[Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the digitial ARC. Late review based of notes from my reading journal.]

4 stars. The cover is stunning and I enjoy displaying it on my shelf. What I enjoyed the most about this book is its attention to factual detail and coverage of Jordan's culture and history. Plenty of political intrigue and government corruption is brought to light in this novel, and it tackles a variety of topics such as the hardships inherent to displacement and the question of personal, ethnic and social identity that emerges when a person has a foot in two or more different countries and cultures. But the historical and political facts are delivered in a fairly dry manner -- something hard to avoid -- and I can see that being a difficult hurdle for some readers to overcome in order to make it further in the book. It's not helped by the amount of perspectives and the non-linear timeline from which the story is told, which can make the narrative come across as confusing and unsure of what and where it wants to be, if that makes sense. I'd still recommend any interested readers to pick it up at their local library to get a feel about whether they would like to add this book to their shelves.

I DNF’d this book about 25% of the way in. I thought it had potential; the concept was interesting and I like when authors include real historical figures in historical fiction. I also appreciate the combination of the author’s inspiration from her own family history and the vast amount of research she must have done. However, this book could have used a better editor. There were too many characters’ perspectives that we were jumping around among. If she had just stuck with two or three, I probably would have finished this book and enjoyed it.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a different book, was a good read but it was harder to read all in one go for me

I was really looking to forward to this book. However, I struggled with this novel. This novel is told from multiple perspectives and switches back and forth from different timelines. I would have found it more enjoyable had it focused on one narrator and in one timeline. Still, I recommend this for for fans of Equal to the Sun!

Its 1995, and Amani Hamden, a Palestinian-American is at loose ends. Discovering a fragment of her Palestinian grandmother’s writing she convinces her father to return to his homeland of Jordan for the birthday celebration of King Hussein 1. After all, her father had been the favorite fencing partner of the king when they were young. It’s her grandmother’s writing that attracts Amani. She wants to know more about this woman. Her uncle, Hafez, is self-centered and he’s active in the autocratic policies to modernize Jordan. Although the story is Amani’s the other characters, and their stories add much to the book and help the reader see what Jordan is like from the Bedouins to the wealthy friends of the king. The reader will find the ending satisfying. I enjoyed the audio version

Very good story about a group that isn't written about much in the United States. Both an immigrant story, a story about finding your own identity and decisions about whether to stay and follow the rules of society that are thrust upon you or decide to go it alone in another country. Can you ever leave your past and heritage behind? Can those who stay ever be independent? I think the portion of the story regarding inheritance and family order was the most compelling. I thought the romantic piece was not as well developed.

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Fencing with the King by Diana Abu-Jaber tells of an American woman visiting, and discovering things about, her prominent Jordanian family in preparations for the King’s birthday celebration. Ms. Abu-Jabar is an award-winning author and writer living on Florida and Oregon.

Amani is joining her father to celebrate the King of Jordan’s 60th birthday. Her father, Gabe, fenced with the King and is invited for a demonstration.

A published poet herself, Amani finds a poem her grandmother, a Palestinian refugee from the Ottoman Empire, wrote. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she discovers family secrets which have been tucked away for decades.

This book has a lot going for it, good writing, cultural appreciation of Jordan (politically and familial), a bit of history, as well as a good story. I have to admit that I didn’t see where this book was going, until the last quarter, which is always nice.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Fencing with the King by Diana Abu-Jaber is because both the culture, as well as the real-life figures which are hinted at, are familiar to me. I’ve lived in Israel so the food, people, attitude, and certainly the political climate are not a foreign concept.

Every once in a while, I got confused with the whose who in Amani’s family. It’s a large cast, with cousins galore and I found myself trying to figure out what’s the relations. However, many times it really didn’t matter.

I enjoyed reading about life in Jordan, the country always fascinated me with its culture and history. From legends about Petra, stories of people who knew King Hussein, as well as Jordanians I’ve met, they all sounded fascinating.

The class structure was another unexpected aspect of the book. It seemed to me that the protagonist, Amani who is an enlightened woman, got very comfortable with the concept that some are more equal than others. On one hand, I can see how easy a trap it would be to fall into, on the other however, it seemed to me to be out of character and a bit too convenient.

