![]() Some of the characters Sirine sees on a daily basis are people she might have interacted with through her uncle who is also a professor at the university, but putting Sirine in front of them on her own terms makes her form her own relationships with characters like professor Aziz, American Nathan who photographed Iraq years ago, and the brilliant Han who will so haunt Sirine that a love match is inevitable. Sirine has the natural curiosity because of the allure of tracing one’s ancestry, and even if you were never interested in Arab culture in general, her interest is contagious.Īnd then Abu-Jaber puts Sirine in the perfect place to observe culture–cooking at an Arab cafe near a university. It’s the perfect setup for a reader to explore it with her. ![]() Sirine barely knew her parents when they died and although she used to cook “American” food, she feels herself drawn back into Iraqi side of her heritage. And although I lost myself in the story of Sirine and Han so much that I barely annotated the book, it was impossible to ignore how well-crafted this novel is.Ību-Jaber sets up the perfect observer of cultures in Sirine, a half-Iraqi, half-American chef living in California with her Iraq-born uncle. When I finally picked up the book, I realized what I’d been missing all this time. It looked too thick for my purse or the back matter was too fluffy for my mood. ![]() I avoided reading Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber for almost a year. ![]()
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