I thought this novel started off promising with the attention to details of the cars, sounds, people of Jordon really pulling me in and orienting me to the place. I was intrigued by Margaret and Cassie's odd friendship that seemed to have an underlying tension to it. When Margaret didn't return from her trip to the police station I found that added element of suspense. Couple that with the oddness I found in Cassie and her relationship with both Margaret and her husband and I felt this was going to be an interesting read for sure.

Things began to lose steam for me around 20% in when I became frustrated with the flashback diary scenes. For Cassie to decide to even pick up Margaret's diary when she has gotten into the car accident and was stressed about going to the police station seemed strange to me. I found the actual diary flashbacks to be rather boring actually and I felt they took away from the present drama and little suspense of what happened to Margaret. I just don't find that this narrative technique works all that well in most novels and especially not in this one. I also found myself not connecting or liking any of the characters and actually found Mather to be very annoying and distracting for the storyline. Overall, by the time I got to the underwhelming I found that I didn't really care.

American military wives (Cassie and Margaret) become friends while stationed in Jordan. But, what happens when one of the wives goes missing? Was there foul play involved, or did she disappear willingly?

This story follows the lives of Cassie and Margaret, who live at the U.S. Embassy in Jordan while their military husbands are stationed there. Cassie struggles with infertility and has trouble fitting in with the other wives who have children, so when naive Margaret arrives with a baby in tow, Cassie latches onto them and tries to mother both of them. In order to respect the customs in Jordan, women are instructed to behave in certain ways. Margaret, however, is determined to live by her own rules of kindness. How will the natives react to her odd behavior? Will they accept or reject her acts of kindness? The story line unfolds by alternating between the present and the past, with the past mostly revealed from Margaret's journal entries. I am a sucker for letters or diary excerpts in books, and this was no exception.

Last but not least, the look at vocabulary and its usage was interesting.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, First to Read, and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Cassie and Margaret are two very different women who are thrown into a friendship through their military husbands who have been stationed in Amman Jordan with the U.S. Embassy.
Cassie and her husband Dave Welcome the new couple, Margaret, Crick and baby Mather, to the country and show them the ins and outs of the area and Cassie tells Margaret about the proper etiquette for women to follow in the country and about the rules of the U.S. Embassy.
Cassie has always been a rule follower, but Margaret sees this experience as a way to express herself: she wants to get to know the country and its people regardless of the consequences.
Tension and resentments between the two women erupts as the time goes on, but they are also thankful for the friendship of another woman.
They are both women with too much time on their hands, and different ways of wanting to use it. With both of their husbands away quite often they are left to their own devices, and they each make critical choices that are not always in their favor.
Cassie is too rigid at times to enjoy her own life and Margaret often too naive to be saved from her own actions.
This book has wonderful character development, we are drawn into their lives through the authors prose. It is a story, that lets one feel and experience, what it might be like to live in this area as a person that is not completely familiar with its ways.
There is a lot that goes on in this story, but that is for you to find out. It is a story about finding oneself, about marriages, motherhood, relationships and the want for something not yet had.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam

Tense, sad, and gripping. Set in Jordan, two very different military wives, Margaret and Cassie, weave their way through the layers of friendship, culture and expectations. Their characters were very real and very flawed. The Middle East has strong feelings on the role of women within their culture. The ability and willingness to adhere to these norms directly impacts the story and their lives. The plot wasn't as strong as I'd hoped, but I enjoyed the journey to a place I've never been. Thank to NetGalley for the arc!

The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon was a book that has left me restless. The main characters are two women, who were thrown together by chance and their soldier husband. Neither wife seems particularly happy or content with their marriage, while you could tell they were wanting their husbands love and regard. Cassie Hugo and Margaret Brickshaw seemed uncomfortable in their skin and in their relationship with each other and that is what has made this book so disquieting, almost intimate in its portrayal.

