Book Review: Love from Mecca to Medina by S.K.Ali

Love from Mecca to Medina by S.K.Ali is a very diverse book both in terms of topics as of characters. More by accident than as the result of their own planning, Zeynab and Adam, a couple living separate lives in Doha, respectively USA, do embark on umrah, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, discovering new depths of their spiritual journey and relationship.

I haven´t read too many YA novels with a Muslim character feature, therefore I am not yet able to evaluate the accuracy of the representation. However, it´s clear to even the less informed reader the complexities of the identity which happily avoids any cartoonish outlook - both of positive and negative nature. Instead, the characters do have personal histories and approaches to faith, both as living in the USA or in a Muslim country, like Qatar or Saudi Arabia. 

There are many reasons I always appreciate writers familiar with the cultural and religious context of the subjects they are approaching, one being that there are many fine details and natural aspects that may escape to someone who got informed about it through lectures or second hand sources of information. Thus gives to the story and the characters altogether a natural consistency. Adam and Zeynab, for instance, are so natural in their expression of love, developing the thoughts and intimacies of the married couple, that some outsider may avoid to mention by fear of being ´inappropriate´. 

Another unique detail of the book is the introduction of a main character - Adam - who suffers of MS. I don´t remember any other book having such a protagonist and this adds an extra layer of diversity featured in the book. 

But there are many other instances that spin the story in so many directions: long distance relationships, young Muslims identity and the diverse take on present approaches, social struggle, converts to Islam, white supremacy and far right in the campus, antisemitism, a Jewish character Ava. There is even a cat who is having an important script into the story. This diversity is both a blessing and a curse and it may distract somehow the attention, or confuse as to the place of the information within the bigger story. 

Love from Mecca to Medina is a complex, well built story and that may appeal to readers interested in diverse, muti-cultural topics. Although there are too many directions that may affect the inner balance of the story, nevertheless it does has its own dynamics and plot that keeps the readers curious and interested.

Rating: 3.5 stars

 

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