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The Map of Love
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £0.42
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 Product Description
Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love is a massive family saga, a story that draws its readers into two moments in the complex, and troubled, history of modern Egypt. The story begins in New York, in 1997: Isabel Parkman discovers an old trunk full of documents--some in English, some in Arabic--in her dying mother's apartment. Omar-al- Ghamrawi, a man with whom she is falling in love, directs her to his sister, Amal, in Cairo. Together the two women begin to uncover the stories embedded in the journal of Lady Anna Winterbourne (who travels to Egypt in 1900 and falls in love with Sharif Pasha al- Barudi, an Egyptian Nationalist) and the unsuspected connections between their own families. British colonialism, Egyptian nationalism, the clash of cultures in the Middle East in 1900 and the present day: the different narratives of The Map of Love weave a subtle, and reflective, tale of love across culture and conflict--the ways in which relations between individuals may (or may not) make the difference. "I am in an English autumn in 1897 and Anna's troubled heart lies open before me": Amal's response to Anna Winterbourne's journal could be a description of how to read this fascinating book, its invitation to use words as a means to travel through time, space and identity. --Vicky Lebeau
Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB
Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is.
A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down.
A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories
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In the Eye of the Sun
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £2.95
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Product Description
Literary critic Edward Said has described Ahdaf Soueif as "one of the most extraordinary chroniclers of sexual politics now writing"; In the Eye of the Sun, a story of love and war, sexuality and politics, in modern Egypt and England is a key contribution to that chronicle (Soueif's The Map of Love, first published in 1999, is another). The book begins in London in 1979, with Asya reflecting back on events in Cairo more than a decade before. It's May, 1967: Asya, studying for University, is in the grip of "exam fever"; on the stage of international politics, war is about to break out between Israel and Egypt. Soueif presents that war in brief, journalistic "scenes" that run alongside her exploration of Asya's coming-of-age as a woman in modern Egypt. For Asya, education, love, sexuality and marriage are bound up with, and touched by, the violent conflicts between Egypt and Israel--as well as the seductions, and disappointments, of Europe. Studying for her doctorate in literature at an English University, Asya confronts the difficulty of her marriage to Saif--a man she loves but has never been able to make love to, who is never with her but finds her demands on his time "intolerable". The scenes between husband and wife are among the most memorable, and painful, in the book: in particular, Saif's furious shock at his wife's (eventual) infidelity: "I expected my wife to be loyal. I expected my wife to have some sense of honour. I expected ..." Exploring the gulf between them through that other gulf between East and West, Soueif offers a remarkable reflection on the recent history of Egypt and England through the life of a woman who won't give up on her question: "Why does it have to be like this?" --Vicky Lebeau
Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is. A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down. A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories An acquired taste, 04 Jun 2008
This is a very good example of a particular type of book, a genre. In style and scope it reminded me of the work of Naguib Mahfouz (the Cairo trilogy). It is what I would call a typical middle-eastern novel - big on character, short on plot. A western reader can wonder when a book like this is going to take off, but it never does because it is all about character development. The plot doesn't go anywhere because there isn't one to speak of, and this can make this style of writing a tad tedious at times. If you want something with a bit more pace try A woman of Cairo by Noel Barber (but this is popular and easy to read so isn't regarded as literature). Painfully wordy, 17 Mar 2008
I gave up after 277 pages. This book is in desperate need of a vicious edit. I found the main character Asya self-absorbed, spoilt and immature - perhaps she grows up eventually, but she's bored me so much I haven't the will to stay with her 'til she does.
There may well be a good novel buried in all these words, but the book failed to engage me enough to discover it. Life is too short. Read something else. A lovely insight to a heart torn between two worlds, 17 Jan 2006
A must-read for anyone (whether man or woman) growing up torn between two cultures. Soueif shows us what it is like to have the 'real life' imposed on you, the one you live everyday without contemplating because it is given and one grows up not questioning - and the other free life where the only rules that matter are the ones you set on yourself. Asya lives these two lifes, and like so many women from her part of the world, she cannot decide which life-path to choose and what is right and what is wrong.
Being an Egytpian myself, I have enjoyed this book even more. I know the streets, the places she goes to, the expressions used. A lovely 800 pages that pass by too quickly, and the reader is left with a part of Asya inside them doing the thinking. Women can't fail to recognise themselves in this book., 11 Nov 2002
Whilst this novel is slow to start, it deserves to be considered a brilliant book because it depicts incredibly accurately, and with true warmth and compassion for men as well as women, the struggle women have finding their true identity from under all the obligations placed on them by society and religion. The 'heroine' of the book needs to be loved for who she is and yet can't bear to disappoint all the expectations around her. This is a dramatic (at times terrifyingly true to life) insight into this conflict of needs. The question, "how do you find meaningful relationships within the cultural expectations of all societies in the world, including the West?" is examined here with great honesty. A story that women everywhere will truly identify with.
Read it!, 17 Nov 2000
If you are at all interested in women's lives in the contemporary Middle East - or even if you're not - you should read this book. It will tell you more about Egyptian society, about the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, about the difficulties facing women, who, like the protaginist Asya, find themselves thorn between tradition and modernity, than any number of non-fiction words ever will. Despite the size of the book - and the fact that I am not generally a keen reader of novels - I devoured this book in a matter of days, and remain haunted by it. Read it!
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I Saw Ramallah
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £3.62
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Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is. A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down. A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories An acquired taste, 04 Jun 2008
This is a very good example of a particular type of book, a genre. In style and scope it reminded me of the work of Naguib Mahfouz (the Cairo trilogy). It is what I would call a typical middle-eastern novel - big on character, short on plot. A western reader can wonder when a book like this is going to take off, but it never does because it is all about character development. The plot doesn't go anywhere because there isn't one to speak of, and this can make this style of writing a tad tedious at times. If you want something with a bit more pace try A woman of Cairo by Noel Barber (but this is popular and easy to read so isn't regarded as literature). Painfully wordy, 17 Mar 2008
I gave up after 277 pages. This book is in desperate need of a vicious edit. I found the main character Asya self-absorbed, spoilt and immature - perhaps she grows up eventually, but she's bored me so much I haven't the will to stay with her 'til she does.
