Do you think Souad's parenting style reflects any particular aspects of how she was raised by Alia and Atef?

The multigenerational scope of this novel gives readers a chance to watch characters grow from children to parents themselves. Do you think Souad's parenting style reflects any particular aspects of how she was raised by Alia and Atef?

Yes, I can see that as a child she was sometimes overindulged and sometimes neglected or heavily criticized... a bit of a roller-coaster for her. Alia and Atef were not always, or even mostly, "on the same page," it seemed. Later, as the rift opens up in her marriage and she finds herself preoccupied with working out her future and dealing with her family's troubles, she is sometimes indulgent and sometimes negligent or critical herself. To be fair, though, all of these uprooted parents had a lot to cope with emotionally.

Yes, there were many similarities in their parenting styles. It is actually difficult to call it a style, since Alia was totally inconsistent in her ways of treating Souad, much depending on her mood that day. Atef was usually in the background and just stepped in when it became over the top and he tried to soothe the situation, not really parenting. Souad, as a parent, pretty much carried out the same routine. If she was emotionally available she got involved, usually over-involved. At times, the children were ignored because she was involved in other matters. There was no consistent parenting style in either case.

I believe that inconsistency best describes the parenting style that Souad lived under and then later developed. She brought the insecurity to her parenting style that she was also raised in.

Parenting skills were lacking in both mothers. There was so much instability in their lives and I feel both women were conflicted and confused.

The parenting style would best be described as lackadaisical at best, even absentee at times. This parenting style allowed each mother to be often selfish and self-centered. This approach to raising and dealing with children is more common when there is sufficient funds to insure the child, when young, can survive. Hard to tell how much of this was created by parenting (nurture) versus genetic (nature).