The Beautiful West and The Beloved of God

This ambitious and thought-provoking novel challenges the reader to pay attention to the rising tide of Islamophobia in the West. The author found himself shocked at the widespread obfuscation and propaganda surrounding The War on Terror plus the often totally unjustified suspicion of Muslims which makes the authorities all too quick to jump to conclusions about culpability. Set in Montreal in 2008, the story focusses on 3 sets of characters – an Arab Muslim immigrant family, in particular Mahfouz, a secular Muslim whose home is Canada and who has nothing to do with radicalized circles; a well-to-do Jewish couple, one of whom is a Zionist and the other not; and finally Elena, an atheist young single mother who becomes close to Mahfouz. It is obvious that with such a polarised group of people there is going to be much discussion of politics and religion, and this is indeed the case. But the story really gets going when Mahfouz goes to Egypt on a business trip. The consequences of this are drastic and far-reaching, and ultimately extremely shocking.
As a novel, the book is relatively successful. It humanizes the headlines we read so often about Muslim terrorists, and exposes the lies and hypocrisy and discrimination that are so evident in East-West relations. The author is obviously working out his ideas through his characters, which can at times make the reader feel he or she is reading a political tract rather than a narrative. But on the whole that narrative is strong enough to carry the ideas. The central love story is convincing, as is the helplessness and powerlessness faced by everyone when there is a miscarriage of justice. All in all this is an unusual and important look at our current obsession with, and fear of, Muslims, and an eye-opening portrait of how prejudice can lead to intolerance and injustice. Well worth reading.

the longer i read on in this book the more I saw the issues arising for Elena - from her boyfriend's viewpoint, and his take on the world - problems fitting in from different cultures - it's not a conventional or easy book to fall in love with (just like the people at the centre of the story), but it creeps up on you in a wonderful way - I guess 'seduced.' the relationships among the central group, Sharon, the preternaturally sensitive and creative child, the beautiful Elena, her mom, and her lover which surprises us all - including them - an enterprising transplanted Egyptian running a restaurant with his parents. and when he returns to a chaotic and dangerous Egypt to pursue a business with an enigmatic uncle, events unwind and politics explodes around him - he 'disappears'. The build up to the ending is long and told in a slightly distanced, as the book goes on the political situations begin to take up space in the narrative - and while i appreciate that the author wants to educate the reader, it begins to trip up forward drive. some of the characters are unrealistically naive as well (Elena, the girl friend - their relationship for example almost seems to have been built up to jump into the story of the disappeareds in Egypt - it's a sense of contrivance I feel in the opening sections at time. an admirable novel nevertheless with some really fine moments.