The Blue Between Sky and Water

Written By Linda Malek
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The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa
Reviewed by Linda
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Having now read 2 of her novels this woman can do no wrong! What's interesting about books which describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is that they completely overturn what we see covered by the news which usually shows affinity for one side or another for political, religious or philosophical reasons. What we forget is that there are victims which live a lifetime of suffering on the other side of the fence. In this book, Susan takes the reader into Gaza through a multi-generational Palestinian family and it is through the matriarchs in the family that we learn what it means to endure, to love, and to live. Whilst this kind of fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea - I absolutely love being transported to a world far from my own. There are definitely not enough stars to rate this book, I most thoroughly recommend it!

Linda Malek

I've always had the urge to set up a forum and voice my thoughts after each read, but never had the confidence to do so alone. 18 months ago, I got my fellow book-loving friends involved and formed The Candid Book Club! Aside from having an exponentially growing to-read pile and deteriorating shortsightedness, we've been lucky to have been invited to publisher events and have attended several talks with our favourite authors (Thank you and long may they continue!) To take a break from the pressures of PhD Chemistry, Jess and I exchanged books all the time and in my youth, I was that kid with the first editions of Harry Potter having already read Gulliver’s travels and some Charles Dickens. At work, my desk is a library and luckily for me I sit next to another bookworm Jack who entertains all the photo-taking. I'm suffering from a chronic case of wanderlust (age-related crisis) so books which are set as far away from home as possible tend to float my boat: Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Asia...you name it. But if it's got anything to do with Egypt then I'm all over it. So you get the drift...I read all the time, everywhere (on the tube mostly), everyday, a book a week, and very quickly I'm onto the next! And then sometimes there is a book that stops me in my tracks, makes me want to swallow the pages whole, and have it next to me at all times, with some sentences staying with me forever: Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts, anything by Khaled Hosseini, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo (absolute gem of a woman), A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shuklaand and anything by Naguib Mahfouz.

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