively idyllic years." If this is idyllic, I shudder to think what went on in other time periods. The book was beautifully written, very informative, and I highly recommend it, but the ending will leave you heartbroken. That poor girl. Our heroine, Kathmiya's, "happily-ever-after" involves being the fourth wife of a man she doesn't love who she only married to avoid being honor-killed for being pregnant by the man who she does love and who loves her and tries to marry her. But because of culture divides and family issues, that man only ever gets to see his child once and is not allowed to marry her. I mean yay, our heroine didn't get honor killed and the new husband is too busy with four wives to ever count days and weeks and figure out the kid isn't his and go on a killing spree. Also, the heroine's lover does teach her how to read so at least she now has the escape of a good book (a pastime I highly recommend. :)) But the tiny sliver of happiness the heroine gets, and how grateful the heroine is for that sliver, almost makes the book more tragic. If this is idyllic for our Iraqi hero and heroine, what does bad look like? Unfortunately, it only takes flipping on the local news channel to answer that question. :(

Tough to rate this one. I mean--yeah, I liked it. I really did. I got sucked in by the front cover and the words "star-crossed love." I can't resist a love story. :)It's 1941. Basra, Iraq. Shafiq (an Iraqi Jew) and Omar (an Iraqi Muslim) are next door neighbors and best friends. Then there's Kathmiya, a Marsh Arab, who wants a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for her, but her father will not allow it. Instead, she is sent off to Basra to earn money.While religion isn't a barrier between Shafiq and Omar....it certainly is a barrier between Shafiq and Kathmiya. We're talking punishable by death.Basically--"I love you so much that I must stay away from you so that you're not the next young woman to be murdered to preserve the family's honor."If you like a well-written romance, this book is a good choice.I will warn you, though: there's a good chunk of the book that describes the Anglo-Iraqi War. It's not gory or anything, but it did take some intense concentration on my part, and I spent quite a bit of time on Wikipedia trying to understand the war and how Nazi Germany and Communism fit in. History isn't really my cup of tea...and if it's not yours, don't let that be a barrier to enjoying this story. All in all, it is a love story. :)

This book had me all up in my feelings at the end that I had to come ip with my own conclusion.

Very good book about forbidden love in city where love was impossible

Interesting read, but not worth a re-read

Set against the backdrop of World War II and its effects on the people of Iraq, Sweet Dates in Basra traces the developing relationship between a Marsh Arab girl, Kathmiya and a Jewish boy, Shafiq. Coming from very different cultures and backgrounds, each with their own difficulties in life, they nevertheless manage to forge a connection and fall in love. A second, but equally important, backdrop against which the story’s events play out is the relationship between Shafiq and his Muslim next door neighbor, Omar, who grow up as brothers in all but name.The thing which elevates the book to a point way above that of a love story set in an exotic location is the multiple themes which Jessica Jiji develops throughout. Friendship, family, sacrifice, tolerance, identity – both religious and national – unification and idealism are all addressed. This might seem way too ambitious for a single story, but Jiji handles each one with sensitivity, allowing each theme it’s moment in the spotlight. The multiple themes echo the confusion of the times, but the writing itself is in no way confused. Instead it highlights the way the all intertwine with each other, much like the personal relationships in the book. There are a large number of supporting characters in the book, which may seem confusing to some readers at first, but a little patience allows for each one to take their place in the narrative. Then there are beautiful details of the links and connections between seemingly disparate persons, underlying the theme of unification and the sense that we are all one people at heart.I particularly loved that I got a history lesson along with the story, yet I never felt like I was being lectured to. Instead, Jiji has seamlessly woven historical information and personal emotion into a beautiful, smooth, well-paced narrative. Of particular interest as well was the information about the Midaan people and culture, written so as to allow the reader to understand Kathmiya’s motivations and actions, while leaving the desire to know more about this fascinating people.The difficulties surrounding the partitioning of Pakistan are echoed in the troubles faced by Shafiq and Kathmiya, written with an intensity that left the sense that both sets of events were tumbling to their particular conclusions.Overall, while certainly not as popular as some of the recent stories coming out of this region, Sweet Dates in Basra is a beautiful, moderately easy read, with a powerful story to tell.

Author Jessica Jiji did an amazing job of taking me back in time and flying me across the world to be in the 1940’s Iraq. She takes you along side with Kathmiya Mahmoud, a young Marsh Arab maiden, as she is shipped off from her home in Iraq‘s tranquil countryside to the city of Basra which is very new and strange to her. Kathmiya must live off her diminutive earnings as a servant. Kathmiya has nothing special or any assets for her except for her exquisite and ravishing beauty. Kathmiya’s beauty brings more peril than peace. However, Kathmiya’s mother appears to be hiding a secret about her own mysterious past, one that could threaten Kathmiya's destiny forever.Because of disoriented Iraq’s time of tradition and congregation, Kathmiya meets Shafiq. Shafiq is a Jewish boy who shares a brotherhood with his Muslim neighbor Omar, who claims that religion should be no barrier to friendship. However, when Kathmiya and Omar’s difficult friendship blossoms into a dangerous love and when British warplanes begin bombing Iraq and the country's long-simmering tensions explode, the love they share may send them to their doom. Kathmiya’s bravery is what made me enjoy this book so much. She had to go through so much throughout the entire book. She also allowed me to relate to the book more than I thought I would be able to. It’s hard to relate to a lot of historical fiction books but Jessica Jiji allows you feel right along with her.The writing style of the book flows and is very straight which most people look for in a book. It makes it easier to connect to and understand what the author is trying to get across.Jessica Jiji has also written a novel called Diamonds Take Forever but this was her first novel.

From my blog...[return][return][return]One country, several different cultures and World War II threatening to divide neighbours, Sweet Dates In Basra by Jessica Jiji is an intricately woven novel of the tumultuous 1940s in Iraq, specifically, in Basra and the power of love and friendship, which transcends cultural barriers. The book is an elegant story of three families, one Sunni, one Jewish, and one Midaan, friends despite the turbulent times, societal demands, and cultural differences, and one I could not put down. The story details the lives of Omar, Shafiq, and Kathmiya, as well as their families and friends, each from different cultures yet all sharing a love of their country and yearning for happiness and peace. Written with exquisitely vivid imagery, the reader is transported to Basra's marketplace, homes, and to the marshlands of Iraq, where the details of sight, sound and smell are almost tangible for the reader. Each character is richly written to the point where the reader will feel as though these families are quite real. Sweet Dates in Basra is a masterfully written tale historically rich in detail and viewpoints, deep, lasting friendships and forbidden love. Sweet Dates in Basra is a novel that draws the reader into another time and place and one that is difficult to leave. I highly recommend, as in find a copy to read now, Sweet Dates in Basra to all readers and believe this to be an excellent choice for a book discussion group.

Set in 1940s Iraq, this is a story of two friends (one Jewish and one Muslim) and their families, along with a friendship/love story between one of the friends and a Marsh Arab. I enjoyed the cultural and political aspects of this story as it was such a different perspective. I prefer my endings a little neater...I suppose I felt like I couldn't anticipate what would actually happen to the characters because of cultural and religious expectations that I am ignorant of.