4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
I was pretty surprised to see the title and cover art for this book when I picked it up. A book about Adele, literally titled My Trip to Adele? And it’s a romance? We’ll see how schmultzy this gets, I thought to myself.
The novel follows three characters on their own personal stories.
Elias, has returned to his hometown of Marrakech in search of a lost love he shared an amazing week with 8 years ago. He searches the ancient city for her, gathering clues from old acquaintances and even dabbling in magic to try and find her.
Yaser’s story is less romantic, but more real. His 8-year marriage is becoming a bore to him, his wife a nuisance, and their counselor doesn’t seem to be helping. His struggles are much more internal, but they take him through the streets of Las Vegas as he searches for the meaning he craves.
Last there’s Nadia, a Jordanian woman whose biggest dream is to take her son to see Adele live. She runs into obstacles in the form of her abusive ex-husband, her unsympathetic corporate bosses, and a patriarchal society that limits even the strongest of women.
I think the most fascinating aspect of this book to me is the different takes on love and the different forms of it that exist. What I expected was a run-of-the-mill romance either beginning or culminating with the Adele concert. Instead I saw a marriage try to respark a fizzling, passionate love and how grand romantic gestures don’t mean as much as honest, open communication in repairing a relationship. I saw a mother’s ardent love for her child expressed in soft, real moments like singing a song together. In essence, I saw a reflection of reality, and it made the book so much stronger.
This book isn’t just a romance though. The characters grow in surprising and satisfying ways. The story is paced well, and no scene feels useless or unearned. Anyone who likes reading about other cultures or countries will definitely enjoy this too, as I did. I didn’t know, for example, that dowries were still a thing in some cultures, or what a dowry could mean to the bride, the groom, and the entire family involved in the marriage. The descriptions of El-Fnaa Square in Marrakech were vivid and the legal peculiarities of Jordan and its tribe system was very interesting.
I have few complaints about the book, really. A couple of typos or mistranslations pop up every now and then. It takes a while for the story and characters to find their voices, but when they do, they’re compelling and well-done. The authors also have a soft spot for exclamation points that irked me just a tad.
As for the conceit of Adele throughout the book, at times it felt over the top. There are moments that feel like an advertisement for the singer and her new album. I enjoyed that the chapters are named after Adele songs and that the lyrics are always pertinent to the chapter, but the execution was off. The characters always either listen to the song or sing it. Setting the lyrics up at the beginning of the chapter as epigraphs would have avoided this awkward problem and avoided the gimmicky, forced feel that the inclusion of the lyrics sometimes had.
As I said though, these are minor issues. I very much recommend My Trip to Adele and give it 4 out of 4 stars because the characters and the story in this book are more than enough to compel the reader to the end, an ending I didn’t expect and that had minimal schmultz and cheese.
******
My Trip To Adele
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble
Like DustinPBrown's review? Post a comment saying so!
