Rate this book

The Jewel Of Medina (Advance Reader's Edition) Edition: Reprint (2008)

by Sherry Jones(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0345503163 (ISBN13: 9780345503169)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Ballantine Books

series

Medina

review 1: This book had the potential to be great. Unfortunately, the characters are very two dimensional. One of the more puzzling characters is Mohammed. He seems to possess none of the wisdom or charisma I expected. I also didn't feel like there was enough historical context for those of us who know little about the beginnings of Islam. Lots of warring tribes and shifting alliances--which, again, could have been great, but everything just seemed muddled to me.
review 2: Oh boy. Where to even begin. This novel was stunningly bad. Only my inability to stop reading a book once I start it caused me to finish it. I imagine most normal people don't finish this book. Everything was terrible - the plot, the character development, the dialog, the pacing - even the cover, as a... morenother reviewer pointed out, is wrong. The main character has red hair - something the author mentions dozens of times (her fiery red hair oooh la la).I got this novel from the library hoping it would be similar to The Red Tent. Sadly, no. While I learned a lot about early Jewish culture and the history of the middle east from The Red Tent, I learned next to nothing about Islam. Seriously, five minutes of reading the Wikipedia entry on Muhammed taught me more than this whole stinking book did.The dialog was breathtakingly hokey. It was like something out of a bad B movie. Or maybe a play that the characters in the movie Waiting For Guffman would put on. I actually imagined the dialog being spoken by a talentless actor in a regional theater production.The cardboard characters! Aisha, the protagonist, was entirely without charm. And what a cliche of the tempestuous redhead. None of her motives were believable at all. AT ALL. As for Muhammed, I got no sense of why an entire religion would be founded upon his words and actions. He just seemed like a confused old man who liked having sex. Run, run far away from this book. Unless you need an example for a writing class for what not to do in a book. Two thumbs down, waaaaaaay down. less

Download links for: The Jewel of Medina (Advance Reader's Edition) Edition: Reprint

Advertising