During counselling sessions, both parties can discuss their financial concerns and come up with a plan for managing their finances in a way that is fair and equitable. This may involve setting up a joint bank account, agreeing on a budget, and dividing household expenses fairly. The abuser may also benefit from learning about healthy financial boundaries and strategies for managing their own spending habits. Besides, I learned quite much about the history of this country and I believe Rafik Schami is a rather unbiased narrator - of course, most of his main characters are cristian Arabs, but there are Muslims and Jews as well and for me he did a good job in giving a voice to all the different parts of this complex society rather favouring a humanistic approach towards life. Especially women's lot is represented in a way that makes me admire his insight into the female point of view. Schami shows the beauty and the colours of Syria while at the same time pointing out the weaknesses of a patriarcal society in which tolerance and freedom of thought are not guaranteed. It's obvious that Schami's own biography has influenced this novel a lot and that parts of Farid's life is based on Schami's own experiences - like his main character, Schami had to leave Syria for political reasons and started a new life in Germany, writing this extraordinarily beautiful novel in a language not his native one which is quite a miracle to me. The two may love each other fully because remember, love isn’t rational, yet not be able to live and deal with each other forever. Above St Paul’s Chapel, a body hangs in a basket over the city wall. The corpse is Major Mahdi Said, a high-ranking Muslim officer, and the secret service is soon involved.

Financial abuse can have serious consequences for both the controller and the victim in a relationship. Because it seems like a lot of hassle, liking someone. Your brain runs hot, the cogs inside your mind jarring together until all the oil of your thoughts is burned away. The fire spreads to your chest, where it chars your lungs and turns your heart to embers. And right when you think the flames have burned away everything but your skeleton, the spark skips from your bones to immolate not only your flesh, but your entire life.” ― Krystal Sutherland, Our Chemical Hearts Financial abuse occurs when one partner in a relationship controls the other's finances or uses money to control their behaviour. This can take many forms, including withholding money, stealing money, coercing their partner into signing financial documents, and even sabotaging their partner's career. Somewhere towards the end I remember the author mentioning the story as a mosaic, and I think that's the perfect way to describe this novel. I also think it's the ideal way to show readers an image of life in an Arab country: each piece is a little fragment of the whole, on its own may not make much sense, but its still beautiful, and will be laid down, and little by little the image will build up in your head, until you see the whole picture.

Compromising, of course, is a choice. You either choose to make it work or you choose not to. I believe this fully. As long as something doesn’t go against your core values, you can try to go along with it. But there are still some cases when compromising isn’t enough. 2. Letting Go The Dark Side Of Love: Your inability to forgive is why you can’t be with someone you love To protect those we love, to disguise failure, to hide disappointment. To mask betrayal, or deceit. But what happens when those lies start to catch up with us? When our lives begin to be shaped by the lies of others?

The Darker Side of Love spans the years from late 2007 to 2010 telling the tale of a group of middle-classed friends dealing with life. As the title suggests this isn't a cosy story of how love can conquer all but rather how love can be dangerous when offered to the wrong person. A number of serious issues are covered in the book including, domestic abuse, grief, substance abuse and adultery to name a few. As the brothers prepare to say goodbye to their mother, old wounds are reopened and they are forced to deal with the fact that what was once a family is no more. The death of the mother is the pivot around which the film revolves. As we enter the world of Julian, Michael, Steven and Chanel, we find that each is searching for identity and we are part of that quest. As love is as intense an emotion as one gets, it occasionally leads us to make poor choices – choices that are hurtful to the ones we love.Throughout the narrative we get glimpses of a hostage situation, but it's not until the climax that we find out who is the gunman and who is the hostage.

The heart is a different animal. A caged, lonely scavenger that feeds on its own wounds. Its scars never heal, because you can’t mend the very thing it needs to survive. So the wound continues to fester, until what’s left of the organ is eventually consumed by its own self-mutilation.” ― Keri Lake, Master of Salt & Bones At its heart lies the story of Rana and Farid, two lovers whose struggle to be united must overcome old tribal structures and their country’s turbulent history. Romeo and Juliet meets Arturo Pérez-Reverte and John le Carré in the dusty streets of Damascus… A rewarding and beautifully written, if blood-soaked, tale.’ A woman once loved a man with a large wart on his nose. She thought him the most handsome man in the world. Years later, however, she noticed the wart one morning. 'How long have you had that wart on your nose?' she asked. 'Ever since you stopped loving me,' said the man sadly." To explain her perspective, Jane Goldberg traces the development of love and hate from infancy. She debunks simplistic myths about mother love and portrays the mother/child bond in all its facets. She explores the hidden recesses of family love and romantic love and shows how the acceptance of constructive expressions of anger, jealousy, and competition can enhance intimacy. Drawing on case histories from her psychoanalytic practice, as well as mythic stories, Goldberg offers insights into the troubling but universal nature of the dark side of love.

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For the controller, financial abuse can lead to legal and financial consequences. In some cases, financial abuse can be considered a form of domestic violence and can lead to criminal charges. Additionally, financial abuse can impact their credit rating and financial future, especially if they have accumulated debt or engaged in fraudulent behaviour. Schami's work is in itself a love letter to a Damascus which in the course of his book survives the turmoil of occupation by the French, the terror of a never-ending series of brutal dictators and their Secret Service goons, short-lived union with Egypt and the birth of Israel. Yet so richly painted is Schami's picture of Damascene life that through all its turmoil and tragedies, the city never loses its allure. As you can see, there are a few characters here, and consequently there are a lot of plot threads to keep up with too, but I found it fascinating as there was always something interested happening, and I was always wanting to find out what was happening next with these characters. I really enjoyed reading about James and Izzy's story, I felt it was the most realistic out of them all (although they are believable and could easily happen) but for me, this one just worked. Izzy tries to open a new café in these tough financial times, and this has an effect on the other things going on in their lives which I found fascinating to read about. Ruston does a really job in building up the tension throughout the book with these stories, not allowing too much to be revealed but enough to get your attention and get you hooked into the book, and consequently you find yourself whizzing through because you want to know what is going to happen next!