The story is carefully constructed, and the characters are real and complex. Ms. Abu-Jaber beautifully navigated between Amani’s personal journey, and her family’s mystery which she seems bent on resolving.

This book grabbed my interest from the first page, I loved the characters, the family dynamics, and the exploration of important issues like gender and culture. I didn’t want this story to end, and it bodes well for a sequel. Beautifully written and engaging.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really loved this one. It took me a bit to get into, but once I was into it I couldn’t put it down.

This is a cross between a nuanced portrayal of a quickly Westernizing country at a specific time in history and a family mystery. I so appreciated the layers given to each issue, and the conflicts of expats and refugees, Jordanian traditionalists vs modernity, national pride vs ethical and economic desires.

Highly recommend for anyone curious about the history of Jordan and Palestine throughout the 20th century.

I requested Fencing With the King as background reading for a First Impressions Program booked by marketing. It scored a solid 4.3 stars and is currently being promoted across most BookBrowse pages and in newsletters.

You can see the reviews at
https://www.bookbrowse.com/arc/arc_reviews/detail/index.cfm/arc_number/957/fencing-with-the-king

I read Abu-Jaber's Crescent years ago, and I was excited when her latest came out. In this novel, Amani and her father Gabe travel to Jordan - Amani to connect with her heritage and find out more about her grandmother, and Gabe to do his brother a favor by fencing with the King (an old sparring partner) at the king's 60th birthday dinner. Amani's search for information becomes complicated by family secrets, and this is the real core of the novel. Hers is a search for family connections and love, while other family members want to bury the past to further their own interests and cover up treachery.

On the whole, this is a well written and enjoyable novel about finding home and family trauma, and I was particularly absorbed by the storyline in the last third. One off note for me was a character meant to be psychologically complex and villainous but instead seemed cartoonish. Otherwise, the language is poetic, and the novel is rooted in history, especially the two Arab revolts and the peace negotiations of 1995. Wrapped up in Amani's search for connection is the legacy of Palestinian refugees whose past has disappeared, making them feel permanently rootless.

When I was first approved for this ARC, I felt pure excitement! There was something about the description of the title that piqued my interest, and I tried to hold off on reading Fencing with the King too far in advance of its release.

So why am I writing this review the day before the release date? The sudden and unexpected passing of my father. For weeks, I couldn’t pick anything up and read. When I did, I DNF’d it. Book after book was donated, returned to the library, or given away because I just didn’t find an escape or any joy in reading. My father was a great reader. I thought that reading one of his books might bring me comfort, but it didn’t. Once things settled down a bit, after I’d returned to work, I returned to reading, and the book that helped me refocus my reading efforts was Diana Abu-Jaber’s novel, Fencing with the King.

Abu-Jaber’s story, at times, felt a little unfocused, just like me. But I didn’t mind being taken on a winding journey pf self discovery. I loved the descriptions of the setting, which always get me since I lived in the Gulf for a few years. I also loved the journey that Amani takes as she attempts to understand her identity, heritage, and history by returning to Jordan. These two aspects of the novel are set during against a story of mystery, family and political drama, trauma from displacement (Amani’s grandmother is from Palestine, and the family flees to Jordan), and romance.

What I personally found most interesting and engaging was Amani’s road to self-discovery, and the ways in which she embraces her family members, taking risks and learning about what she’s capable of achieving.
I’ve read criticism that this novel reads more like literary fiction. I would argue it’s more historical fiction. However we classify the story, it was engrossing and helped take me out of my reading slump.

Many thanks to Abu-Jaber for bringing me back to a place in the world that I love and miss dearly.
Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for allowing me to read an ARC of Diana Abu-Jaber’s new novel, Fencing with the King.

31-yr old Jordanian-American poet Amani accompanies her father from upstate NY to Amman for an epic royal tour of the fatherland, arranged by his controlling elder brother Hafez Munif Hamdan, senior advisor to Jordan's King Abdullah. Romance and family intrigue ensues.

