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Arranged is a 2007 movie which focuses on the friendship between two first year teachers, one an Orthodox Jewish woman, the other Muslim. What I loved about this film is that it focused not on the politics of their situation or the religion of it, but on the fact that friendship can transcend cultures. I had been looking for that same experience in A Missing Peace and was disappointed to find instead something altogether different.
Caleb Miller is a handsome football player in a Texas school. In other words, he’s the big fish in a small pond. When he arrives at school one morning and notices a new girl he determines to get to know her better. As luck would have it, she winds up standing in front of him in the lunch line. Using her dark coloring as a clue to his approach he opens with, “Senorita eras bonita” which means “You are beautiful” in Spanish. The whole student body gets to watch him crash and burn.
Mirriam Yohanna is not happy to be in the United States. The culture is a shock and she misses her home in Iraq. Worse is the fact that America’s aggressive stance in Iraq is what has forced her to leave home; it seems ironic that she is forced to move to the very place that is the source of the problem. It is bad enough that some entitled All-American felt free to hit on her in a manner that would be beyond good manners in her home country, now she has to sit in a class called Government and hear the teacher botch the facts of the Iraqi-American conflict. She knows it is no use but she gets into an argument with that same All-American boy in an effort to enlighten everyone on just what is happening in the world.
When Caleb’s friends tease him about being shot down – publicly no less – he assures them he still has it. The teasing escalates until Caleb finds himself wagering he will have Mirriam as a prom date or give them his life savings of somewhere around a thousand dollars. Determined not to lose a penny of that money he begins to campaign in earnest to get Mirriam to like him.
Faster than you can say, “Hey, isn’t that the plot to She’s All That?” the next lucky coincidence occurs. Mirriam has moved in across the street! Using a project for Government class as an in and their proximity to help him close the deal, Caleb begins to slowly woo Mirriam. Then a walk home from a study date at the local pizza parlor changes the course of both their futures forever.
A Missing Peace is a thinly disguised opinion piece on the war in Iraq. The author gleefully skips over character building or plotting to sermonize on her subject matter, using the voices of her two teen protagonists to make her point. Many of their conversations center around the war (hardly a typical topic for wooing adolescents). Mirriam, as an Iraqi, is there to remind us that America had no business being in Iraq, our initial objective of stockpiled nuclear weapons never existed, and that U.S. soldiers can make life altering mistakes. As she tells us, “Because at the end of the day, they’re [American soldiers and Jihadists] both kids our age with weaponry supplied by some rich fat man and a belief that what they are doing is right. Or that it can be something – make something better – when in reality it only breaks things.”
Caleb is mostly there to serve as catalyst for much of that rhetoric. And also to make profound statements like “Our project started out as a debate on the Iraq War. But I spent a lot of time with an Iraqi girl and I’ve learned that both sides are right, neither side is right and war is bad for everyone.” Parents, if this is your high school senior’s approach to a school project give up on all hopes of college. Facts, not touchy feely sentiments, are needed in order to earn decent grades. In the conclusion of their project, Mirriam and Caleb recommend that people concentrate on things like global warming, a problem that affects everyone and apparently unites rather than divides. This is news to me as I thought there were still differing opinions on that subject, too.
Aside from school projects as thinly veiled orations on the author’s opinions we learn little about our characters. Mirriam is a good student who likes to cook and Caleb drinks beer and parties at the start of the novel. As Caleb spends time with Mirriam he becomes more studious but part of that is also his physical circumstances. I had trouble believing that at 18 this golden boy with college scholarships and wild friends would really be happy to set aside all that for eternity just because he was with the first girl who didn’t swoon in his presence. Not only do we not know much about our protagonists, we also don’t learn anything about their families – the interaction here is primarily between the two teens. The parents and siblings barely exist.
My biggest disappointment is that we learned nothing about Miriam’s culture except for a few food names and that she is not allowed to date (which she does anyway for the sake of the story). I had been hoping for something which showed a Middle Eastern character as a fully formed person – someone with likes, dislikes, going through the angst of life as a teen – not a girl who was essentially her political views. I also felt that it was a mistake to make Mirriam Assyrian (a Christian minority) as opposed to Muslim. I am certain the author did this to emphasize that not only Muslims oppose American intervention in Iraq but it still made me uneasy. I think you can be Muslim and still have the right to protest American policies. Your opinion isn’t more valid because you share a religion with the majority of Americans.
And given how the novel ends I am very, very disappointed that I never could figure out what these two saw in each other. It was so much like a first love story that people laugh about later over drinks with their friends – well, he was there, I was there, he was cute, I was sassy. This is the stuff of which hook ups are made, not love stories.
This tale, even with all its flaws, had the framework for a great story. But the author’s rush to publish propaganda over a meaningful piece of fiction reduced it to a truly disappointing read.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Young Adult
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 21/09/13
Publication Date: 2013/09
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.