Sweet Dates In Basra is a very good book about friendship and love.There are three main characters in the book, Kathmiya, Shafiq and Omar. Shafiq and Omar are childhood friends who consider themselves more like brothers and Kathmiya is a beautiful maiden who works in the city of Basra. The first time Kathmiya and Shafiq meets, Shafiq was captivated by her seductive, large eyes. Later he starts to like her. But Kathmiya wants to get married even though she is only 17. But her father doesn't want her to get married not because he will miss her but because he just doesn't like her. Now Kathmiya and her mother is trying to get Kathmiya's father to agree to her marriage and trying to find a suitable boy for her.
In the book, Kathmiya tells herself she is aging and she should get married but I think the real reason she wants to get married is because her sister Fatimah is already married and Kahtmiya is jealous. Fatimah is not the best big sister a girl could ever have. She would taint Kathmiya and was always mean to her. Kathmiya always hated her sister and her getting married to a good guy just made her more sad and jealous that she wasn't in Fatimah's place. If Fatimah was a better sister then maybe Kathmiya would have been happy that her sister is getting married to a good guy. The relationship Kathmiya and Fatimah shares is not a relationship typical sisters share.
Even though they might not like each other, Kathmiya and Fatimah will still like each other because they are sisters. No matter how much they hate each other, they will still like each other and will try to protect each other. I think the only reason Kathmiya is jealous of Fatimah is because she might be insecure and that she thinks that she might never get married and stay as a maid for the rest of her life. And, she is sad because her father favors his oldest daughter to his youngest because he never showed an affection for Kathmiya.
Me and my sisters fight all the time and we act like we hate each other but to tell the truth, deep down we still love each other and will always care for each other no matter what. Somethings insecurity can lead to what someone might think as hatred but really might be jealousy or sadness or both. No matter what happens, siblings will always love each other and never forget that not are they tied together by name but also tied together by the same blood.
