I had no idea what Bird Summons was about, but I loved the cover, and so, I found myself reading a story of three Muslim women who travel through the Scottish Highlands to visit the grave of one of the first English women to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca. I’m so glad I read this!

It was a really interesting read. The author was so descriptive with her characters and the scenery. So many little parables were woven into this book, along with some mystical symbolism but the book honestly kind of lost me during the last few chapters when things suddenly went full on the magical realism. Still, a good read and I am interested to see what else Leila Aboulela has written.

BIRD SUMMONS is a lovely book, particularly on a sentence by sentence level. I really enjoyed the author's writing style. However, this was not ultimately a five-star read for me because the story felt a bit uneven. We have a lot of back and forth between our three main characters and, while I did not have a lot of trouble keeping them apart, some stories were simply stronger than others. The constant back and forth lent an unfortunate choppy feel. Also, the magical realism seemed to come out of nowhere. I would've liked the novel more if the magical realism had been consistently mentioned.

I did enjoy reading these women’s inner thoughts but I found the way the story jumps from character to character within a single chapter to be a bit disorienting. It felt like I was watching a tennis match but with three people and was constantly being lobbed from woman to woman. Sometimes it would be from one character’s perspective for a page or two and sometimes the perspective would only last one paragraph before jumping to the next character.

After reading the Author’s Note at the end, the book made a lot more sense to me. I was not familiar with the Hoopoe and why this bird is so important to Islam. I think that if this section had been either moved to the front or when the Hoopoe first appears it is explained to the reader what the bird is and signifies then what happens later in the book would make more sense.

This book despite being a bit hard to follow was very interesting and allows the reader to peak into the lives over different Muslim women.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3155424258

I could'nt connect with any of the characters. I found them annoying and just meh. I tried really hard to find any sympathy and anything to like the book.

Bird Summons By Leila Aboulela

An intriguing story of three Arab women in Scotland who embark on a journey of sorts to visit the grave of Lady Evelyn Cobbold (The first British woman to perform The Muslim Pilgrimage).
Salma is a headstrong leader, though a qualified doctor from Egypt she ends up working as a masseuse in Scotland leading to growing sense of discontent with the life she’s built for herself.

Iman is a very beautiful young Syrian refugee who has already been widowed once and divorced as well but cannot return to her family in Syria and must make a life for herself all alone in a foreign land.

Moni is of Sudanese heritage, a successful banker before she had Adam, her son born with cerebral palsy.
She becomes his primary caregiver neglecting her marriage and herself unable to find any semblance of a balanced life.

The first half of the story is a nice smooth sailing journey but the second part is where the waters get rough.

What I mean is out of nowhere we have a talking Hoopoe coming to visit Iman in the lodge and narrating stories a la Arabian Nights but the stories are really good and the reader can assume the episodes to be the product of a vivid imagination so all good until the whole story goes full on magical realism that makes the plot feel like a supernatural fantasy which is so not my cup of tea.
The themes of spirituality, introspection and mystic symbolism are strongly represented.
I enjoyed reading the book but would have preferred an alternative ending.

I didn't finish this book. I started it a few times, but kept moving on to something else. I will purchase it anyway. It may have its readers at our library.

Aboulela is an insightful writer who bridges the immigrant Muslim experience, often writing about women coping with the alien culture of Scotland. This new novel treads the same territory, exploring three Muslim women’s differing experiences, while isolating them in a country cottage where weird things happen. Magical events pull each of the women into stressful transformations, supposedly teaching them lessons about how to move forward. However, the peculiar blend of realism and fantasy leaves the story broken-backed, neither fish nor fowl. It’s moralizing tone is also rather leaden. This one won’t be ranking among my favorites by this author.

Bird Summons tells the story of three Muslim women who go on a vacation/pilgrimage to visit the grave of a Scottish woman who converted to Islam. Each of these friends has a full life and issues with which to cope. They form the basis of the novel.

