Denise V. (denisei) reviewed Late for Tea at the Deer Palace: The Lost Dreams of My Iraqi Family on + 32 more book reviews
Tamara Chalabi is the grandchild of the main mother/father characters of this book. She writes a detailed account of this Iraqi family history, mostly from early 1900's to the 1950's, the time to which she refers to as "the expired epoch". A time where her family lived prosperously in Iraq.
Were it not for this personal element added to the historical details, I'm not sure I could have read the entire book.
After detailing the family's life in Iraq and the historical/political events of the times, and then life in exile (in London and Lebanon), the author also tells about how she went to Iraq with her father when Saddam Hussein was removed from power. Actually, throughout the book there are snippets of her recent ponderings, "diary-like" entries where she is in the locale, thinking about herself and her surroundings. Kinda weird.
Do not read this book, thinking you will then understand life in the Middle-East or even just Iraq. Do read this book for another look into it, or if you care about how the author feels torn about her identity and her relationship to her father's country of origin.
Were it not for this personal element added to the historical details, I'm not sure I could have read the entire book.
After detailing the family's life in Iraq and the historical/political events of the times, and then life in exile (in London and Lebanon), the author also tells about how she went to Iraq with her father when Saddam Hussein was removed from power. Actually, throughout the book there are snippets of her recent ponderings, "diary-like" entries where she is in the locale, thinking about herself and her surroundings. Kinda weird.
Do not read this book, thinking you will then understand life in the Middle-East or even just Iraq. Do read this book for another look into it, or if you care about how the author feels torn about her identity and her relationship to her father's country of origin.