There may well be a good novel buried in all these words, but the book failed to engage me enough to discover it. Life is too short. Read something else. A lovely insight to a heart torn between two worlds, 17 Jan 2006
A must-read for anyone (whether man or woman) growing up torn between two cultures. Soueif shows us what it is like to have the 'real life' imposed on you, the one you live everyday without contemplating because it is given and one grows up not questioning - and the other free life where the only rules that matter are the ones you set on yourself. Asya lives these two lifes, and like so many women from her part of the world, she cannot decide which life-path to choose and what is right and what is wrong.
Being an Egytpian myself, I have enjoyed this book even more. I know the streets, the places she goes to, the expressions used. A lovely 800 pages that pass by too quickly, and the reader is left with a part of Asya inside them doing the thinking. Women can't fail to recognise themselves in this book., 11 Nov 2002
Whilst this novel is slow to start, it deserves to be considered a brilliant book because it depicts incredibly accurately, and with true warmth and compassion for men as well as women, the struggle women have finding their true identity from under all the obligations placed on them by society and religion. The 'heroine' of the book needs to be loved for who she is and yet can't bear to disappoint all the expectations around her. This is a dramatic (at times terrifyingly true to life) insight into this conflict of needs. The question, "how do you find meaningful relationships within the cultural expectations of all societies in the world, including the West?" is examined here with great honesty. A story that women everywhere will truly identify with.
Read it!, 17 Nov 2000
If you are at all interested in women's lives in the contemporary Middle East - or even if you're not - you should read this book. It will tell you more about Egyptian society, about the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, about the difficulties facing women, who, like the protaginist Asya, find themselves thorn between tradition and modernity, than any number of non-fiction words ever will. Despite the size of the book - and the fact that I am not generally a keen reader of novels - I devoured this book in a matter of days, and remain haunted by it. Read it!
Fantastic for anyone interested., 09 Aug 2008
this book offers a unique chance to learn of the personal experience side of the palestinian exodus, it is a highly personal account of many events, and holds vivid memories for the reader, and although the books is translated from arabic, it has lost non of its readability.
the book is not as political as some would want, it does offer some political thought now and then, but these mainly reflect the palestinian view.
overall it is an amazing read, a short but concentrated
acount that is also - interestingly - a gripping page-turner.
A deeply moving book., 09 Mar 2008
The words that the author uses in his account of displacement and his return are so powerful. I have read many many books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and none have been so personal nor so eloquent. The author's poetry and prose is breathtakingly poignant. The emotions of displacement have not, in anything I have read so far, been so well expressed.
The pen is mightier than the sword...., 27 Nov 2007
Although Boughouti may not agree with my title,as he still awaits the independent homeland torn from him in 1967.
This slim volume of real-life recollections is one of the best middle-eastern books i have read, the tragedy of the palestinians is recounted by a peaceful,reflective middle aged veteran of the troubles. His life of constant flight is interwoven into the main story here,his return to Ramallah in the West Bank after 30 yrs of exile.
As he drives through the region,he sees the israeli flags and the settlements encroaching on what is supposed to be the palestine authority,he recalls the lives of so many people scattered accross the arab world and europe,all caused by the terrible defeat,in palestinian eyes,of June 1967,the six days war.
Having read the novels of Khanafani, i found this to have a smilar depth of sorrow, a shadowy feeling of despair but somehow boughouti does let some hope into his writing and includes some of his poetry too. Although in all reality,like Khanafani in the sixties the hopes of the noughties are just as tentative.
A window on another world,far from comfortably sleeping Western Europe...
Leaves you speechless, 23 Feb 2007
Words of wisdom have a way of entering our lives, just when the view becomes out of focus and we are drawn into the monotony of day-to-day life. This is my introduction to my feelings towards Palestine.
These feelings were awakened in me after reading an excellent book by Mourid Barghouti, the famous Palestinian poet. "I saw Ramallah". It is touching but most of all, very personal; an unattached account of what Palestinians go through today. Here is an excerpt from the book that touched my soul:
"So, when Yitzhak Rabin spoke so eloquently of the tragedy of Israelis as absolute victims, and the eyes of his listeners in the White House garden and in the whole worlds grew wet, I knew that I would not forget for a long time his words that day:
`We are the victims of war and violence. We have not known a year or a month when mothers have not mourned their sons.'
I feel a tremor that I know so well and which I feel when I know that I have not done my best, that I have failed: Rabin has taken everything, even the story of our death.
This leader knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli blood, the blood of every Israeli individual without exception. He knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli tears, and he was able to present Israel as the victim of a crime perpetrated by us. He changed facts, he altered the order of things, he presented us as the initiators of violence in the Middle East and said what he said with eloquence, with clarity and conviction. I remember every word Rabin said that day:
`We, the soldiers coming back from the war, smeared with blood, we saw our brothers and our friends killed in front of us, we attended their funerals unable to look into the eyes of their mothers. Today we remember each one of them with eternal love.'
It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story with `secondly'. Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "secondly", and the world will be turned upside down. Start your story with `secondly' and the arrows of the Red Indians are the original criminals and the guns of the white men are entirely the victim. It is enough to start with `secondly', for the anger of the black man against the white to be barbarous. Start with `secondly' and Ghandi becomes responsible for the tragedies of the British. You only need to start with `secondly', and the burned Vietnamese will have wounded the humanity of the napalm, and Victor Jara's songs will be the shameful thing and not Pinochet's bullets, which killed so many thousands in the Santiago stadium. It is enough to start the story with `secondly', for my grandmother, Umm `Ata, to become the criminal and Ariel Sharon the victim."