Salma was born in Egypt. She was a physician there but is not able to practice her profession in the U.K. Instead, she is a massage therapist. Salma is married to David, who had converted to Islam before they met. Salma has only self-imposed restrictions in her life. She has recently heard from an old love who is still in Egypt. What decisions will she make?

Moni has a traditional marriage although it is a stressed one. Moni has a son with profound developmental issues who is the focus of her life. Will she move to be with her husband back in the Middle East? What would this mean to her son and her?

Imam, the youngest of these friends, has lived her life on the basis of her beauty. She thinks that she has found a relationship that will sustain her but, unfortunately, her partner does not seem willing to face the lack of acceptance of the relationship from his family. Will she come into her own?

The story centers on these characters both as individuals and in their interactions with each other. The novel is a mix of straightforward narrative and strange tales told by a symbolic bird. What do these bird summons mean to the characters? Read the book to find out.

This novel is a good read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in return for my honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2972388094
Leila Abouleila's novel was kindly provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The book will be printed in November, but is already published in the UK and Canada.
Salma, moni and Iman are three Muslim women, coming from three different Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Sudan, Syria), with a very varied education and background. Some have moved to England for reasons of marriage, others for study and now they are at a turning point in their lives. Salma lives a consolidated marriage and has a devoted husband, but her life as a loving wife and mother no longer satisfies her because of her nostalgia for the past. Moni takes care of her son with cerebral palsy, but she cannot count on the support of her husband, who would like to deny the existence of their son and move on with his life. Finally, Iman is the youngest and the most attractive of the three. She has three marriages behind her and, although she has never been independent, she wants motherhood and domestic happiness.
The three women are united by a journey. Salma, Moni and Iman venture on a journey to Scotland. The trip will provide them with an opportunity to reflect on the anxieties, anxieties and doubts of the phase they are going through in their lives. Their company will allow them to better understand themselves.
The narrative is on the whole very enjoyable. The rhythm is smooth, but gradually it becomes less and less pressing. Although the psychology of the personages is approached in a subtle way, I find that in the end the writer takes us in a rather predictable direction. It's not an ugly book overall, on the contrary. The Muslim religion is described in a multifaceted way and without generalizations, as well as the life of those who are forced to leave their country of birth and even after years finds themselves regretting the place where they were born and raised. The female characters are outlined with delicacy and depth and the image that is given back to us of them is absolutely detailed. Although these are not stereotyped women, the author insists too much on describing some of their personality traits and the reading ends up being redundant. I think that although their introspection is subtle, the parts dedicated to their thoughts are really too repetitive. They slowed down the reading and the rhythm was affected. In the complex it remains a good novel and I am convinced that the author has written and will undoubtedly write other works of value, so I will certainly give her another opportunity. However, it is not an unforgettable reading or one that leaves its mark.

In Aboulela's novel we follow three women - Salma, Moni and Iman.- they are different ages but are all practising Muslims and met in a women's society (unsure if it was connected to the mosque or just a after-work society/social club thing). They set out on a journey to Scotland to visit the burial place of lady Zainab (Evelyn) Cobbold, an Edwardian lady who converted to Islam in the 1930s. The three modern day women, especially Salma, feel connected with lady Cobbold through their shared faith and their shared location.

You feel with these women in different ways. With Salma one could remember the nostalgic feeling of being in love when young when the world is full of opportunity versus the harsher life of an adult with work, family and keeping up with ones religion or personal beliefs With Moni one could recognise the love one has for ones children/family and wanting them to have the best. With Iman one recognise the will to just be loved for who you truly are - faults and all.. They all struggle with personal problems and how to cope with certain feelings against a backdrop of being religious and wanting to follow certain patterns within the Islamic faith. What is right and what is wrong? The reader is taken on a journey through each of the three main characters minds and follow their internal struggles and how each woman resolves their inner fights and demons (in a way).

The language is beautiful, the perfect balance between somewhat comical and melancholy. It feels personal and inviting, but at the same time like we, the readers, are the Hoopoe that changes the pace of the women's lives. I thoroughly enjoyed the magical realism elements within the story and thought it to be a nice metaphor for the problems each character had with their current situation.