Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran/Oscar and the Lady in Pink: &, Oscar and the Lady in Pink : Two Novellas

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes no answer is an answer, Momo.
Review: The two novellas presented here are a welcome departure to the sordid Bridget Jones' genre that has permeated the book market in recent years. In the initial novella "Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran", Jewish teenager Moses aka Momo, long abandoned by his mother and raised by a stern father, takes to stealing from the local Muslim grocer in his street in Paris. The grocer, Monsieur Ibrahim, is onto him but senses the boy doesn't need a talking-to as much as he just needs talking. Stilted two-sentence conversations grow into a relationship when Moses is abandoned by his father as well, and Monsieur Ibrahim helps him understand the world into which they have both been dropped.

The second novella centers on Oscar, a 10-year-old with advanced cancer, in the children's ward of the hospital, forming a relationship with God at the prodding of his favorite nurse, who claims to be a former international star of female wrestling. In his letters to God, we see Oscar build a relationship with God as he learns that he only has 12 more days to live, and it gives the story a hopeful tone that you would not think you would see in a boy who is dying before he ever got to live by the conventional definition.

These are wonderful stories, that take you away from the all-too-prevalent "how some girl finds a man" stories and into a more interesting and real world, where love and life don't always work out the way you want them to but rather in a way with which you can make peace.

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Summary: Two grace notes on laughter and loss
Review: Yesterday - a day filled with joy and with disappointment - my last act before returning home was to stop in at a snug bookstore where I knew I would be welcomed and my soul would find comfort. I came to buy "The Secret Life of Bees," but when I went to purchase it, the owner (a muse of music and literature) offered me the book containing Schmidts two small novellas and said "just read them and call me when you've finished them - or just bring the book back." She will not be getting her book back. I spent the whole of last evening, sans TV, sans music, digesting the beautiful, simple stories. "Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran" seemed at first a simple uninterrupted line, but gradually the small pathways took me on a journey that brought tears, shouts of laughter, and more than the occasional re-read of a sentence or paragraph. "Oscar and the Lady in Pink" again pulled me in with its simplicity. Too easy a tale, I thought. But while the tale was simple, the getting there was not. The use of a particular word, a gesture, an inward thought of the young dying narrator made this a journey of insight and deep understanding. I turned off the light, held the book to my chest, and let tears flow and thoughts roam for well over an hour. I literally didn't want to put the book down. It stayed next to me during the night. My day was touched by grace and generosity, from the bookseller and from the author. Read the book. Hold it close to you. And give a copy to someone you love.