Mourid Barghouti
essential reading, 29 May 2006
I came upon this beautiful, unique book whilst searching for arabic poetry. The style is sometimes poetic but there's also raw experience,a reasoned,almost gentle questioning of the Israeli occupation and a sense of injustice on such a scale that it cannot be ignored. Much more effective than any textbook and more moving than any TV documentary. Read it.
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I Think of You
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £0.43
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Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is. A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down. A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories An acquired taste, 04 Jun 2008
This is a very good example of a particular type of book, a genre. In style and scope it reminded me of the work of Naguib Mahfouz (the Cairo trilogy). It is what I would call a typical middle-eastern novel - big on character, short on plot. A western reader can wonder when a book like this is going to take off, but it never does because it is all about character development. The plot doesn't go anywhere because there isn't one to speak of, and this can make this style of writing a tad tedious at times. If you want something with a bit more pace try A woman of Cairo by Noel Barber (but this is popular and easy to read so isn't regarded as literature). Painfully wordy, 17 Mar 2008
I gave up after 277 pages. This book is in desperate need of a vicious edit. I found the main character Asya self-absorbed, spoilt and immature - perhaps she grows up eventually, but she's bored me so much I haven't the will to stay with her 'til she does.
There may well be a good novel buried in all these words, but the book failed to engage me enough to discover it. Life is too short. Read something else. A lovely insight to a heart torn between two worlds, 17 Jan 2006
A must-read for anyone (whether man or woman) growing up torn between two cultures. Soueif shows us what it is like to have the 'real life' imposed on you, the one you live everyday without contemplating because it is given and one grows up not questioning - and the other free life where the only rules that matter are the ones you set on yourself. Asya lives these two lifes, and like so many women from her part of the world, she cannot decide which life-path to choose and what is right and what is wrong.
Being an Egytpian myself, I have enjoyed this book even more. I know the streets, the places she goes to, the expressions used. A lovely 800 pages that pass by too quickly, and the reader is left with a part of Asya inside them doing the thinking. Women can't fail to recognise themselves in this book., 11 Nov 2002
Whilst this novel is slow to start, it deserves to be considered a brilliant book because it depicts incredibly accurately, and with true warmth and compassion for men as well as women, the struggle women have finding their true identity from under all the obligations placed on them by society and religion. The 'heroine' of the book needs to be loved for who she is and yet can't bear to disappoint all the expectations around her. This is a dramatic (at times terrifyingly true to life) insight into this conflict of needs. The question, "how do you find meaningful relationships within the cultural expectations of all societies in the world, including the West?" is examined here with great honesty. A story that women everywhere will truly identify with.
Read it!, 17 Nov 2000
If you are at all interested in women's lives in the contemporary Middle East - or even if you're not - you should read this book. It will tell you more about Egyptian society, about the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, about the difficulties facing women, who, like the protaginist Asya, find themselves thorn between tradition and modernity, than any number of non-fiction words ever will. Despite the size of the book - and the fact that I am not generally a keen reader of novels - I devoured this book in a matter of days, and remain haunted by it. Read it!
Fantastic for anyone interested., 09 Aug 2008
this book offers a unique chance to learn of the personal experience side of the palestinian exodus, it is a highly personal account of many events, and holds vivid memories for the reader, and although the books is translated from arabic, it has lost non of its readability.
the book is not as political as some would want, it does offer some political thought now and then, but these mainly reflect the palestinian view.
overall it is an amazing read, a short but concentrated
acount that is also - interestingly - a gripping page-turner.
A deeply moving book., 09 Mar 2008
The words that the author uses in his account of displacement and his return are so powerful. I have read many many books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and none have been so personal nor so eloquent. The author's poetry and prose is breathtakingly poignant. The emotions of displacement have not, in anything I have read so far, been so well expressed.
The pen is mightier than the sword...., 27 Nov 2007
Although Boughouti may not agree with my title,as he still awaits the independent homeland torn from him in 1967.
This slim volume of real-life recollections is one of the best middle-eastern books i have read, the tragedy of the palestinians is recounted by a peaceful,reflective middle aged veteran of the troubles. His life of constant flight is interwoven into the main story here,his return to Ramallah in the West Bank after 30 yrs of exile.
As he drives through the region,he sees the israeli flags and the settlements encroaching on what is supposed to be the palestine authority,he recalls the lives of so many people scattered accross the arab world and europe,all caused by the terrible defeat,in palestinian eyes,of June 1967,the six days war.
Having read the novels of Khanafani, i found this to have a smilar depth of sorrow, a shadowy feeling of despair but somehow boughouti does let some hope into his writing and includes some of his poetry too. Although in all reality,like Khanafani in the sixties the hopes of the noughties are just as tentative.
A window on another world,far from comfortably sleeping Western Europe...
Leaves you speechless, 23 Feb 2007
Words of wisdom have a way of entering our lives, just when the view becomes out of focus and we are drawn into the monotony of day-to-day life. This is my introduction to my feelings towards Palestine.
These feelings were awakened in me after reading an excellent book by Mourid Barghouti, the famous Palestinian poet. "I saw Ramallah". It is touching but most of all, very personal; an unattached account of what Palestinians go through today. Here is an excerpt from the book that touched my soul:
"So, when Yitzhak Rabin spoke so eloquently of the tragedy of Israelis as absolute victims, and the eyes of his listeners in the White House garden and in the whole worlds grew wet, I knew that I would not forget for a long time his words that day:
`We are the victims of war and violence. We have not known a year or a month when mothers have not mourned their sons.'
I feel a tremor that I know so well and which I feel when I know that I have not done my best, that I have failed: Rabin has taken everything, even the story of our death.
This leader knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli blood, the blood of every Israeli individual without exception. He knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli tears, and he was able to present Israel as the victim of a crime perpetrated by us. He changed facts, he altered the order of things, he presented us as the initiators of violence in the Middle East and said what he said with eloquence, with clarity and conviction. I remember every word Rabin said that day:
`We, the soldiers coming back from the war, smeared with blood, we saw our brothers and our friends killed in front of us, we attended their funerals unable to look into the eyes of their mothers. Today we remember each one of them with eternal love.'
