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BookBrowse Reviews Origin: Deft, page-turning narrative tension and atmosphere, tug the reader to an unforgettable conclusion

Origin
A Novel
by Diana Abu-Jaber
Paperback, May 2008,
384 pages.
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Origin is a dramatic change of course for Abu-Jaber, previously known for her lightly humorous Arab-American culinary love stories Arabian Jazz and Crescent, and for her memoir, The Language of Baklava. In Origin she takes leave of her roots to craft a darkly poetic, literary mystery set in a cold Syracuse winter, with nary a recipe in sight.

Lena has an extraordinarily heightened sense of smell and a highly developed intuition that allows her to sense things that others miss. Working as a fingerprint expert in the Syracuse crime lab, she is drawn into a mysterious series of crib deaths. At first they are written off as SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome); however, Lena senses that something...
Beyond the Book
Children raised by animals?

In Origins, Lena believes she spent her early years in the jungle being raised by apes, which begs the question, are there any real cases of children being raised by animals? You will find the answer at feralchildren.com which has collated a number of claims and attempts to separate fact from fiction.


Mirror-touch synesthesia

Lana is able to sense things that others can't, such as the emotional residue left in a...
This review was originally published in July 2007, and has been updated for the May 2008 paperback release. Click here to go to this issue.
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