Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Review: In the Face of Jinn by Cheryl Howard Crew

Title: In the Face of Jinn
Author: Cheryl Howard Crew
Format: Audiobook
Publisher: St. Martins
Publish Date: January 24, 2006
Source: I received a copy from the PR; however, this did not affect my review.






Why You're Reading This Book:

  • You're a fiction fan.
  • You like stories about sisters.
  • You like to armchair travel.
What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Christine and Elizabeth Shepherd are on a buying trip in India for their California silk business when Elizabeth mysteriously disappears. In search of her sister, Christine ventures alone into Afghanistan and Pakistan disguised in the traditional garb of Islam, and often living among the women of the region, enduring the crushing oppression of Sharia. Christine painfully gains a new understanding of her own country and family as she navigates the mysterious tribes of the Pashtuns, has a dangerous encounter with the Taliban, and learns to fear the "Jinn," the devils that dominate the superstitions of the people she must understand in order to survive."

My Two Cents:

"In the Face of Jinn" is the story of two sisters who go to India in order to buy silk for their business. This is a story about danger and the very special bond between sisters. It is an interesting premise for the book and I really liked the out of the ordinary setting of Asia.

The setting of the book was really interesting and definitely helped to keep me engaged in the book. You all know how much I love armchair traveling, right? I really liked how Crew captured the surroundings in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. There were many scenes where I could definitely imagine myself there.

The premise was interesting to me but I did have some issues with suspending my disbelief. When one of the sisters, Elizabeth, disappears, her sister goes on a journey to try and find her. Her journey takes her through many places in India and Pakistan. This is the place where I had some issues. Pakistan and Afghanistan, in particular, are both pretty dangerous places and I didn't really understand why Christine did what she did. Why didn't she try to get the authorities involved? I realize the local authorities are a little lacking in that part of the world. Why wouldn't she call the embassy or something? It just seemed like sort of a dumb move to me. I can understand really want to find your sister. I wanted to understand why Christine thought she could do things better by herself. That would have felt more real to me.

I listened to the audiobook of this book. Cheryl Howard Crew is director Ron Howard's wife and the audiobook is narrated by Bryce Dallas Howard, their daughter and a famous actress in her own right. I really liked her narration. She has a great voice for the book and I would love to hear her read more audiobooks in the future. 


 

1 comment:

  1. Yeah, going into those places alone was a dangerous choice, especially since she didn't explore other options first.

    ReplyDelete

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