It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story with `secondly'. Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "secondly", and the world will be turned upside down. Start your story with `secondly' and the arrows of the Red Indians are the original criminals and the guns of the white men are entirely the victim. It is enough to start with `secondly', for the anger of the black man against the white to be barbarous. Start with `secondly' and Ghandi becomes responsible for the tragedies of the British. You only need to start with `secondly', and the burned Vietnamese will have wounded the humanity of the napalm, and Victor Jara's songs will be the shameful thing and not Pinochet's bullets, which killed so many thousands in the Santiago stadium. It is enough to start the story with `secondly', for my grandmother, Umm `Ata, to become the criminal and Ariel Sharon the victim."
Mourid Barghouti
essential reading, 29 May 2006
I came upon this beautiful, unique book whilst searching for arabic poetry. The style is sometimes poetic but there's also raw experience,a reasoned,almost gentle questioning of the Israeli occupation and a sense of injustice on such a scale that it cannot be ignored. Much more effective than any textbook and more moving than any TV documentary. Read it.
Collection of previously published stories, 24 Sep 2008
A reprint of selected stories from earlier volumes - not a new work - beware if you already own Sandpiper and Aisha.
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War With No End
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John BergerNaomi KleinHanif KureishiArundhati RoyAhdaf SoueifJoe SaccoHaifa Zangana;
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*Amazon: £3.10
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Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is. A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down. A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories An acquired taste, 04 Jun 2008
This is a very good example of a particular type of book, a genre. In style and scope it reminded me of the work of Naguib Mahfouz (the Cairo trilogy). It is what I would call a typical middle-eastern novel - big on character, short on plot. A western reader can wonder when a book like this is going to take off, but it never does because it is all about character development. The plot doesn't go anywhere because there isn't one to speak of, and this can make this style of writing a tad tedious at times. If you want something with a bit more pace try A woman of Cairo by Noel Barber (but this is popular and easy to read so isn't regarded as literature). Painfully wordy, 17 Mar 2008
I gave up after 277 pages. This book is in desperate need of a vicious edit. I found the main character Asya self-absorbed, spoilt and immature - perhaps she grows up eventually, but she's bored me so much I haven't the will to stay with her 'til she does.
There may well be a good novel buried in all these words, but the book failed to engage me enough to discover it. Life is too short. Read something else. A lovely insight to a heart torn between two worlds, 17 Jan 2006
A must-read for anyone (whether man or woman) growing up torn between two cultures. Soueif shows us what it is like to have the 'real life' imposed on you, the one you live everyday without contemplating because it is given and one grows up not questioning - and the other free life where the only rules that matter are the ones you set on yourself. Asya lives these two lifes, and like so many women from her part of the world, she cannot decide which life-path to choose and what is right and what is wrong.
Being an Egytpian myself, I have enjoyed this book even more. I know the streets, the places she goes to, the expressions used. A lovely 800 pages that pass by too quickly, and the reader is left with a part of Asya inside them doing the thinking. Women can't fail to recognise themselves in this book., 11 Nov 2002
Whilst this novel is slow to start, it deserves to be considered a brilliant book because it depicts incredibly accurately, and with true warmth and compassion for men as well as women, the struggle women have finding their true identity from under all the obligations placed on them by society and religion. The 'heroine' of the book needs to be loved for who she is and yet can't bear to disappoint all the expectations around her. This is a dramatic (at times terrifyingly true to life) insight into this conflict of needs. The question, "how do you find meaningful relationships within the cultural expectations of all societies in the world, including the West?" is examined here with great honesty. A story that women everywhere will truly identify with.
Read it!, 17 Nov 2000
If you are at all interested in women's lives in the contemporary Middle East - or even if you're not - you should read this book. It will tell you more about Egyptian society, about the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, about the difficulties facing women, who, like the protaginist Asya, find themselves thorn between tradition and modernity, than any number of non-fiction words ever will. Despite the size of the book - and the fact that I am not generally a keen reader of novels - I devoured this book in a matter of days, and remain haunted by it. Read it!
Fantastic for anyone interested., 09 Aug 2008
this book offers a unique chance to learn of the personal experience side of the palestinian exodus, it is a highly personal account of many events, and holds vivid memories for the reader, and although the books is translated from arabic, it has lost non of its readability.
the book is not as political as some would want, it does offer some political thought now and then, but these mainly reflect the palestinian view.
overall it is an amazing read, a short but concentrated
acount that is also - interestingly - a gripping page-turner.
A deeply moving book., 09 Mar 2008
The words that the author uses in his account of displacement and his return are so powerful. I have read many many books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and none have been so personal nor so eloquent. The author's poetry and prose is breathtakingly poignant. The emotions of displacement have not, in anything I have read so far, been so well expressed.
The pen is mightier than the sword...., 27 Nov 2007
Although Boughouti may not agree with my title,as he still awaits the independent homeland torn from him in 1967.
This slim volume of real-life recollections is one of the best middle-eastern books i have read, the tragedy of the palestinians is recounted by a peaceful,reflective middle aged veteran of the troubles. His life of constant flight is interwoven into the main story here,his return to Ramallah in the West Bank after 30 yrs of exile.
As he drives through the region,he sees the israeli flags and the settlements encroaching on what is supposed to be the palestine authority,he recalls the lives of so many people scattered accross the arab world and europe,all caused by the terrible defeat,in palestinian eyes,of June 1967,the six days war.
Having read the novels of Khanafani, i found this to have a smilar depth of sorrow, a shadowy feeling of despair but somehow boughouti does let some hope into his writing and includes some of his poetry too. Although in all reality,like Khanafani in the sixties the hopes of the noughties are just as tentative.
A window on another world,far from comfortably sleeping Western Europe...
