Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi is a book that slowly comes together. It's full of stories within stories. Stories that meander and that weave through time.

The synopsis says that the book is about three sisters and the different men they marry, but it's about so much more than that.

Celestial Bodies starts with a family tree that I struggled to make sense of. The first few chapters were a little hard for me to follow too. It dives straight into the story and you see the different ways characters interact without knowing why. Patience is definitely needed with this book.

The characters are all connected, with various relationships between them. The family tree didn't make sense to me as I was viewing it through a very Western lense, when families in Oman could be connected in multiple ways through blood and marriage.

This multi generational story is set in the last half of the 20th and it's fascinating to see how much Oman changes in that time. Particularly for the upper class men and how their lives and families change. But it's also interesting to see how amidst all these changes, the women's lives and marriages are still deeply affected by the patriarchy.

The core part of the story, that we keep coming back to, is the birth of Maya's first child and the 40 days that follow. It's a reminder that even in deeply patriarchal societies, it's the women who are the heart of the family. It's the women who create the family and it's relationships. It's a theme that comes up time and time in the book. It really does seem like it's the women who bring everyone together.

If you like multi generational stories that aren't linear, you'll probably enjoy Celestial Bodies. I'd also recommend it for anyone who doesn't care too much about plot and who enjoys getting a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of a range of characters. It's also a great book, full of insight into life in Oman spanning several decades.