Replenishing the Sea of Galilee by Wagih Abu-Rish is a captivating novel that will resonate with readers who appreciate sweeping family sagas, cultural fiction, and historical fiction, particularly those who are drawn to stories that explore the complexities of love, loyalty, and identity in the face of conflict and cultural differences.

An excellent story of similarities and differences between families and communities. It's sad to think of the pain and suffering brought on by these prejudices that no one could see past.

I want to thank Netgalley for an advance read copy of this book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The book started out rocky for me. I am not a fan of the author's writing style. Reading his background at the end, I can better understand my thoughts and how the aligned with his journalistic background. I felt the story started out very stunted, robotic and two dimensional. In time I got more involved in the story but I will say his journalism background comes out more so than your typical prosaic novelist.

I did have some issues with the history part - one character goes to correspondence school and then the University of London from 1941-1944. That really sticks with me as historically something that is hard to swallow. Was the school still operating during those years? If so, why would a parent send his daughter there where the war was raging and food was scarce. etc? How did she get there? Traveling from Palestine to London at that time had to be next to impossible. Again, reading his profile things make more sense to me and you can see where his expertise comes into play in the rest of the book and how the above point wasn't part of the expert knowledge.

For my friends who like a good romance, while this once has a lot of romance in it, writing about it is not one of the authors stronger areas.

Overall I give it 3 stars as the story piqued my interest and I appreciated the work that went into this story.

I was skeptical when I saw that a multi-generational family story wasn't very long, and unfortunately, I can tell why after reading Replenishing the Sea of Galilee because there really aren't that many generations involved. That's fine, but I wish there had been more care taken with the characters in the family that we do get, but it felt like they were a bit underdeveloped. However, I did enjoy parts of the book and I look forward to reading something else from Wagih Abu-Rish in the future to see if the next work is more my taste.

I'm always excited to read books by Middle Eastern authors, seeing as there isn't a great amount of (good) representation out there for us. This book is moving, thought-provoking, and sometimes uncomfortable, but what is good literature if it doesn't make us think? I would note that this book does contain a lot of mature content and themes, so I would only recommend it to adult readers. Perhaps not my favorite book ever, but it was still a captivating story with interesting characters. However, I will note that some parts were a bit unrealistic, but that might be because I am actually from Beirut, Lebanon. Worth checking out though.

This book did not sit well with me. A lot of unnecessary sex scenes, including one with a priest and someone being asked to watch. With political tensions in the Middle East being what they are, I was hoping for an uplifting book with themes of reconciliation and mutual understanding and this was not it. I couldn't tell where fact met fiction and opinion.

An engaging premise that unfortunately missed the mark for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC, this definetly was not the kind of book I normally read but once I sat down and started it I really liked it. The first part is a little startling but I am glad I finished it. Family, faith, love. It was really interesting to read about some of the different customs and how those customs played into everything. Really enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

Summary:
A Boundless Tale of Love

Replenishing the Sea of Galilee is a sweeping story of love, loss and the power of loyalty in the face of conflicting ideologies and religious beliefs. The story begins in 1940s Palestine where twins Rasheed and Rasheeda Dinar work in their family inns. Educated by a Jesuit priest about the essence of his own Muslim religion, relative to love and sex, Rasheed follows closely the teachings of his mentor and includes Rasheeda, so that she learns those teachings as well.

When Rasheed falls in love with Natalia, a Jewish woman, he is able to apply what he learned from the priest to his budding relationship. However, it is the 1940s, and relations between Arabs and Jews are tense. Before long, those tensions come to a breaking point. Natalia mysteriously disappears, and Rasheed and Rasheeda are chased out of Palestine to Beirut, Lebanon.

Years pass, and though Rasheed continues to miss his beloved Natalia, he gets word of a surprising visitor—someone he didn’t even know existed. Rasheed’s life is upended, but in the most wonderful way.

As the Dinar family expands and enters the 1970s, their convictions are tested. In a dramatic final scene, the family reunites and proves once again that the thin line separating people because of their differences is powerless against the strength of family, love, and loyalty.


2/5 stars because while the premise is so promising, the delivery was poorly executed. I am curious to know if this is because of losing vital parts in translation or if there is simply too much being attempted in too few pages. I was looking to add this text to my AP Lit curriculum and cannot say that I will at this point.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I don’t think this book was based off of any real people. It seems too unrealistic for the characters to be so progressive given the time period and culture they grew up in. The writing style is geared towards a lower reading level, which is good. I didn’t finish it, since I don’t think I would recommend it for a school or class library.

Could not read, all pages were blank. Requested support who said they would reach out to the distributor and never heard back. Had to rate it so gave it 3 stars as to best balance the average.