Leaves you speechless, 23 Feb 2007
Words of wisdom have a way of entering our lives, just when the view becomes out of focus and we are drawn into the monotony of day-to-day life. This is my introduction to my feelings towards Palestine.
These feelings were awakened in me after reading an excellent book by Mourid Barghouti, the famous Palestinian poet. "I saw Ramallah". It is touching but most of all, very personal; an unattached account of what Palestinians go through today. Here is an excerpt from the book that touched my soul:
"So, when Yitzhak Rabin spoke so eloquently of the tragedy of Israelis as absolute victims, and the eyes of his listeners in the White House garden and in the whole worlds grew wet, I knew that I would not forget for a long time his words that day:
`We are the victims of war and violence. We have not known a year or a month when mothers have not mourned their sons.'
I feel a tremor that I know so well and which I feel when I know that I have not done my best, that I have failed: Rabin has taken everything, even the story of our death.
This leader knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli blood, the blood of every Israeli individual without exception. He knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli tears, and he was able to present Israel as the victim of a crime perpetrated by us. He changed facts, he altered the order of things, he presented us as the initiators of violence in the Middle East and said what he said with eloquence, with clarity and conviction. I remember every word Rabin said that day:
`We, the soldiers coming back from the war, smeared with blood, we saw our brothers and our friends killed in front of us, we attended their funerals unable to look into the eyes of their mothers. Today we remember each one of them with eternal love.'
It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story with `secondly'. Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "secondly", and the world will be turned upside down. Start your story with `secondly' and the arrows of the Red Indians are the original criminals and the guns of the white men are entirely the victim. It is enough to start with `secondly', for the anger of the black man against the white to be barbarous. Start with `secondly' and Ghandi becomes responsible for the tragedies of the British. You only need to start with `secondly', and the burned Vietnamese will have wounded the humanity of the napalm, and Victor Jara's songs will be the shameful thing and not Pinochet's bullets, which killed so many thousands in the Santiago stadium. It is enough to start the story with `secondly', for my grandmother, Umm `Ata, to become the criminal and Ariel Sharon the victim."
Mourid Barghouti
essential reading, 29 May 2006
I came upon this beautiful, unique book whilst searching for arabic poetry. The style is sometimes poetic but there's also raw experience,a reasoned,almost gentle questioning of the Israeli occupation and a sense of injustice on such a scale that it cannot be ignored. Much more effective than any textbook and more moving than any TV documentary. Read it.
Collection of previously published stories, 24 Sep 2008
A reprint of selected stories from earlier volumes - not a new work - beware if you already own Sandpiper and Aisha.
We need peace, justice, equality adn civil liberties, 19 Nov 2008
This book contains 9 texts by 9 different authors and one excellent anti-war strip by Joe Sacco. All the texts treat different aspects of power (war) relations in our modern world.
Power, free markets, democracy
For A. Roy, power is the crucial political, economic and social factor in human affairs.
Private corporations use their power through the Free Market doctrine to undermine democracy: `Today Corporate Globalization needs an international Confederation of corrupt and authoritarian governments in poor countries. It needs a press that only pretends to be free. It needs courts that pretend to dispense justice. It needs nuclear bombs, standing armies, sterner immigration laws to make sure that it is only money, goods, patents and services that are globalized.'
War
N. Klein lambastes the war and disaster profiteers.
War on Terror
For J. LeBlanc and P. Bennis, the War on Terror is a smokescreen for US military aggression in order to gain full spectrum world dominance. The weapons of mass destruction are in the US, not elsewhere.
For T. Nguyen, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni goes after colleges and universities which are described as working against the interests of Western civilization because they are weak in the War on Terror.
War in Iraq
H. Zangara unveils the resistance of the majority of the Iraqi people against the US occupation and its puppet regime. They see control of Iraqi oil as the only reason for this occupation. She draws our attention to the systematic (!) murder of academics, journalists and clerics, the gagging of the media and the lack of freedom of speech in Iraq. But the Iraqi people, of whom 650,000 died (the equivalent of 7 million US citizens), continues to resist through the cultural sector.
L. German remembers the fact that the war created 4 million Iraqi refugees.
The `September 11th Families' stress rightly that the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime does not justify the brutality, death and destruction visited upon Iraq and its citizens.
The Palestine question
For A. Soueif, as long as `ordinary citizens are not allowed to live their daily life in a human way, the influence of the world's only superpower will be proved to be irredeemably malign.'
This book with its sometimes belligerent attacks on current international policies, is a must read for all those interested in the world we live in.
Useful collection from the anti-war movement, 11 Dec 2007
This useful anthology gives some idea of the vast range and depth of the US and British anti-war movements. It explores the impact of the `war on terror' from Palestine to Iraq, and looks at the US and British states' attacks on civil liberties and on public opinion.
In her excellent contribution, Arundhati Roy claims that capitalism undermines not national sovereignty, but democracy: in fact it undermines both. She rightly links the `war on terror' to the economic system that drives it, and points out that capitalism's international bodies, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation are all undemocratic, anti-national and secretive.
The best-researched piece is by Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. She calls our current system `disaster capitalism'. She observes that after 9/11, Israel increased its military spending by 10%, financed by social services cuts. This increase funded 350 new hi-tec firms specialising in security, surveillance and weapons: one firm is revealingly called `Instinctive Shooting International'. Israel now holds six counter-terrorism conferences a year, and Forbes Magazine calls it `the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies'.
Similarly, in the USA the Spade Defense Index, for defence, security and aerospace stocks, has risen by 15% every year since 9/11. Firms profit from the destruction caused by the wars that their states begin, then they profit again from contracts for rebuilding, then profit again by not actually rebuilding anything. Klein has rediscovered Lenin's insight that "war is terrible - and terribly profitable."
