Daring to Do!
The Kurdish Bike: A Novel by Alesa Lightbourne
An unusual story set in Northern Iraq where divorced teacher, Theresa Turner takes on a stint of teaching in a ultra conservative school, the International Academy of Kurdistan, for the upper echelon in the far reaches of Kurdistan in 2010.
Somewhere between a novel and a memoir, I was fascinated by Theresa's purchase of a bike and steps towards exploring the culture she was working within. Her developing relationships with the women of the village is a jewel. Her entree into their hopes and dreams, their disappointments and the rules they live by is eye opening. Her brief moments of journeying with these women is wonderful.
What's not so precious is the showing up of the teacher she's replaced with a somewhat sinister aura. That played into sinister shadows of disgruntled converts, something I didn't like and didn't think was necessary. And why didn't Theresa just toss the guy's mysterious package he'd left in her apartment out? Then there's the educational and employment practices of the school and the treatment of the teachers who become somewhat trapped in the system.
But returning to the women. By sharing their joys and problems, Theresa becomes a conduit for the reader into a world we know nothing of. I become unsure as to whether it's rewarding or condescending. I want it to be the former.
The education practices of the school, the teaching conditions and the traps for unwary players are less likable. Certainly there's a note of beware what you get yourself into for all those thinking about going to more conservative countries for employment. Theresa's first impressions of the educational compound do not bode well. "My new home is more like a military barracks, a bastion of something as yet unclear." That clarity comes with hooks not before discernable.
Despite this I keep coming back to the romantic idea of the immense privilege that is Theresa's when she takes chances and is accepted by the women into their homes and culture, all on the wing and promise of a bike! However whether Theresa returns that respect is sometimes moot. I'm still conflicted.
An Alesa Lightbourne ARC via NetGalley
***
Somewhere between a novel and a memoir, I was fascinated by Theresa's purchase of a bike and steps towards exploring the culture she was working within. Her developing relationships with the women of the village is a jewel. Her entree into their hopes and dreams, their disappointments and the rules they live by is eye opening. Her brief moments of journeying with these women is wonderful.
What's not so precious is the showing up of the teacher she's replaced with a somewhat sinister aura. That played into sinister shadows of disgruntled converts, something I didn't like and didn't think was necessary. And why didn't Theresa just toss the guy's mysterious package he'd left in her apartment out? Then there's the educational and employment practices of the school and the treatment of the teachers who become somewhat trapped in the system.
But returning to the women. By sharing their joys and problems, Theresa becomes a conduit for the reader into a world we know nothing of. I become unsure as to whether it's rewarding or condescending. I want it to be the former.
The education practices of the school, the teaching conditions and the traps for unwary players are less likable. Certainly there's a note of beware what you get yourself into for all those thinking about going to more conservative countries for employment. Theresa's first impressions of the educational compound do not bode well. "My new home is more like a military barracks, a bastion of something as yet unclear." That clarity comes with hooks not before discernable.
Despite this I keep coming back to the romantic idea of the immense privilege that is Theresa's when she takes chances and is accepted by the women into their homes and culture, all on the wing and promise of a bike! However whether Theresa returns that respect is sometimes moot. I'm still conflicted.
An Alesa Lightbourne ARC via NetGalley
***
Comments
Post a Comment