Cassie Hugo was a rule follower. Living in Jordan while her husband was attached to the embassy had opened her eyes to the dangers of living abroad. She understood keeping people at a distance and following procedures. We were allowed a brief glimpse into her past and knew something difficult had happened in the past with another woman she was asked to mentor. Margaret Brickshaw was a conundrum to Cassie. She did not seem to understand the separation that was called for between herself and the “natives”. She did not seem to understand how the men in the mostly Muslim country would react with a open and generous person. To me both women seemed impervious to their own griefs and lack of awareness of their impact on the other.

The book has caused me some disquieting thoughts and musing. I think it must be extremely difficult it must be to be a wife living in a foreign country and culture with such rigidity. I think the difficulty of each situation must cause huge burdens on families who are not regimented to such a life. The Confusion of Language by Siobhan Fallon is a read that opens your eyes to the reality of some of our soldiers’ families living in foreign countries. The book was fascinating and alarming often in the same sentence.

The Confusion of Language by Siobhan Fallon is an important, thought provoking, striking read.

This is a great book - suspenseful and definitely made me think. I wasn't sure what to think of this book when I started to read it; at the beginning, it seemed a little disjointed, but after reading the entire book, I think that was intentional. What starts out a little bit slow definitely picks up and is soon the suspense starts building. If you find it slow at the beginning, keep going - it is worth it!

Margaret and Cassie are opposite in just about every way, but are thrown together when Cassie's husband signs up to "sponsor" another family moving to Jordan, where the story is set. From the beginning, it is clear that Cassie is struggling with a lot of jealousy and insecurity. Unfortunately, Margaret seems to have everything she wants, so while the 2 become friends, they are not as close as they could become. There is a lot unsaid, and a lot of judgements. Cassie functions by doing exactly what is expected, while Margaret is one of those people that does her own thing.

The book alternates between the current day, where Cassie is watching Margaret's son and waiting for Margaret to come home. We feel the tension build as the hours pass, and Cassie discovers Margaret's journal and begins to read.

I don't like to put spoilers in my reviews, so I will refrain from doing so here. What the author reveals as the story unfolds is how our own perceptions color how we view other people and situations we are in. When you bring cultural differences in, along with the danger of being in a foreign country with an uncertain political climate, the potential for misunderstandings is even greater.

There are so many sides of a person, jagged edges like puzzle pieces; you never know when you’ll snap together with someone else. But Margaret and I, we fit. “You’re so good to me, Cass,” she said, grinning. And now I am here, in her apartment, alone, no clue where Margaret is, suddenly feeling like she is an utter stranger. How have we gone from that day to this one?
Transporting readers into the lives of two expatriate families living Jordan, The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon, is a steady suspense that examines the decorum of two women who contrast one another in all aspects except for their forced occupation of this conservative and exceedingly unfamiliar locale. This important convergence serves as the seed of a blossoming friendship though not without some dissension.

When Cassie's husband Dave agrees to serve as the host family to the newly arrived Margaret and her husband Crick and young son Mather, Cassie feels both loathing for Margret's ability to have children, something she is struggling with herself, and a sense of duty to orient Margaret in the etiquette of American women in Jordan.

I told myself that Margaret was ignorant of all of these rules, but she’d learn them the way we all do, over time, and of course with my help. I would guide her. Obviously I had a lot of work to do. I hadn’t yet realized Margaret would cling to her ignorance. Delight in it. I hadn’t realized that handshake was just the beginning of things to come.
Margaret has a decidedly different idea of what behavior is deemed acceptable. She is full of life and confidence and determined to live her experience in Jordan to the fullest. Having spent much of her time before meeting Crick caring for her mother who was slowing dying from Lupus, Margaret feels compelled to make up for lost time, so to speak. On the other hand, Cassie is the picture of poise and restraint which borders on aloofness and trepidation and prevents her from experiencing much of what Jordan has to offer. Cassie and Margaret clash over their opposing views, driving each of them to dig in their heels even further.

