Review: The Green Bicycle

The Green Bicycle by Haifaa al Mansour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was challenged to read a book by an author from Saudi Arabia. And it really was a hard challenge! Mostly because it was really hard to find a book by a Saudi Arabian author. I would really prefer to read fiction, but 1) The Green Bicycle was the one and only Saudi Arabian book in my library; 2) Even if I wanted to ask for a book from another library, there is nothing to ask for. All I found were several stories about the fate of girls in that country written by female authors who happily escaped. I guess the same zeal that was underlying the plot in this book is the reason for the poor literary heritage. The story itself is written well enough and pleasant enough to read, even though it's not overly consistent in terms of tenses and points of view. The plot, however, is not too exciting. Besides, it doesn't seem finished. After the heroine rides off into the sunset on her new bicycle, the should be religious police and repercussions. There is just no other way it could go.

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