This is the first book I've read by Joan Silber, but I'm sure it won't be the last. She's a literary shapeshifter - a 73-year-old Caucasian woman who can believably voice an international cross-section of characters from different backgrounds and cultures.
The story starts off with Reyna, a twenty-something mother who visits her boyfriend at Rikers Island. When he gets out after his three-month incarceration, he and his friends hatch a plan to smuggle cigarettes across state lines and they ask Reyna to be part of their plan. She's has reservations, but agrees to be on board up until the very last second, when suddenly she has a change of heart. She decides that she cares too much about her four-year-old son to attempt something so risky. All goes well...until something goes very, very wrong.
The plot then expands and encompasses the lives of relatives, friends and acquaintances. It elaborates on different times and places. Since everyone is intertwined in some way or another, we witness throughout the book how decisions create a very real ripple effect. In this case, they ripple across the globe. Through the characters, we travel from Reyna's basic apartment in Harlem to the exotic Istanbul and the Middle East.
We see how greed and love and death ricochet through people hearts and minds. We see how one person's decision - bad or good - can affect another one's entire life. We're shown how relationships form a rich tapestry, just like the fibers of the Turkish rugs that travel throughout the novel, intertwining lives and knotting them together.
Book cover rating: 3/5
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