PositiveWashington Independent Review of Books... offers a kaleidoscopic perspective on the weight of cultural traditions and obligations at home and abroad ... Would Bride of the Sea hold up as well without the structural backdrop of historical headlines along the way? It’s hard to say. The characters’ reactions to current events ably provide a first-person perspective on history from a non-American point of view, which is valuable in its own right. To comprehend what it means to be a Muslim in America, labeled a dangerous foreigner no matter where you were born, requires an empathy that can only come from putting oneself in another’s shoes (in novels as in life) ... But what rings most true from Eman Quotah’s tale is the way it reveals two equal if contradictory human truths. The first is that a life lived in two worlds inevitably results in a lack of full ownership in either. And second, that one’s family history, no matter how well or ill understood, will contain unexpected connections to those whose language you may not speak, but whose voices and mannerisms elicit memories of the people you come from — including the people your own parents once were ... I suspect Jane Austen would say such revelations are certainly worthy subjects.