The first couple chapters tells the story of a family across 3 generations as they find love across cultures and countries. I thought the beginning of this book was very interesting and the plot seemed like it would be fantastic. I loved reading about Kareem and Amina, as well as Rasheed, Natalia, Rasheeda, and David. Unfortunately after Chapter 11 the book fell flat for me and I became very uninterested in the direction the plot went in. The characters were hard to connect with and invest in as a reader. I wish there was more to Rasheeda and David's story in the book because I found them to be really cute. I can understand that the book focused on Rasheed and Omar but I think it would have been cool to see how Rasheeda adjusted to living in London. The story follows twins, Rasheed and Rasheeda Dinar. Set in Palestine during the 1940’s (and through the 1970’s), we follow their stories of loss, relationship hardship and the power of familial bonds and love. Rasheed, a Muslim, falls in love with a Jewish woman named Natalia. Over time, their religious differences get the better of them. Natalia disappears under weird circumstances. The twins are chased out of Palestine and land in Beirut, Lebanon. it’s a whirlwind from here on out! I think this is a timely and appropriate story for the love of differences between people. It teaches the importance of looking past your differences with others and instead focusing on our similarities. Proves that with mutual love and understanding.. anything is possible.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Greenleaf.

Replenishing the Sea of Galilee was a very disappointing read. I am still confused as to what the book is all about. The novel's premise really sounded interesting when I received an advanced review copy of this book but just after few pages I was scratching my head figuring out on what I was reading. I just could not connect to the characters or their emotions. The novel is about Rasheed and Rasheeda but Rasheeda practically disappears after her wedding.
The editing of this novel is poor and there are lot of gaps in the story. The whole novel is about love but I felt the only aspect the novel actually focused was on sex and foreplay. The scenes are bizarre and were unnecessary. Characters keep popping up from nowhere without context and no back story provided. As I said earlier I am still figuring out as to what I read. I did not want to finish this novel but somehow did to just see where this novel was heading to. I love to read books and stories about diverse places and ethnicities but sadly this book did not deliver it.

Replenishing the Sea of Galilee: A Family Saga across Ethnicity, Place, and Religion: A Novel by Wagih Abu-Rush was eye-opening! The information about the various religions, cultures, and political views was interesting. The overall story was worth reading. The book is definitely for a mature audience due to the graphic sexual content.

Thank you to Netgalley for a review copy of this book.

This is a book that spans three generations of a family from Palestine. It covers many interesting aspects of religion, politics, ethnicity and places around the world. At first glance, this sounds like a very interesting read that would draw the reader into a family saga that would be unforgettable.

I will say that I can appreciate that there are not very many books that I know of that cover these topics. So it was at first interesting. However, it was not a very well written book. I felt like we were given many small recaps of snippets in life. It did not flow very well. I also had a really hard time connecting with the characters. They all seemed the same generation after generation. While the women were all from different places and religions, they all felt the same as well.
There was a very disturbing and strange exchange where a priest educated his student on sex and love making. It was not necessary and yet it was a thread that was woven throughout the entire book. It was passed on from one generation to the next.
The one part of the book that I liked and it seemed like it would have been a great opportunity to expand upon even more. The title comes into play while one of the first characters and his love interest are mourning significant losses in their lives and they go to the see and let their tears replenish the sea. It was very sweet and beautiful.

Overall, I wanted to like it so much more but it was very boring and during the middle of the book we were bogged down in political strife which was important to the novel but very boring to read about.

I think there could be a lot of interesting discussion around this book so I encourage you to read it if you think it would be of interest.

DNF :(

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book. From the description it sounded like it would be a very interesting story and I was excited to read it. In full disclosure I was not able to finish this book. The writing was stilted and did not flow well. Also the sex scenes seemed gratuitous and did not contribute to the story as written. Overall I gave up halfway through as it was just too awkward to continue reading.

I really wanted to like “Replenishing the Sea of Galilee” by Wagih Abu-Rish. I had not heard of the author but the premise of the story sounded promising. It was hard to get into, the characters weren't overly interesting. I am the type of person who finds it hard to not finish a book - but there where times I felt like I should make this a "did not finish." I appreciate being able to read this novel as an ARC through netgallery but not a book id be quick to recommend

I really wanted to like “Replenishing the Sea of Galilee” by Wagih Abu-Rish. This was my first time reading anything written by this author, and I was hoping to discover a new writer to add to my list of favorites. Unfortunately, by the middle of the book, I had lost any interest in the characters or their story, although I did force myself to finish the novel. Mostly I kept thinking it would get better, which meant I could write a much stronger endorsement of this novel. The characters have a lot of potential, but fail to live up to that potential. This novel should have been much longer to more fully develop their stories. Abu-Rish tries to do too much. The characters are superficially developed. The author describes their lives, but for the reader there is no sense of their real stories. Show the reader; don't tell the reader. For instance, the action covers three generations of a family, but none of the characters are memorable. This novel is set during a time of significant cultural and historical change in the Middle East, but far too much of the text is devoted to romance and how to have sex properly. Over and over again. It just became too repetitious.
I am appreciative of the author, publisher, and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC. I hope that the next novel by this author will be a stronger, more effective effort.

Replenishing the Sea of Galilee was a very interesting story of both culture and religion. This novel follows the story of twins Rasheed and Rasheeda. Rasheed falls in love with someone outside of his religion and one day just disappears. We follow this family from country to country throughout many decades. The role of women plays an important part in the story and how our differences is what really pulls us together.

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This book addresses the long, violent struggle among various groups living in the Middle East. This is a personal history focusing on several individuals attempting to cope with their lives as events swirl out of control around them. Readers who enjoy reading historical accounts interspersed with turbulence will appreciate this book.