Margaret doesn’t recognize that the line between us and them is real. She’s infected with our great American hubris of assuming that deep down every single person wants the same thing: autonomy, freedom, democracy, independence. I try to tell Margaret things here are different, that our American tolerance, even veneration, of the rule-breaker is not shared in a place where the literal translation of the name of the faith, Islam, means “submission.” But the longer Margaret has lived here, the less willing she has been to submit to anything.
Following a small fender-bender, Margaret is called to the police station to pay the fine. She leaves Cassie to watch Mather promising to return soon. When minutes melt into hours, Cassie begins to worry that Margaret has gotten herself into trouble with her lack of veneration for the social norms in Jordan and her casual ideas toward the culture. Snooping around the house to stave off boredom, Cassie crosses a definite line by reading Margaret's journal and what she discovers about her friend sends her reeling.

I MUST FIND HIM. I MUST MAKE IT RIGHT.
Cassie continues to read, peeking behind the curtain and into the secluded parts of her friend's life. A strained marriage and half-truths barely scratch the surface. When she begins to see the possible evidence to Margaret's complicated friendship with a local man, Cassie begins to wonder if she is jumping to conclusions or if Margaret has fallen into a precarious position birthed from her acute naivete.

Well-paced with a unique perspective and a devastating ending, The Confusion of Languages is a gripping story of female friendship as it is defined and molded by the demands of military spouses surviving in a foreign land.

There was every reason to think she was in trouble. There certainly was.

When I start to read and realize I really don't like any of the characters, the story really has to draw me in. But this one did. Cassie is a busybody. Margaret is just plain strange and needy. Crick is obnoxious. And Dan is really a nonfactor. But all that aside, it's about life among military professionals protecting the Jordanian embassy and the clash of cultures. And about friendships between people who don't naturally gravitate to each other, and whether you can trust them ultimately. Another device I wasn't sure about is the use of a journal to create a flashback mode, contrastin with what was happening in real time. But that worked as well -- I don't think you would have had the same suspense without it, by just telling the story chronologically. If the description intrigues you, then the book will deliver.

Wow! What a beautifully written novel. This follows two women who are living in Jordan with their Army husbands who work at the American embassy. One is seasoned in the ways of the country and what to do and what NOT to do. The other is a new wife, new mother, and complete free spirit, to her detriment at times. In times of turmoil for the country and region, they have to be careful about where they go and who they talk to. Both women are flawed in their own ways and both believe themselves to be strong and independent...but are they really? This book had such great conflict and the characters were so interesting and complex. I found myself both sympathetic and frustrated with both women at times. When one of them goes missing, things get interesting when the other is both trying to locate her and finds her journal, which reveals so much more than she bargained for. WONDERFUL BOOK!

Didn't really capture my attention. Too many gender biased characters for me.

The Confusion of Languages is a debut novel by Siobhan Fallon. Cassie Hugo’s husband, Dan is a soldier assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Jordan. Dan signed them up to sponsor the Brickshaw family (Crick, Margaret and their son, Mather) without consulting her. Cassie is hoping that Margaret will be a friend, but she has reservations because of their son, Mather. Dan and Cassie have been trying to get pregnant for nine years without success and it has strained their marriage. Cassie explains the rules for women to Margaret (how to act, dress, etc.), but Margaret seems to pay little attention. She is more interested in exploring the city and immersing herself into the culture (breaking many rules along the way). One afternoon Margaret and Cassie are out driving when they are in an auto accident. Margaret needs to go to the police department to pay a fee, but first she returns home. She asks Cassie to watch Mather for her while she is gone. As the hours pass, Cassie gets bored. She finds Margaret’s journal and starts reading it. What Cassie reads makes her concerned for Margaret and guilty. Margaret has not answered her phone, and she never arrived at the police department. Where is Margaret? To discover what led to Margaret’s disappearance, pick up The Confusion of Languages.

