Love and Hope Have No Borders
An Interfaith Story
An unlikely couple explores the differences and the similarities between their traditions and beliefs in the warm romance novel Love and Hope Have No Borders.
In Michael Bienenstock’s earnest interfaith, cross-cultural romance novel Love and Hope Have No Borders, a Jewish American doctor and a Muslim Syrian refugee connect, leading to deep soul-searching and technical solutions.
Joe takes a year off from medical school to volunteer in a Syrian refugee hospital in Jordan. His father arranged the position through Doctors without Borders and a family friend, hoping it would pull Joe out of his deep post-breakup depression. Joe is not pleased upon arrival, describing the place as the “Gates of Hell” and finding it foreign and unsettling.
Alina, a beautiful nurse, catches Joe’s attention, though, helping to change his mood. He decides to pursue a relationship with her despite multiple obstacles: their differing faiths, their language barrier, and the certain dismay of his parents. Alina’s brother, Ishmael; Salama, a surgeon from Egypt; and Salah, an avuncular figure to Alina and Ishmael whose parents were killed in Syria, are quick to offer advice, comfort, encouragement, and assistance to the couple. Indeed, the whole community comes together to support them. Joe’s parents are another story.
The action shifts between the characters, their thoughts shared in sections labeled to clarify whose side of the story is being told. People take turns expressing their inner thoughts and performing their parts, though their narratives are somewhat detached from one another. The prose is straightforward and clear, though its unmodulated tone jars with some of the extremities described, such as the harsh setting and distressing circumstances in which the characters find themselves. Further, italics are used to suggest thoughts, but in a random and uneven manner, and some phrases repeat within short spaces.
Alina and Joe’s relationship develops in a manner that strains credulity. Joe’s dismay over his posting is subsumed by his obsession with Alina; he concentrates on the look in her eyes and the softness of her voice, ignoring the intensity and hardships around them. Their romance is rapid, and when his parents suggest that it could be a rebound, little is done to refute that impression. Alina, who led a sheltered life before Joe, is excited to be swept off her feet but is also measured in response to his ardor, such that when she agrees to his offer, it seems quite sudden. More engaging are Joe and Alina’s long, thoughtful conversations about Islam and Judaism—both about the differences and the similarities between their traditions and beliefs. As they work out their differences in order to be together, tension is achieved and maintained through to the book’s end.
In the heartfelt interfaith romance novel Love and Hope Have No Borders, the perseverance and fortitude of an unlikely couple win out in the end.
Reviewed by
Caroline Goldberg Igra
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