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Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is. A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down. A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories An acquired taste, 04 Jun 2008
This is a very good example of a particular type of book, a genre. In style and scope it reminded me of the work of Naguib Mahfouz (the Cairo trilogy). It is what I would call a typical middle-eastern novel - big on character, short on plot. A western reader can wonder when a book like this is going to take off, but it never does because it is all about character development. The plot doesn't go anywhere because there isn't one to speak of, and this can make this style of writing a tad tedious at times. If you want something with a bit more pace try A woman of Cairo by Noel Barber (but this is popular and easy to read so isn't regarded as literature). Painfully wordy, 17 Mar 2008
I gave up after 277 pages. This book is in desperate need of a vicious edit. I found the main character Asya self-absorbed, spoilt and immature - perhaps she grows up eventually, but she's bored me so much I haven't the will to stay with her 'til she does.
There may well be a good novel buried in all these words, but the book failed to engage me enough to discover it. Life is too short. Read something else. A lovely insight to a heart torn between two worlds, 17 Jan 2006
A must-read for anyone (whether man or woman) growing up torn between two cultures. Soueif shows us what it is like to have the 'real life' imposed on you, the one you live everyday without contemplating because it is given and one grows up not questioning - and the other free life where the only rules that matter are the ones you set on yourself. Asya lives these two lifes, and like so many women from her part of the world, she cannot decide which life-path to choose and what is right and what is wrong.
Being an Egytpian myself, I have enjoyed this book even more. I know the streets, the places she goes to, the expressions used. A lovely 800 pages that pass by too quickly, and the reader is left with a part of Asya inside them doing the thinking. Women can't fail to recognise themselves in this book., 11 Nov 2002
Whilst this novel is slow to start, it deserves to be considered a brilliant book because it depicts incredibly accurately, and with true warmth and compassion for men as well as women, the struggle women have finding their true identity from under all the obligations placed on them by society and religion. The 'heroine' of the book needs to be loved for who she is and yet can't bear to disappoint all the expectations around her. This is a dramatic (at times terrifyingly true to life) insight into this conflict of needs. The question, "how do you find meaningful relationships within the cultural expectations of all societies in the world, including the West?" is examined here with great honesty. A story that women everywhere will truly identify with.
Read it!, 17 Nov 2000
If you are at all interested in women's lives in the contemporary Middle East - or even if you're not - you should read this book. It will tell you more about Egyptian society, about the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, about the difficulties facing women, who, like the protaginist Asya, find themselves thorn between tradition and modernity, than any number of non-fiction words ever will. Despite the size of the book - and the fact that I am not generally a keen reader of novels - I devoured this book in a matter of days, and remain haunted by it. Read it!
Fantastic for anyone interested., 09 Aug 2008
this book offers a unique chance to learn of the personal experience side of the palestinian exodus, it is a highly personal account of many events, and holds vivid memories for the reader, and although the books is translated from arabic, it has lost non of its readability.
the book is not as political as some would want, it does offer some political thought now and then, but these mainly reflect the palestinian view.
overall it is an amazing read, a short but concentrated
acount that is also - interestingly - a gripping page-turner.
A deeply moving book., 09 Mar 2008
The words that the author uses in his account of displacement and his return are so powerful. I have read many many books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and none have been so personal nor so eloquent. The author's poetry and prose is breathtakingly poignant. The emotions of displacement have not, in anything I have read so far, been so well expressed.
The pen is mightier than the sword...., 27 Nov 2007
Although Boughouti may not agree with my title,as he still awaits the independent homeland torn from him in 1967.
This slim volume of real-life recollections is one of the best middle-eastern books i have read, the tragedy of the palestinians is recounted by a peaceful,reflective middle aged veteran of the troubles. His life of constant flight is interwoven into the main story here,his return to Ramallah in the West Bank after 30 yrs of exile.
As he drives through the region,he sees the israeli flags and the settlements encroaching on what is supposed to be the palestine authority,he recalls the lives of so many people scattered accross the arab world and europe,all caused by the terrible defeat,in palestinian eyes,of June 1967,the six days war.
Having read the novels of Khanafani, i found this to have a smilar depth of sorrow, a shadowy feeling of despair but somehow boughouti does let some hope into his writing and includes some of his poetry too. Although in all reality,like Khanafani in the sixties the hopes of the noughties are just as tentative.
A window on another world,far from comfortably sleeping Western Europe...
Leaves you speechless, 23 Feb 2007
Words of wisdom have a way of entering our lives, just when the view becomes out of focus and we are drawn into the monotony of day-to-day life. This is my introduction to my feelings towards Palestine.
These feelings were awakened in me after reading an excellent book by Mourid Barghouti, the famous Palestinian poet. "I saw Ramallah". It is touching but most of all, very personal; an unattached account of what Palestinians go through today. Here is an excerpt from the book that touched my soul:
"So, when Yitzhak Rabin spoke so eloquently of the tragedy of Israelis as absolute victims, and the eyes of his listeners in the White House garden and in the whole worlds grew wet, I knew that I would not forget for a long time his words that day:
`We are the victims of war and violence. We have not known a year or a month when mothers have not mourned their sons.'
I feel a tremor that I know so well and which I feel when I know that I have not done my best, that I have failed: Rabin has taken everything, even the story of our death.
This leader knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli blood, the blood of every Israeli individual without exception. He knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli tears, and he was able to present Israel as the victim of a crime perpetrated by us. He changed facts, he altered the order of things, he presented us as the initiators of violence in the Middle East and said what he said with eloquence, with clarity and conviction. I remember every word Rabin said that day:
`We, the soldiers coming back from the war, smeared with blood, we saw our brothers and our friends killed in front of us, we attended their funerals unable to look into the eyes of their mothers. Today we remember each one of them with eternal love.'
It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story with `secondly'. Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "secondly", and the world will be turned upside down. Start your story with `secondly' and the arrows of the Red Indians are the original criminals and the guns of the white men are entirely the victim. It is enough to start with `secondly', for the anger of the black man against the white to be barbarous. Start with `secondly' and Ghandi becomes responsible for the tragedies of the British. You only need to start with `secondly', and the burned Vietnamese will have wounded the humanity of the napalm, and Victor Jara's songs will be the shameful thing and not Pinochet's bullets, which killed so many thousands in the Santiago stadium. It is enough to start the story with `secondly', for my grandmother, Umm `Ata, to become the criminal and Ariel Sharon the victim."
