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I postponed this review for over a week in order to mull things over with my IRL bookclub, after which it seemed wise to add an extra half star. This reinforces to me that it is often a rewarding experience to be pushed towards books that I might have skipped and that a good old chin-wag about them is endlessly helpful.

I will admit my reactions while reading Celestial Bodies were mixed. The main issue, let us call it "narrative shenanigans" is compounded by a family tree diagram that despite rotating around and studying extensively failed to illuminate my needs. I think a cast of characters list similar to what is found in Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend might have worked better here.

Nevertheless, the rewards for sticking with this book are many. Alharthi's book is a wonderful insight into Omani life, it is a compact yet complex, multi-generational family-saga, narrated variously by men and women. Yet it is the women's stories that captured me, characters of various ages, social status and heartbreaks parcel out little slivers of information about themselves over time. I came to really connect with this family, and the layering of their history and relationships to create this tapestry seemed inspired once I had finished the book.

Despite having moved onto other novels since reading this I am still partly immersed in Oman, I am still curious about cardamon coffee and the variety of uses for the date palm. I look forward to more literature translated from Oman to address this curiosity and from Jokha Alharthi particularly.