The Confusion of Languages was a dissatisfying novel (for me). The story starts in the present and then goes back to when the Brickshaw’s arrived in Jordan. It then keeps going back and forth in time (as Cassie reads Margaret’s journal). I found it disconcerting. The book is written in the first person which did not help (Margaret and Cassie’s perspectives). The book started out good, but then the pace slowed down considerably when Cassie started reading Margaret’s journal entries. The story does get more interesting toward the end after Cassie has finished reading the journal (if you make it that far). The Confusion of Languages has two women who are very different (of course). Margaret wanted to be friendly with the locals (a rule breaker) and Cassie was suspicious of them (a rigid rule follower). The author shows readers what women are thinking and feeling as well as exploring female relationships (which always seem to be explosive). The story seemed to be building up to some big revelation, but it was a huge disappointment. The ending was unoriginal and expected. I found the characters (Cassie, Margaret, Crick, Mather, Saleh) to be unpleasant. I really disliked the scenes with Mather (he cried and screamed all the time as well as running rampant making messes and destroying things while leaving disorder in his wake). I was surprised the embassy had not shipped the husbands back to the states based on their wives’ behavior. I give The Confusion of Languages 1 out of 5 stars. We can see how an individual’s make judgements about people that can cloud a situation or relationship. You do not know what goes on in someone else’s life. They suffer from insecurities and doubts too. The book does contain an extreme amount foul language. The Confusion of Languages shows the importance of behaving or following the rules when we are in other countries (especially in the Middle East). We may not like or understand the laws or regulations, but not following them can harm innocent people. The Confusion of Languages was not a pleasant book to read (at least for me).

A very well written book. I enjoyed the plot and the characters. A new to me author and I enjoyed the writing style.

A story about two unrelated women married to military service men stationed in Amman, Jordan. Cassie is the sponsor for newly arrived Margaret and her son and becomes embroiled in Margaret's life as she scoffs at safety rules that expats are warned to follow, and sets off to see the sites and make friends with Jordanians.

The author is a gifted storyteller and is familiar with life as an expat. She gives readers a good understanding of what life is like for American expats living in the Middle East and what the American Embassy does to help protect American citizens. I enjoyed reading her take on the Jordanian people and Muslim customs and traditions; things I also observed while living in Cairo, Egypt.

This is a well written and informational novel that kept me wondering until the very end. I also appreciated the author's epilogue, which wrapped up the story nicely.

This book starts right into the story. I read was reading on my Kindle and was concerned that I had missed pages or the download didn't start from the beginning. I continued reading and the book started to come together for me after the first couple of chapters.

The story is based in Amman, the capital city of Jordan, and is centered around two wives of United States embassy employees. One woman is seasoned at living in Jordan and all the cultural difference from the US (Cassie) and the second woman is a brand new wife, mother and traveler (Margaret). The book weaves between their lives in Jordan and Margaret's life before marriage. The book has a bit of a single, white female feel to it. I was never quite sure if the friendship Cassie tries to cultivate with Margaret is harmless or if she has hidden motives.

Margaret arrives in Amman with her husband shortly after they are married and her mother has passed away. She has a toddler who is a bit out of hand and she seems desperate for others to like her. A quote that stood our for me and seemed to set the mood of the book was "But I know that sometimes the most unpleasant things are necessary. Love must sometimes wear a frightening face." We quickly learn that Margaret wanted out of her current life and attaching herself to her husband was an easy way to accomplish that. "I banked on his marrying me and he did. I expected him to be a better person than he was, he expected that same of me. Both of us swindlers."

Cassie is quick to offer help to Margaret (whether she wanted it or not). She smothers her with advice on how she should act, dress and get groceries. She seems to have good intentions and be lonely so her actions come off as completely over the top. She is frightened of most things and quick to react. At one point a teenage boy outside her apartment frightens her and she calls the embassy, which turns out to mean she summoned the Marines! This over reaction causes strife for her husband and doesn't seem to be the first time she has done this. "You called the United States Marines, who are the quick-reaction force at the United States embassy in Amman, Jordan. Do you not realize what you bring down on my head every time you do this?"

