The Syrian Virgin by Zack Love

I just revised my review on this book as I realized I dinged it one star due to my general dislike of the romantic genre.  I have recommended this book to more people than any other book I have read recently.  I recommended it, in spite of the romance, because of the crucial spotlight it shines on dreadful genocide being carried out in the Mid East.  This book has an important message that all the minorities, being butchered in the Mid East by fundamental terrorists, need to have a voice.

 Zack Love approaches literature as I approach a bakery.  He seems to want to have one of everything.   He has published eBook, a short story, a paperback, a novellette, a screenplay, a collection and a comedy.   Luckily he writes rather than frequents bakeries because he would be enormous.  I showcased his book The Syrian Virgin and suggest you check it out.   Now  that I have read this book, I am still amazed at Zack Love.  This book is a philosophic treatise and a romantic novel.

Anissa is the Syrian virgin.   She is a young woman pushed out of her home by the sectarian violence in  Syria.  The philosophic or political aspect of the book is based on the moral or righteousness of the actions of ISIS.   Those of us in the West tend to view the violence as totally repugnant and frankly I can't see  how you could see the religious bigotry in any other way.   Assad's rule in Syria can be compared to Saddam Hussein's in Iraq and Marshall Tito's in Yugoslavia.  A strong dictator keeping a lid on sectarian violence is not a new story.   As I write this there is a news account of a  mass execution of Coptic Christians by ISIS bigots.  This moves Zack Love's novel from entertainment to political commentary.

The other side of Love's book is the romantic novel aspect.  Anissa is enrolled in college and is torn between a charismatic leader trying to elicit support for displaced Christians and a self-made billionaire.   Her virginity and her feelings about said status preoccupy a fair amount of the plot.

This is an unusual book in that it poses some very difficult questions regarding dictatorship, religious bigotry, sectarian violence and personal mores. 

I recommend it.

LINKS
Amazon(.com): http://tinyurl.com/TheSyrianVirgin
Amazon (UK): http://tinyurl.com/TheSyrianVirgin-UK
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23172131-the-syrian-virgin
Author web site: http://zacklove.com

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.