Mourid Barghouti
essential reading, 29 May 2006
I came upon this beautiful, unique book whilst searching for arabic poetry. The style is sometimes poetic but there's also raw experience,a reasoned,almost gentle questioning of the Israeli occupation and a sense of injustice on such a scale that it cannot be ignored. Much more effective than any textbook and more moving than any TV documentary. Read it.
Collection of previously published stories, 24 Sep 2008
A reprint of selected stories from earlier volumes - not a new work - beware if you already own Sandpiper and Aisha.
We need peace, justice, equality adn civil liberties, 19 Nov 2008
This book contains 9 texts by 9 different authors and one excellent anti-war strip by Joe Sacco. All the texts treat different aspects of power (war) relations in our modern world.
Power, free markets, democracy
For A. Roy, power is the crucial political, economic and social factor in human affairs.
Private corporations use their power through the Free Market doctrine to undermine democracy: `Today Corporate Globalization needs an international Confederation of corrupt and authoritarian governments in poor countries. It needs a press that only pretends to be free. It needs courts that pretend to dispense justice. It needs nuclear bombs, standing armies, sterner immigration laws to make sure that it is only money, goods, patents and services that are globalized.'
War
N. Klein lambastes the war and disaster profiteers.
War on Terror
For J. LeBlanc and P. Bennis, the War on Terror is a smokescreen for US military aggression in order to gain full spectrum world dominance. The weapons of mass destruction are in the US, not elsewhere.
For T. Nguyen, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni goes after colleges and universities which are described as working against the interests of Western civilization because they are weak in the War on Terror.
War in Iraq
H. Zangara unveils the resistance of the majority of the Iraqi people against the US occupation and its puppet regime. They see control of Iraqi oil as the only reason for this occupation. She draws our attention to the systematic (!) murder of academics, journalists and clerics, the gagging of the media and the lack of freedom of speech in Iraq. But the Iraqi people, of whom 650,000 died (the equivalent of 7 million US citizens), continues to resist through the cultural sector.
L. German remembers the fact that the war created 4 million Iraqi refugees.
The `September 11th Families' stress rightly that the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime does not justify the brutality, death and destruction visited upon Iraq and its citizens.
The Palestine question
For A. Soueif, as long as `ordinary citizens are not allowed to live their daily life in a human way, the influence of the world's only superpower will be proved to be irredeemably malign.'
This book with its sometimes belligerent attacks on current international policies, is a must read for all those interested in the world we live in.
Useful collection from the anti-war movement, 11 Dec 2007
This useful anthology gives some idea of the vast range and depth of the US and British anti-war movements. It explores the impact of the `war on terror' from Palestine to Iraq, and looks at the US and British states' attacks on civil liberties and on public opinion.
In her excellent contribution, Arundhati Roy claims that capitalism undermines not national sovereignty, but democracy: in fact it undermines both. She rightly links the `war on terror' to the economic system that drives it, and points out that capitalism's international bodies, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation are all undemocratic, anti-national and secretive.
The best-researched piece is by Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. She calls our current system `disaster capitalism'. She observes that after 9/11, Israel increased its military spending by 10%, financed by social services cuts. This increase funded 350 new hi-tec firms specialising in security, surveillance and weapons: one firm is revealingly called `Instinctive Shooting International'. Israel now holds six counter-terrorism conferences a year, and Forbes Magazine calls it `the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies'.
Similarly, in the USA the Spade Defense Index, for defence, security and aerospace stocks, has risen by 15% every year since 9/11. Firms profit from the destruction caused by the wars that their states begin, then they profit again from contracts for rebuilding, then profit again by not actually rebuilding anything. Klein has rediscovered Lenin's insight that "war is terrible - and terribly profitable."
Fiction not fact, 21 Aug 2005
I found this book shelved under fiction at my local library and was pleased to find it because I've enjoyed two of her novels. Now I've read it I'm left bemused. The first part is reprints of some of her Guardian articles on Israel/Palestine, the second mainly book reviews. If I'd read the book reviews first I might have understood the political essays better: they are mostly surprisingly ungenerous and try to put the authors down by explaining how much better Soueif understands Egypt and Egyptians than they do, often putting undue emphasis on small issues of language and other details. The political essays are either mendacious or naïve and at times truly shocking. She justifies Arafat's refusal to negotiate with Barak and Clinton at Taba by saying that Clinton was on the way out and he believed it better to wait for Bush, the oil-man. This is an argument from hindsight: no one knew before the election whether Gore or Bush would win and does not begin to justify the subsequent pain and deaths among both Israelis and Palestinians which could have been avoided if Arafat had been willing to negotiate rather than initiating the intifada - Churchill was right when he said 'jaw-jaw is better than war-war'. She says 'a 'believing' Muslim cannot hate a Christian or a Jew because of who they are since Islam is clear that Muslims must live in fellowship with people of the Book'. This ignores the vile anti-Jewish sentiments preached in mosques and published in the Arab press in recent years, including a resuscitation of the mediaeval Christian blood libel that Jews use human blood to manufacture festival foods. She is falsely told that the 2 new immigrants to Israel who lost their way and were lynched in Ramallah were government agents who pretend to be Arabs and prints this without question. She claims Palestinians looking for peace cannot be expected to meet Israelis who do not accept the right of return of Palestinian refugees into Israel as well as the future Palestinian state - since there are Palestinians who say that the way forward for peace is to acknowledge that Israel cannot be asked to accept the return of the refugees to Israel as well as to Palestine, as that would destroy Israel as a Jewish state while creating three Palestinian states (Jordan, Israel and Palestine) in the area in which Britain was given as a Mandate to create a home for Jews, why does Soueif present one possible view, albeit a narrow-minded one, as if it is the only valid one. She refuses to accept that the world-view of Israeli writers has any validity - surely the only way for peace to come in the Middle East is for both sides to learn to understand the mindset of the other: anyone who refuses to accept this is open to the accusation that they are using the Middle East to further their reputation as a writer rather than seriously working for peace. Soueif's novels show she is a magnificent writer of fiction but I think my librarians have a point - her political commentary is also a great work of fiction.