Cassie's over reaction are causing fissures in her marriage and it's hard for her to see Margaret and her husband together in what seems to be a happy marriage. But with this book it is hard to tell if that is true or a picture that is being painted for the outside world. At a barbecue that Cassie and her husband have for Margaret and her spouse they all drink too much and Margaret's husband hits on Cassie, which is odd because he has also made derogatory comments about her through out the book. It seemed that he felt like hitting on her (he knew her marriage was crumbling) would allow him to call on her so he could keep tabs on his wife while he had to travel. "'Sometimes you end up with the wrong woman,' he said into my ear. I head my breath. What did I want to happen next? Did I want to cross that line, did I want to snap my marriage in half? I had a split second to make a decision that could change everything."

This book is similar to a Liane Moriarty novel. It twists and turns with something new around each bend. I was never quite sure which direction the book was going to take and found the book un-put-downable by the end. After Margaret has gone off into the night leaving Cassie to watch her small son I wasn't sure if she was having an affair, leaving the country or simply out for a drive. Cassie was convinced the entire time that Margaret was headed for disaster, but I couldn't tell if that was true or her over reacting. "And, though it is terrible to even think right now with Margaret out in the night doing God knows what, I've been waiting for something like this to happen. I warned her. You play with the bull, you get the horns."

Really enjoyed this book which was a welcome change from what I have been reading lately. It drew me right in. I liked the alternating use of the journal and the present to move the story along and to present the story from both points of view. Excellent book. Will be recommitted this to many!

There are roughly 56 million expats living all over the world today. Living as an expat is no easy thing as we read in Siobhan Fallon's new novel, The Confusion of Languages. Margaret and Cassie are expat dependents who traveled with their husbands, embassy staff (military) in Amman, Jordan. Cassie has been in Jordan for some time. Margaret with her husband, Crick, and their baby, Mather are new arrivals. Cassie has been asked to 'sponsor' the newcomers so she and her husband, Dan, are there to greet them at the airport, show them their apartment, fill their fridge with some needfuls, and generally, be helpful.

Anyone who has lived in a country apart from their own knows that there is much to be learned at the beginning. The tip of the cultural iceberg requires the newbie to recognize and respect various aspects of culture such as food, mannerisms, greetings, music and perhaps, a level of modesty in dress that is different. Even though the tip of the iceberg is just that...only what is observable, often expats have difficulty in accepting the superficial behaviors. Not speaking to everyone, or not making eye contact (some non-western expats have difficulty making eye contact in conversation) are really only the little things that acclimation requires. The real struggle will always be there, below the water level of the iceberg, where core beliefs define people's actions and reactions: good vs bad, right vs wrong, acceptable vs unacceptable and most importantly, desirable vs undesirable.

Cassie has the tip of the iceberg cultural mores down and tries hard to help Margaret adjust as quickly as possible. Cassie tries to rein in Margaret's desire to see, do, and touch everything that is Jordanian. She has waited so long to experience the world after spending her life caring for her mother who was ill for many years with Lupus. Margaret is more than ready to spread her wings and make up for lost time. Cassie takes her role as sponsor seriously working to shelter Margaret and especially the baby, Mather, from taking a wrong step or getting sick or hurt in any way.

The obstacles in the novel for Margaret and Cassie begin early and even though this novel is played out in a short period of time, the misunderstandings and deeply buried insecurities play havoc in the narrative and with the characters. Expat wisdom is that if a marriage is strained at all, living in another country/culture will strain it to a breaking point. The spouse who is not the primary, with a job, suffers a great deal. Margaret has a purpose, the care of her baby son. Cassie and Dan have been unsuccessful in conceiving a child. Margaret doesn't have what she wants in life and doesn't seem all that happy to still be an expat living in Jordan. The waters below that tip of the iceberg make for a treacherous story between the two women. SF has written a well known story with sensitivity, understanding, and compassion.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons (June 27th 2017).

