[Saturday Reads | #DecolonizeBookshelves2022] The Flowery Prose Of Unconsummated Love

Myra here.

Every Saturday we hope to share with you our thoughts on reading and books. We thought that it would be good practice to reflect on our reading lives and our thoughts about reading in general. While on occasion, we would feature a few books in keeping with this, there would be a few posts where we will just write about our thoughts on read-alouds, libraries, reading journals, upcoming literary conferences, books that we are excited about, and just book love miscellany in general.

The Bridges Of Constantine [Amazon | Book Depository]

Written by Ahlem Mosteghanemi Translated by Raphael Cohen Published by Bloomsbury (2013, first published 1993) Original Title: ذاكرة الجسد ISBN: 9781408846407 (ISBN10: 1408846403) Literary Award: جائزة نجيب محفوظ للأدب (Naguib Mahfouz Award for Literature) (1998) Bought a copy of the book.

This is the sixteenth book that I am reviewing / featuring as part of our #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 reading theme from my target list of 25 books (for this year) from This Is The Canon: Decolonize Your Bookshelf In 50 Books (Amazon | Book Depository).

My book log indicates that I started reading the book on October 14 and finished it on October 23.

This is the first book I can recall reading with the tumultuous and revolutionary history of Algeria as backdrop to a romance that is doomed to fail. While the first quarter of the novel appealed to my sensibility with its vulnerability, longing, and willingness to open unhealed wounds, the rest left me feeling impatient with a “Get on with it, please” auntie’s voice roaring at the back of my head. Along with “enough with the whining, pursue her already.”

Maybe I am just at that point in my life when I look at unconsummated romance (a contradiction in terms, really) with suspicion, or overcautious men with slight derision. That being said, I still purchased Books 2 and 3 from this trilogy, because I am a completist that way.