The first half of I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister, by Amélie Sarn, is already turning out to be a very emotional novel.
The story goes back and forth between events that are currently happening in the main character's, Sohane, life and the events that lead up to her sister, Djelila’s, murder. The relationship between the two sisters seems to be very strong and loving, despite their differences. Sohane is more into her Muslim religion than Djelila ever seemed to be. Sohane also talks a lot about how much more beautiful and carefree her sister was. Because Djelila was so different, her sister was always worried for her safety. As far as I have read, it can be assumed that Djelila was actually murdered for her differences by a group of guys from the projects.
I am feeling bad for Sohane’s loss. I can tell she feels extremely guilty about not being able to protect her younger sister and keep her safe. Throughout the book she keeps emphasizing how she just wanted to protect her. The sad thing is that she was honestly trying to protect her sister from being herself. She wanted to wear different clothes and act in different ways than what her family's religion allowed. She was being her own person and for that reason she was murdered. Maybe the last section of the book will go into more detail about the murderer, and hopefully her murderer will have to pay some consequences for his actions.
This story seems sad and reminds me of mine. My book, Tasting the Sky, is about a young Muslim girl's experiences during and after the Six Day War. Living in Palestine, she becomes a refugee and eventually returns home to find her neighborhood bullet-riddled and patrolled. Not to mention she is separated from her father and brothers and only has her mother to comfort her.
ReplyDeleteMattie- good point that Sohane seems to be protecting her sister from being herself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it's so sad that the true reason she gets murdered is for wanting to be herself.
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