Available June 27th: The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon

****5/5 stars- loved it and stayed up all night reading literary fiction

An intimate look into the lives of two very different American women living abroad amid the Arab Spring, with shattering consequences.

Recommended readers:

If you like suspenseful literary fiction,
if you are interested in the expat experience in the Middle East,
and if You Know When the Men Are Gone got under your skin, this one is for you.

Here’s my Rankings:
5/5 for characters
5/5 for plot
5/5 overall

REVIEW FROM BOOKS FOR HER
Siobhan Fallon’s first novel, follow-up to her brilliant short story collection You Know When the Men are Gone, is foremost about troubled relationships: between two cultures, among and between two couples, and between two vastly different women thrown together by their circumstances as army wives abroad in the Middle East amid the Arab Spring (triple threat.) An army wife herself, Fallon clearly understands well the extreme and unlikely relationships founded out of necessity. In fact, the magic of Fallon’s writing here is to confront you with two generally unlikeable characters who don’t even appear to like each other, and then make you care desperately about what happens to them– in literary fiction.

Margaret Brickshaw, a pert and pretty mother eager to discover new cultures, and Cassie Hugo, upright and barren, are as different as night and day, but forge a cautious connection over the one thing they have in common: being far outside their comfort zone. But while Margaret seeks to learn and embrace, often at the expense of local custom, Cassie strives to separate and judge and do things the Right Way. When Margaret disappears for hours after the ubiquitous minor Middle Eastern car accident, Cassie finds her diary, forcing her to confront the truth of their relationship, the height of Margaret’s fall from grace, and her own role in the whole affair. Here are two ways to be an expat, Fallon seems to tell us; don’t be either. The longer Margaret is away, the more you learn about both women, the higher the tension builds, the more desperate you become to discover what happens next. Fallon is moving you toward something with apparent skill and increasing speed, but what?

You’ll have to find out for yourself.

This is a really poignant look at the lives of military wives, especially those living in the Middle East. I wondered why the US Embassy did or does not require screening (medical and psychological) for fitness living in such dangerous areas. They probably do and perhaps the author used these two women as examples of how the personalities of the wives can differ in how they cope.

I was instantly engaged with this novel about a veteran Army wife living in Jordan who mentors a younger Army wife just arriving in Jordan. As an Army brat, I could relate to some of the situations, but the novel is deeper than that. The older woman has been struggling with infertility and a distancing from her husband while the younger wife seems to have it all with a toddler and an attractive, virile husband. All is not as it seems...as it rarely is...and Siobhan Fallon kept me flipping pages. At one point, Margaret, the younger wife, asks her mentor, Cassie, "Was it you" who told? The author keeps us on the string wondering what was told and what the consequences will be. I had a hard time putting this one down.

Margaret and Cassie are two Army wives, living in Jordan while their husbands work at the American Embassy there. One day they are in a minor car accident and Margaret goes to the police station to settle the matter and pay the "guilt tax". She leaves her infant son with Cassie, promising to be back soon.

As the hours pass, and Cassie becomes worried about Margaret, she finds a journal in her friend's bedroom and starts reading it. She soon realizes that she doesn't know Margaret as well as she thinks she does.

Margaret and Cassie have completely opposite personalities and the book explores their differences as it chronicles their friendship through Margaret's diary entries and Cassie's narration. The author has a way of portraying each character's flaws in a way that makes you empathize with them, even if you are shaking your head in disbelief at their actions.

This book has been on my radar for a while, but for some reason I was hesitant to read it. I'm usually not into books that explore relationships; I like more of an action driven plot. However, I was really glad I read this, as it was a fast paced, really interesting read. Another good one to pack in your beach bag this summer!