Amani is emotionally bruised from her recent drunken divorce and humiliating university job loss, so is thrilled but cautious at meeting a dashing fencing instructor who is also of mixed race. I like the way this story addresses multiculturalism from so many varying cultures, degrees and perspectives, westernised vs Old World, urban vs rural, etc. The descriptions of Jordan's landscapes from Wadi Rum to Petra were gorgeous and truly transportive; I was there five years ago and author Abu-Jaber does a beautiful job capturing the essence of Jordan's cities and world heritage sites alike. Aside from race and family dynamics, there are many subplots here involving family secrets going back generations, ancient middle-eastern politics, and an ancient family heirloom knife called Il Saif. Though perhaps not necessarily related to the plot, I winced at a lot of chauvinistic Middle-Eastern male to female dialog and the release of 6,000 balloons for a king's un-eco-friendly birthday.

Diana Abu-Jaber’s author note at the beginning of Fencing with the King creates immediate interest and gives a personal context to the socio-political nature of the story that follows. Even though it bounces around between perspectives, times, and places, the transitions are for the most part smooth and logical, feeling more like an omniscient narrator than a constructed artifice.

The plot line is engaging, but it is the characters who shine. Family relationships are masterfully, gradually uncovered, and we become more and more vested as the story unfolds. A reader can feel the opportunity for a sequel, and I, for one, will be happy to see it.

Thank you to Diana Abu-Jaber, W.W. Norton & Co, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review

This story really grew on me as I read, and while I had a little bit of trouble getting into it in the early pages, by the end I was riveted. I think this books strength lies in its characters, detailed setting, and the family mystery that we come to understand the truth of. I was particularly impressed by the depiction of Hafez as a character. I haven't read any other books set in Jordan so I was excited to get the opportunity to read about a place and time that I haven't before. The writing was solid throughout, occasionally exceptional, especially during Amani's wandering-through-the-desert section. And I as a reader really enjoyed seeing her choose to stay in Jordan and build a life there. Unfortunately I'm not sure this particular subject would get a lot of demand at my library, but I'd be more than willing to purchase the title if my patrons show interest. I personally enjoyed it quite a bit.

This was a heartfelt and beautiful family saga. First I want to say I really loved the opening of the book and the overall writing style. I will definitely pick up anything this author writes. Next, the structure of the story and how we got several family member's POVs is a structure that always works for me. All of the characters felt so full and fleshed out. My only complaint is that I wanted more emphasis on the poem and the main character's investigation into the grandmother who was unknown to her. While we did get some of this, because I am a poet and lover of poetry, I really love stories that focus on the importance and impact of poetry, and I was expecting that to be more of the story. That said, I definitely recommend this story for lovers of literary fiction and family-focused stories.

Fencing with the King is about a family returning to Jordan for the king's birthday celebration. While there, family secrets are unraveled.

I really struggled with this book. It switches between time periods and I found it difficult to keep straight. I didn't care about any of the characters and I still don't really know what the plot was after finishing. This book definitely felt more like literary fiction than anything else, which wasn't really what I was expecting. I ended up skimming a lot of the second half of the book because I felt like nothing was happening. I didn't stop skimming because nothing happened that made me want to stop. However, these slower-paced family intrigue books aren't typically my cup of tea, so it might just be me.

I enjoyed reading about Jordan and themes including displacement, rediscovery, and loss. Overall, this book wasn't for me, but if you are into slow burn character focused stories, I'd give this a read. Two stars from me. Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.

We follow Amani, a poet, back to her homeland, Jordan. With well-developed characters and an engrossing setting, Fencing With The King explores themes like gender, culture, heritage, and storytelling. The slow pace of the book allowed Abu-Jaber to deeply develop the plot and characters, while keeping me reading with unwavering attention. Definitely one to recommend.

I found this one to be a tad disappointing.
A 30ish would-be poet returns with her father to Jordan to participate in the King's 60th birthday. She's going through a mid-life crisis and wants to find more about her family's history. The smile-in-your-face but evil uncle tries to prevent her while hiding his own dark past.
Some of the bits about modern Jordan is interesting, the story did improve gradually but overall the dark secret really wasn't any surprise. The biggest surprise was the poet's father could still fence even after 40 years since his last bout.

I enjoyed the look into the culture and recent history of Jordan. I did feel like the family mystery element of the story fell flat.