4 out of 4 stars
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White Smoke tells the story of hope in a supposedly helpless situation. It also tells the story of love and patriotism. When one loves his country so much, they will do everything possible to protect it. A merger between Israel and Palestine forms a new country, Isratine. The Prime Minister is at the forefront to see that the coalition survives and the unified country stays peaceful. Yonatan, the Prime Minister's son, is willing to do everything for the love of his country. What if that comes at a stiff price? Will he pay that price?
Itamar S. N, though an aspiring author, sure has power over words. As an avid reader, I've come across a lot of books and voraciously read them. However, only a few have had the kind of effect White Smoke had on me. The book's genre is other fiction, but I didn't feel any form of fiction in the write-up. Everything in the story felt real, and that's a contributing factor in how the book affected me. Another factor was in the unexpected ending. Following the story, I had seemingly bonded with most of the characters, as they all felt natural to me. Yonatan's fate broke me; I didn't see it coming. Like I earlier stated, only a few books have affected me this way.
I was captivated by White Smoke, as the storyline was fascinating and relatable. I live in a country with similar descriptions as Isratine. Therefore, reading about something similar was intriguing. That was only a part of what had me captivated. While reading, I could feel emotions pouring from practically every sentence. Take, for instance, this sentence quoted from the book. "Amal had a home. Beyond it was only emptiness." From the quoted sentence, I got emotional thinking that the only thing the character felt connected to was just a home. Imagine if it were taken from her, her world would be empty. The events played out like a movie as I read through the book's pages. It would suffice to say that descriptive writing is the author's forte.
One trivial issue I had with the book was the use of abbreviations without explanations. Take, for instance, this sentence: "I was a single, bisexual playboy at heart, who had somehow become married to another man and was now a father of twins. WTF!!." I supposed the author thought it's a sentence that anyone would easily understand in today's world of social media, where most sentences are abbreviated. But not every reader follows social media trends and wouldn't know what WTF means. I wouldn't also assume the author wasn't trying to sound profane, as there were other profane words in the read. I wouldn't be deducting a point for this. However, I'd hope the author takes note of it for subsequent publications.
White Smoke deserves 4 out of 4 stars. The errors aren't distracting, and the issue I raised is a minor one. I recommend it to people interested in activism and stories of the Middle East. Parental guidance is advised for readers younger than 13, as there is an avalanche of profane words in the book.
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White Smoke
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