Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all well! Today I’m posting my review of Lelia Aboulela’s novel, Bird Summons.

Bird Summons by: Lelia Aboulela: On a trip of self-discovery, three women, Salma, Moni and Iman, take a road trip to the Scottish Highlands to visit the grave of Lady Evelyn, a Muslim, Scottish woman they all look up to. Leaving behind all responsibility and obligations, each want something more out of life, but don’t know how to go about seeking it. On their way there each of them are visited by the Hoopoe, a sacred bird from the Muslim and Celtic folklore. It’s there where they start to really question their hopes, dreams, and the life they truly want. What started off with a lot of potential with an enticing premise, slowly went downhill for this reader as this novel took a trip down the magical realism road. This reader isn’t a fan of magical realism; they dabble in it every so often, but it’s not for them, and this felt like it came a bit out of nowhere. There were signs leading up to it, especially with Moni’s character and seeing the young boy, but wow did it ever peak as we entered the second half of the novel; pretty much the second half was just magical realism, literary fiction took a back seat. That aside though, this novel did touch on a lot of great points that let the reader sit on; it looked at the meaning of family, the meaning of being a wife, and a mother through the lens of three Muslim women. It was really interesting to read and reflect on, even not being part of that religion because they were topics that felt very universal. The plot was good, it was so touching to see these three women who were all similar, yet all faced different struggles come together for one goal. The way that Aboulela wrote was so captivating and inviting that the reader had a hard time putting the novel down because they wanted to know what would happen next. Unfortunately, the writing got to be a bit much by the end, and it felt like wadding through soup to try and figure out what was happening, but the first half was really well done. The characters were what really made this story. They were uniquely created and developed so well over the course of this short book. Each one felt like they had some sort of hurdle they needed to overcome, and it felt so true to real life how they each started to open up and realize what they saw in each other and what they saw in themselves might not be the whole truth. It was honest and raw and the way they slowly built up to opening up with one another and saying how they really felt, was so good to read and was amazing character development and growth. In the end, this reader didn’t hate this, far from it, there was a lot to love, but the way this ended just didn’t work for this reader.