The Occasional Virgin

More objectively, taking into account the writing and characterization, I would have rated this a three, but I just didn't like it so it's a two. This is a portmanteau of two different novellas, written about a decade apart and translated together recently, about two women who grew up in Lebanon, now live in London and Canada, and are doing their best to shake off their conservative upbringings. In the first novella, Muslim Huda and Christian Yvonne travel to the Italian Riviera and meet some men. Fine. In the second, Huda meets Yvonne in London. After a strong opening scene in Speaker's Corner that is actually about something besides manhunting, the plot descends into farce if not drivel. One reviewer called this a modern Middle show more Eastern Jane Austen. I'd say more like Sex and the City, which I never liked any more than this novel. It's too prudish to be porn and too ridiculous to be anything else. show less

I started off really liking this story about two friends who grew up in Lebanon and now live in Canada and London. But sometime after their vacation in Italy was over, I just lost interest in the story. There's nothing worse than feeling bored while reading and by the time you are done with the book feeling like you didn't understand the characters or whatever point the author was trying to get across.

Thank you to First to Read for the opportunity to read an advance digital copy! Unfortunately this book just wasn't for me.