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La Joya De Medina (2008)

by Sherry Jones(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

8498722446 (ISBN13: 9788498722444)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Ediciones B

series

Medina

review 1: When A’isha is nine and Islam in its infancy, she marries the prophet Muhammad and would go on to become one of the great women in Islamic history. Despite her youth, A’isha finds herself the favored wife, advising and supporting her husband, while simultaneously doing her own maturing, discovering her own strengths and combating her weaknesses.Although it was interesting to see how the author chose to pin a personality onto such a huge historic figure, I didn’t feel the reader was given enough meaningful glimpses into Muhammad and A’isha’s relationship to understand why she was so favored. A’isha’s actions and thought processes seem at some times to be beyond her years, and at others very typically reflecting her tender age. I enjoyed the opportunity to read... more about a culture and time period I was fairly unfamiliar with, and it would be interesting to read other historical fiction from the same era.
review 2: When I came across The Jewel of Medina, I thought it could be an interesting way of learning a little more about the origins of Islam. Islam (unfortunately particularly in the guise of fundamentalism) seems to be constantly at the forefront of current events and I think it would be no bad thing for people to gain some understanding of it. Hopefully knowledge breeds tolerance. So much of the media is focused on criticisms of fundamentalism, that people forget there are moderate muslims who deserve respect and compassion as much as anyone else.While I realise there has been significant controversy over the Jewel of Medina - most of it, ironically, caused by the predictions of controversy - it isn't a terribly shocking read. If anything, it strikes me as a reasonably sympathetic view of Islam and particularly of Muhammad. Much criticism of the prophet centers around his taking of the child bride, Aisha so it was interesting to see things through her point of view. Although there were certainly some very cringey moments considering her youth, Muhammad as a whole is portrayed as imperfect but kind, considerate and, contrary to perceptions of modern Islam, sympathetic of the plight of women. Perhaps that imperfection is a point of contention, but to me it made it real.If I have one criticism for Sherry Jones, it is that I could not quite go along with Aisha's descriptions of romantic love and sex - they seemed a tad romance-novel-esque for a young girl's perspective on a man old enough to be her grandfather. Otherwise, I felt The Jewel of Medina was not just well researched but well written. I'm sure there was artistic license, but I believed it was Aisha's voice while I was reading, and what more can you want from a story than that? less

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