Title: ALL INCLUSIVE
Author: FARZANA DOCTOR
Genre: FICTION
Length: 294 PAGES
Publisher: DUNDURN PRESS
Type of Book: SOFTCOVER
Release Date: 2015
ISBN: 9781459731813
Price: $22.99 CDN (SOFTCOVER)
Rating: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
DESCRIPTION:
A story about one all-inclusive resort, the ghost of an unknown father, and the tragedies we can’t forget.
What’s it like when everyone’s dream vacation is your job? Ameera works at a Mexican all-inclusive resort, where every day is paradise — if “paradise” means endless paperwork, quotas to meet, and entitled tourists. But it’s not all bad: Ameera’s pastime of choice is the swingers scene, and the resort is the perfect place to hook up with like-minded couples without all the hassle of having to see them again.
Despite Ameera’s best efforts to keep her sideline a secret, someone is spreading scandalous rumours about her around the resort, and her job might be at stake. Meanwhile, she’s being plagued by her other secret, the big unknown of her existence: the identity of her father and why he disappeared. Unbeknownst to Ameera, her father, Azeez, is looking for her, and they both must come to terms with the reason why he abandoned her.
A moving new work from award-winning author Farzana Doctor, All Inclusive blurs the lines between the real world and paradise, and life and death, and reminds us that love is neither easily lost nor found.
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MY REVIEW:
ALL INCLUSIVE was released in 2015 and won the Kobo Best Book of the Year — Canadian Favourites Category; a wonderful achievement.
Canadian author Farzana Doctor also won the NOW Magazine Best Author of 2015. Upon reading ALL INCLUSIVE, I can certainly see why it won so many awards.
The subject matter of ALL INCLUSIVE firmly places it in 18+ readership category.
The main character is Ameera who has a white mother and a Middle Eastern father, a father she has never met and knows almost nothing about.
The narration of the tale swaps between two points of view. One is Ameera’s and the other is that of her father, Azeez.
Despite never having met, Ameera and Azeez are connected. Ameera decides to search for him at the same time as he begins to search for her.
The main story is about Ameera and her job at an All-inclusive resort. Someone is trying to sabotage her and the promotion she thought she had in the bag.
While trying to figure out who is out to get her and why, there is an entire other story happening which is just as complicated as the main storyline, maybe even more so.
With vividly realistic characters and descriptions that will paint brilliant pictures in the reader’s mind, ALL INCLUSIVE is a delightful read. Readers will feel immersed in the story and feel sad when the book ends – they will not want to stop reading. It’s a good thing that Farzana Doctor has more books available because I do not believe it is possible after reading this book to not become an instant fan of hers. I know that I for one am hooked. I plan to read her novel SIX METRES OF PAVEMENT next.
I rate ALL INCLUSIVE as 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
FARZANA DOCTOR was the WINNER of the NOW Magazine Best Author of 2015.
Farzana Doctor is the author of Stealing Nasreen and Six Metres of Pavement, which won the 2012 Lambda Literary Award and was short-listed for the Toronto Book Award.
Farzana is one of CBC Books’ Ten Canadian Women Writers You Need to Read Now and the recipient of the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Grant.
She co-curates the Brockton Writers Series and lives in Toronto.
To learn more about this author, visit the following links:
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