Thank you Scribner UK for the this ARC.

Bitter Orange Tree follows the story of Zuhur, an Omani student in Britain, and her memories of Bint Amir, the woman she considers as her grandmother. In the present, Zuhur navigates the complex relationship between herself, her privileged Pakistani friend Suroor, Suroor’s lovesick sister Kuhl, and Kuhl’s boyfriend from a humble background. In a parallel narrative, Zuhur delves into the past and reconstructs the difficult life of Bint Amir.

The prose is exquisite. I love the detailed description, short poignant scenes, and lines of poetry occasionally woven into the narrative. I also appreciate how some chapters focus on side characters, especially women that are married off young and suffer as a result, often without any support from their birth families.

However, the book didn’t come together as whole for me. I found the connection between the two storylines lacking. The conclusion to the arc in the present is abrupt and confusing. I am not sure why the author decided to give Zuhur this strange envy of other people’s romantic relationship. Maybe it is to mirror Bint Amir’s life experience, but I still don’t see the point.

Bint Amir’s storyline is more fleshed out. It is clear that her tragedy spring from her inability to own anything in life, whether it’s a patch of land or a family of her own. However, I am uncomfortable with the suggestion that her life was incomplete because she never had a chance to marry, have sex with a man (or rather be enjoyed by man), and bear children of her own (see the chapter titled ‘The Virgin’). It seems very heteropatriarchal to me, to say the least.

Zuhur, an Omani student at a British university, is caught between the past and the present. As she attempts to form friendships and assimilate in Britain, she can’t help but ruminate on the relationships that have been central to her life. Most prominent is her strong emotional bond with Bint Amir, a woman she always thought of as her grandmother, who passed away just after Zuhur left the Arabian Peninsula.
This is beautifully written with some fascinating characters. It explores a lot of issues along the way and has you thinking about her relationships long after you finish her story.

The narrator of this insightful and empathetic short novel is Zuhour, a young Omani woman studying in England and learning to assimilate into an alien culture whilst haunted by memories of her recently deceased adoptive grandmother, whose cries of “don’t go” still echo in her mind as the guilt of her abandonment gnaws away at her. As she adjusts to her new student life and new acquaintances she looks back over her family’s history, thus giving the reader a glimpse into Omani culture and traditions, and the conflicts between modernity and tradition. Whilst exploring Zuhour’s inner life, the author also explores issues of female agency and the patriarchal society she has left behind, the conflict between family loyalty and the call of freedom, and the often fraught relationships between siblings and friends. I really enjoyed the book and found it most illuminating about Omani society. Well worth reading.

A beautiful written novel. I just wasn’t personally in the right mood for this one and got a bit lost. However, I can see the appeal and the talent of the writer.

Thought provoking, well written, and quite sad. I loved the poetic style of writing, the storytelling, and the characters.
I can't wait to read other books by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was sent to me by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Zuhur is an Omani student in a British university and in this book she reflects upon the important relationships in her life in the hope that by understanding her roots, she will be able to adapt to her new life and make new friends.

One of the most important relationships in her life was with her grandmother, Bint Amir, a lady who was not actually a blood relative. Through the chapters, which are written in a non-linear way, we learn about the elderly lady's life. We also learn about Zuhur's present day relationship with a new friend and this friend's sister.

This is a novel that touches upon social status and the difficulties faced by women in that society and time. However, for me, after all of her reflections, Zuhur didn't seem to reach a conclusion. What did she actually learn?

Although I did enjoy reading the story of Bint Amir, sadly, the novel did not touch me.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for allowing me to read this.

This novel presents a mosaic portrait of one young woman’s attempt to understand the roots she has grown from, and to envisage an adulthood in which her own power and happiness might find the freedom necessary to bear fruit and flourish. Exquisitely written!! I loved this book!

Celestial Bodies, Marilyn Booth's translation of سيدات القمر ((2010by جوخة الحارثي (Jokha Alharthi) won the 2019 Man Booker International. It certainly wasn't my favourite on the shortlist, but I felt it was an interesting choice by the judges, a book whose strengths lay in its deep cultural insights and clever construction.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42730317

Bitter Orange Tree is from the same author/translator, based on a 2016 original, نارنجة.

Stylistically it is similar, with short chapters recollected in a non-linear fashion. Our first person narrator is a Omani university student in London. Her present-day story focuses not (directly at least) on herself but rather a friend of her and her sister, both originally from Pakistan, the latter cut-off from her rich family for having married someone from a poorer background. But the novel's heart is her recollection of her own family story, particularly that of her grandmother (although not biologically so) who spent her days under the titular bitter orange tree.

"In my mind, I see the pale shadow cast by the house’s outer wall onto the ground inside the compound, and I see her sitting on a mat in the courtyard, her legs stretched in front of her, absorbed in drinking her coffee. She is not weighted down by thoughts. She is not remembering anything, not missing anything or wishing for it, not dreaming of anything as she sits under the ample shade of the bitter orange tree."

I think this is as much my failing as the novel's but I really didn't connect with this at all:

- the connection between the past family story and present-day story was unclear to me, and indeed the relevance at all of the latter, other than a loose theme in the novel of people trying to control their lives like kites in the wind;

- the non-linear, rather repetitive, style of the stories stretched the novel beyond my patience (224 is simply too long for my taste);

- and the style also meant it was hard to keep track of or be interested in the characters. I felt at times, when a new chapter started with another story of peripheral characters like one of those in the novel:

"Athurayyaa had been a little girl, barely completing her fifth year of life, when her cousin Salman left for Zanzibar. She didn’t have any memory of him, didn’t recognize him 39 when he returned, even if his name was a familiar one."

2.5 stars.

An extract (from 2019, so edited for final publication) from the start of the novel for the reader of the review to decide for themselves if the style appeals:
https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/may-2019-oman-from-bitter-orange-jokha-alharithi-marilyn-booth

This is my second try with Alharthi after her 'Celestial Bodies' and I'm going to have to accept that her books and I don't gel. Fragmented styles can work (I'm thinking of Transcendent Kingdom, for example) but here it just feels rambling. I also struggle with Alharthi's trademark indirect speech style where everything feels like it's happening behind a thick pane of glass and that lack of immediacy leaves me cold. Sorry that this just isn't for me :(

A young Omani woman living as a university student in Britain reflects on the formative relationships in her life, most notably, her relationship with her grandmother. A beautifully written story, focusing on wealth, social status, love and female agency. This story manages to explore these important themes through the exceptionally written characters despite being a very concise read. I would definitely recommend everyone to read this book when it is published this June.