I received this book from River Street Writing in exchange for an honest review.
“Would it be like that with her? When she died, would her loved ones be told to move on?…She wondered this for weeks. She wondered if this was why people worshipped God, why she herself was attracted to that devotion. God the eternal, keep of an immutable love, with no limits of intensity or of time,” (Khan 206).
On his thirty-third birthday Murad sees Sofi crossing the street, a woman her hasn’t seen in a decade, a woman he was once madly in love with. Murad returns home to his wife as he remembers Sofi, his life from Lahore to London and then Toronto, and how much it had changed.
I’m so glad I was sent Drinking the Ocean to review because it’s a stunning book. Khan is a talented writer, easily switching from Murad and Sofi’s stories in a way that keeps readers interested in both narratives. While the dialogue isn’t the most realistic, I enjoyed the philosophical discussions between the characters and how much they made me think. I enjoyed Murad’s journey from being very devout in his faith to struggling with that and finding love in other avenues and similarly Sofi’s own journey from the trauma in her own life and how she found love eventually out of that. It was a great look not only at romantic love but platonic love, and the love you can have for a person you know very little about. I think Khan did an excellent job exploring the different ways that people love.
The book also deals a lot with faith. I love a faith narrative and loved reading about how the characters were drawn to or moved away from their faith and their reasonings behind it. I was not a big fan of the talk of sex and sin as Khan never really has his characters full on say it isn’t a sin to have sex, though there is some mild discussion about it, but considering this is a belief in many faiths I suppose it isn’t surprising. I did love that in Khan’s discussion of love he included faith which I think is a type of love not always explored with as much care as Khan did.
Drinking the Ocean is an absolutely gorgeous novel that takes great care to look at the different ways people find love and love others when lonely. It’s a strong, well-written novel and I hope Khan keeps writing!
Publication: May 6 2025
Publisher: Buckrider Books
Pages: 288 pages (Paperback)
Source: Owned (Thank you River Street Writing!)
Genre: Fiction, Literary, Canadian
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
The day after his thirty-third birthday, Murad spots a familiar face at a crowded intersection in downtown Toronto. Shocked, he stands silently as Sofi, a woman he’d fallen in love with almost a decade ago, walks by holding the hand of a small child. Murad turns and descends the subway steps to return home to his wife as the past washes over him and he is taken back to the first time they met. Moving between Lahore, London and Toronto, Drinking the Ocean is a story of connections lost and found and of the many kinds of love that shape a life, whether familial, romantic or spiritual. As Murad’s and Sofi’s lives touch and separate, we see them encounter challenges with relationships, family and God, and struggle with the complexities facing Muslims in the West. With compassion and elegance, Saad Omar Khan delicately illuminates the arcs of these two haunted lives, moved by fate and by love, as they absorb the impact of their personal spiritual journeys.
Sarah O'Connor 