Pauls Toutonghi

The novel begins in 2014 in war-torn Aleppo, Syria, when Naim Rahil and his mother are the only family members to survive the bombing of their building. They become refugees, first to a camp, then to America where their sponsor is an elderly woman, Annabel Crandall. When Naim first sees a typical American home, a typical American grocery store, he is amazed. He also faces hatred and xenophobia.

In 1948 and Beirut, Lebanon, Marguerite Toutoungi dreams of going to a Paris conservatory to study musical composition. Her father has arranged for her to marry into a family that will save his tobacco business. She knows the marriage will be loveless and she doesn’t want a life of home and children and servitude. She learns she has been accepted when she meets a man who will change her life.

It will take a long while to understand what these two stories have to do with each other. But Marguerite’s decisions will change Naim’s life in the future.

The two story lines’ history and setting are vividly drawn, the characters sympathetic and beautifully rendered. The horrors of war, the experience of living in a refugee camp and being transported to America is wonderfully rendered. In the bombing of his home, Naim’s hand is blasted, altering his “sense of himself,” becoming his self-image.

His losses are physical and psychological. Once, he was a pianist. Embarrassed by his deformity and missing fingers, he thinks music is over for him. At Annabel’s house, he finds a piano, a photo, and an original composition.

The story is based on the author’s family history, which will amaze you with its twists and turns of fate, and you will rejoice at the beauty of self- sacrifice and love that alters lives.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.… (mere)

Like others, I thought this book was going to be a modern version of the Disney classic, The Incredible Journey. It was not. Instead, it was the somewhat protracted story of the Marshall family and son Fielding's golden retriever, Gonker, who does get lost on the Appalachian Trail. Mother Ginny is the guiding force in the book, trying to be a better parent and caring dog lover than her own miserable parents. Meanwhile, Fielding or Fields as he is called, is adrift, and finds companionship with Gonker, who is quite ill, adding urgency to the search. Ginny's untiring efforts to assist in the search by raising awareness is impressive as is the kindness of strangers helping in the search, but the other characters are a bit flat and there is not enough focus on Gonker himself. Note: Author Pauls Touonghi is the son-in-law of the Marshalls (married to Fielding's sister Peyton.) I had hoped for more, especially given how much I enjoyed another of his books, Evel Knievel Days.

… (mere)