Disjointed story line that gets cut off, to be replaced by random, factual and not always accurate information, that does not relate to the original story. Example: Irish lady landlord, an immigrant with terrorists experience from Ireland, (we are told), asks Muhamad (the boyfriend): "Are you an arab?" If you expect answer, then you will be disappointed. Instead you learn of "Polske obiedy" in Chicago which the author, who calls her self "of polish dissent" inaccurately translates into "Polish Dinners" where in fact they accurately translate as "POLISH LUNCHES". Folowed by the 2003 filming of some arab movie, in Chicago because of the cobblestones in the street didn't not look enough Polish, followed by her being told by a taxi driver, that all arabs are Al-Quida (Implied: Terrorists) or fake muslims who are really christians (Implied: Fallen muslims, deserving of the ultimate Islamic punishment: Gruesome DEATH). This is followed by her musings about her own possible mental deficiencies (as a girlfriend of an arab), followed by musings about the mental short-comings of all women who fell in love and married muslims a.e. arabs.
What happened to the dialog of the Irish landlord lady and her boyfriend? It got lost, drowned in unrelated facts, disjointed rambling of undisciplined mind. The message that all, or most Americans are Arab haters, who dont know anything about anything, and should shut up before they embarrass, insult and offend this sizable minority is clear as bell from the first pages. It is a picture perfect of extreme left, Democratic group-think-tank ideology, with heavy dose of misrepresentation of the idea that all arabs are misunderstood, oppressed muslims, and that all muslims are arabs, victims of western (read American) imperialism. Sadly nothing can be farther from the truth. While most arabs are muslims, many are not, and not all muslims are arabs. Arabs often discriminate other ethnic muslims, thinking of them as inferior. And many ethnic regions within the Middle East are neither muslims not christians. And even within the muslim scope there are branches of Islam not recognized by other muslims as legitimate, such as the Yezidis, Zoroastrians.
I write this as a privileged person, an Immigrant to this great nation (USA), I write this as a democrat, asa person married to an Iraqi Kurd for 25 years. As a person who spent anywhere between 2-6months a year in Kurdistan, and have first hand experience how things were AFTER the IRAQ war. The atrocities that Sadam visited on the Kurds before the war, I have been told by survivors, including my husband and his multitude of relatives: I respectfully disagree with the picture this woman paints for the world to see. It is true that the arabs in Baghdad, where she was, were not happy to see Bush. But the south and north region CELEBRATED America, as the LIBERATORS, bringing peace where only fear, repression, secret police and death was before. Until Kurdistan was freed by the Americans my husband would NEVER dream of seeing his family again. The first reunion (after 28 years) was unforgettable! And though all these books say otherwise, ask any Kurd and they will tell you how grateful they are to the USA. Though the average American will never hear that because most journalists are committed to the Leftist-group-think-tank approved agenda and will screen out any such positive news, since it doesn't fit their distorted Ideology.
To summon this book up, it is written by insecure, unskilled, disorganized person with her own far-left agenda to sell to the masses. The story just completely disappears at times, and is replaced by unrelated rambling and SELF-IMAGINED Nonexistent insults, with inaccurate or completely fake facts. As a person with fair amount of knowledge from the region, (and about what happened in Iraq), I feel hurt & insulted. I feel sorry for the unsuspecting American, with little or no knowledge of this subject, who will read this book and come away thinking, what this woman is not so subtly presenting, is the unprejudiced picture of how it all happened. I also feel offended, that every ethnic minority outside of the USA, reading this book will think that all Americans are small minded, hateful nit-whits, un-respectful of minorities, and oppressing everyone they encounter with their western imperialism and white supremacy. Sadly nothing could be further from the truth.
PS. As far as the recipes go, I cant judge how accurate they are as the foods she describes is cooked through out the entire Middle East region. The basic recipes of the dishes are pretty much identical, and then depending on the cultural-ethnic background the recipes lightly differ. (Some ingredients and or spices are added or removed depending on who is cooking it and where). So, since I do not know much about fine points of Lebanese cooking, I cant comment on it. Though I have been told by a Lebanese restaurant owner, with whom I discussed the dishes, that the recipes are not from "her" part of Lebanon, a.e. she did not recognized them or identified them as Lebanese, though she noted that they could be from different part/region of Lebanon.
What happened to the dialog of the Irish landlord lady and her boyfriend? It got lost, drowned in unrelated facts, disjointed rambling of undisciplined mind. The message that all, or most Americans are Arab haters, who dont know anything about anything, and should shut up before they embarrass, insult and offend this sizable minority is clear as bell from the first pages. It is a picture perfect of extreme left, Democratic group-think-tank ideology, with heavy dose of misrepresentation of the idea that all arabs are misunderstood, oppressed muslims, and that all muslims are arabs, victims of western (read American) imperialism. Sadly nothing can be farther from the truth. While most arabs are muslims, many are not, and not all muslims are arabs. Arabs often discriminate other ethnic muslims, thinking of them as inferior. And many ethnic regions within the Middle East are neither muslims not christians. And even within the muslim scope there are branches of Islam not recognized by other muslims as legitimate, such as the Yezidis, Zoroastrians.
I write this as a privileged person, an Immigrant to this great nation (USA), I write this as a democrat, asa person married to an Iraqi Kurd for 25 years. As a person who spent anywhere between 2-6months a year in Kurdistan, and have first hand experience how things were AFTER the IRAQ war. The atrocities that Sadam visited on the Kurds before the war, I have been told by survivors, including my husband and his multitude of relatives: I respectfully disagree with the picture this woman paints for the world to see. It is true that the arabs in Baghdad, where she was, were not happy to see Bush. But the south and north region CELEBRATED America, as the LIBERATORS, bringing peace where only fear, repression, secret police and death was before. Until Kurdistan was freed by the Americans my husband would NEVER dream of seeing his family again. The first reunion (after 28 years) was unforgettable! And though all these books say otherwise, ask any Kurd and they will tell you how grateful they are to the USA. Though the average American will never hear that because most journalists are committed to the Leftist-group-think-tank approved agenda and will screen out any such positive news, since it doesn't fit their distorted Ideology.
To summon this book up, it is written by insecure, unskilled, disorganized person with her own far-left agenda to sell to the masses. The story just completely disappears at times, and is replaced by unrelated rambling and SELF-IMAGINED Nonexistent insults, with inaccurate or completely fake facts. As a person with fair amount of knowledge from the region, (and about what happened in Iraq), I feel hurt & insulted. I feel sorry for the unsuspecting American, with little or no knowledge of this subject, who will read this book and come away thinking, what this woman is not so subtly presenting, is the unprejudiced picture of how it all happened. I also feel offended, that every ethnic minority outside of the USA, reading this book will think that all Americans are small minded, hateful nit-whits, un-respectful of minorities, and oppressing everyone they encounter with their western imperialism and white supremacy. Sadly nothing could be further from the truth.
PS. As far as the recipes go, I cant judge how accurate they are as the foods she describes is cooked through out the entire Middle East region. The basic recipes of the dishes are pretty much identical, and then depending on the cultural-ethnic background the recipes lightly differ. (Some ingredients and or spices are added or removed depending on who is cooking it and where). So, since I do not know much about fine points of Lebanese cooking, I cant comment on it. Though I have been told by a Lebanese restaurant owner, with whom I discussed the dishes, that the recipes are not from "her" part of Lebanon, a.e. she did not recognized them or identified them as Lebanese, though she noted that they could be from different part/region of Lebanon.
