A Bad Book Killed the Virigin Megastore!

20/05/07 17:54 Filed in: Kuwait
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I must have judged this book by its cover! This is exactly what I felt after reading the first 13 chapters of the book “ Chicago”. Chicago by Alaa Al Aswaani is supposedly the book that got Virgin Megastore in Kuwait to Shut Down. The day I found out that this book shut down Vigin Megastore, I thought I must read that book and see what is wrong with it! The exact same day I went to Virgin Lebanon (I work in Lebanon) and got it! The sales person said, “ I’m sure you’re from Kuwait!” I responded, “ Why are you asking? And yes I am, how did you find out??” he mentioned, that many of their Kuwaiti customers came and bought this book. He also said that he feels it’s so “Stupid” for the government to do such a thing! This sales person believed its absolutely ridiculous and as quoted “ QIMAT IL TAKHALUF” to close Virgin Kuwait for such a reason. I argued with him a bit, the fact that a non-Kuwaiti insulting my country and calling us uncivilized bothered me. I ignored him later on and thought it would be so preposterous to argue with the person without me even reading the book or understanding what the big deal is with that specific book.

I got home with full of excitement, got the book out and started reading. At the beginning I felt it a bit interesting. I’m not sure though is it because I’m reading something that’s banned from my country or is it really interesting? Chapter after chapter, I started realizing why this book got banned from Kuwait. Basically it’s because the author describes the bodies of some of the Women Characters in a very detailed way, and a lot of sex is mentioned. I didn’t pay much attention to these things and continued reading. Chapter 9 was a turning point to me. After reading the first 9 chapters I realized how boring this book is and there is no point of me continuing the book. I had some second thoughts and said it might get better later on in the coming chapters. The exact opposite happened! I’m in chapter 14 now. And I’ve decided to put this book in the shelf side by side with the other books I’ve read. It’s not worth reading! I don’t recommend it to anyone; the book is rubbish, pointless, unimportant, and boring! Last but not least, the cover of the book is UGLY! I wish they’ve done small effort and did something a little more attractive! Enjoy!

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AJK
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