Laila al-Othman is one of Kuwait鈥檚 most well known authors, and this novel, Wasmiyah Comes out of the Sea, is one of her most famous novels. A romantic drama, the novel follows the narrator, Abdullah, as he reminisces over his childhood love, Wasmiyah, and the tragic end to that love story. Wasmiyah, the daughter of a wealthy family of merchants, and Abdullah, the son of a single mother working as a housekeeper, came from different worlds. They were oblivious to these differences, but as they grew older, the reality of tradition and their worlds in Kuwaiti society (the novel was released in the 80s), came crashing down.
The main aspect that I liked about this novel is its purity, its purity in describing Abdullah鈥檚 love for the sea and its purity in describing his love for Wasmiyah. It is neither a sensual nor a sexual love, just love. Many authors focus more on a rather sensual aspect of love, rather than just a shared emotion between individuals. This was not the case here. Though that being said, the novel still came across to me as simplistic and pretty predictable. Once we know who are the main characters, it doesn鈥檛 become hard for us to see how it will end. There is a big difference in my opinion between being simple and being simplistic. So as much as the style was pleasing to read, less effort was put into the plot and story structure. I didn鈥檛 feel like I was on an intimate journey with the characters, nor was I surprised by the outcomes as, to be honest, I have read this 鈥渟tory鈥� so many times. It wasn鈥檛 common to have women authors in the Arabic countries of the Persian Gulf tell such stories. So it is always great to hear more and more stories. But sometimes some authors, even though the write well, focus more on the sentimentality of the story, rather than its narrative.