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I Saw Ramallah
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Customer Reviews
Egypt, past and present, 11 Nov 2008
I must admit I picked this up because of the cover and in my head it was a different book. A happy error!
A British Lady falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha in 1900s Egypt. Her great-granddaughter goes through the papers in her trunk and enlists a distant cousin's help to re-discover her story. The story is narrated by this cousin in 1997, reminding herself of the tales her mother had told her.
Knowing very little about modern Egypt, the book is set at key points in Egypt's history - turn of the century, with Egypt struggling for independence from Turkey and British influence and 1997, a turbulent year with terrorist attacks.
An entry into a different world, 21 Oct 2007
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which did what the best books do - taught me something and enriched my understanding of the world and other people.
I knew next to nothing about Egypt, but now I feel that I understand the atmosphere in which the characters lived, their syle(s) of life, and above all about the British Empire and its effect on subject peoples. JB Full of passion, 23 Feb 2007
This was a great book, a becon for Arabs and Muslims. The story is passionate on every front, passionate in the love story, passionate in patriotism, passionate in its anguish at the unjust. Mesmerising and captivating. Reading its pages is like being on the ondulating sea, with waves that take you up and down, sometimes rough, sometimes tranquil. I agree with the critic that called "Egypt" the true heroine. The history is infused in the story and you feel trapped in that time, living the same battle lived by many Egyptians, angry at the colonialists and angry still, seeing that 100 years down the line, the same politic is applied under a different banner. But history, as the book says, will run its course. One day it will be our day.
Ahdaf Soueif is marvellous, a model to all the talents of the arabs... something to look up to and be proud of.
My hope now is for someone to turn it into a movie, a sensitive movie that transpires history and tells the story as it truly is. A beautifully written book, 27 Jun 2006
Not just a beautiful and moving love story, but a history of Egypt and colonialism. I couldn't put it down. A fascinating read, 11 Apr 2005
This amazing book that deals with the intricacies involved when two people from different cultures , from nations that have different histories and directions who love another come to realize that their lives together is a challenge that is not based on love alone and that time hasn't and will never mitigate the inherent differences. This is a must read for those embracing multi-culturalism, cosmopolitanism and the global economy. One thing for sure is that this novel is a thought-provoking, socially challenging and compelling read. I highly recommend it along with:Disciples of Fortune, Sugar Street, The usurper and other Stories An acquired taste, 04 Jun 2008
This is a very good example of a particular type of book, a genre. In style and scope it reminded me of the work of Naguib Mahfouz (the Cairo trilogy). It is what I would call a typical middle-eastern novel - big on character, short on plot. A western reader can wonder when a book like this is going to take off, but it never does because it is all about character development. The plot doesn't go anywhere because there isn't one to speak of, and this can make this style of writing a tad tedious at times. If you want something with a bit more pace try A woman of Cairo by Noel Barber (but this is popular and easy to read so isn't regarded as literature). Painfully wordy, 17 Mar 2008
I gave up after 277 pages. This book is in desperate need of a vicious edit. I found the main character Asya self-absorbed, spoilt and immature - perhaps she grows up eventually, but she's bored me so much I haven't the will to stay with her 'til she does.
There may well be a good novel buried in all these words, but the book failed to engage me enough to discover it. Life is too short. Read something else. A lovely insight to a heart torn between two worlds, 17 Jan 2006
A must-read for anyone (whether man or woman) growing up torn between two cultures. Soueif shows us what it is like to have the 'real life' imposed on you, the one you live everyday without contemplating because it is given and one grows up not questioning - and the other free life where the only rules that matter are the ones you set on yourself. Asya lives these two lifes, and like so many women from her part of the world, she cannot decide which life-path to choose and what is right and what is wrong.
Being an Egytpian myself, I have enjoyed this book even more. I know the streets, the places she goes to, the expressions used. A lovely 800 pages that pass by too quickly, and the reader is left with a part of Asya inside them doing the thinking. Women can't fail to recognise themselves in this book., 11 Nov 2002
Whilst this novel is slow to start, it deserves to be considered a brilliant book because it depicts incredibly accurately, and with true warmth and compassion for men as well as women, the struggle women have finding their true identity from under all the obligations placed on them by society and religion. The 'heroine' of the book needs to be loved for who she is and yet can't bear to disappoint all the expectations around her. This is a dramatic (at times terrifyingly true to life) insight into this conflict of needs. The question, "how do you find meaningful relationships within the cultural expectations of all societies in the world, including the West?" is examined here with great honesty. A story that women everywhere will truly identify with.
Read it!, 17 Nov 2000
If you are at all interested in women's lives in the contemporary Middle East - or even if you're not - you should read this book. It will tell you more about Egyptian society, about the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, about the difficulties facing women, who, like the protaginist Asya, find themselves thorn between tradition and modernity, than any number of non-fiction words ever will. Despite the size of the book - and the fact that I am not generally a keen reader of novels - I devoured this book in a matter of days, and remain haunted by it. Read it!
Fantastic for anyone interested., 09 Aug 2008
this book offers a unique chance to learn of the personal experience side of the palestinian exodus, it is a highly personal account of many events, and holds vivid memories for the reader, and although the books is translated from arabic, it has lost non of its readability.
the book is not as political as some would want, it does offer some political thought now and then, but these mainly reflect the palestinian view.
overall it is an amazing read, a short but concentrated
acount that is also - interestingly - a gripping page-turner.
A deeply moving book., 09 Mar 2008
The words that the author uses in his account of displacement and his return are so powerful. I have read many many books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and none have been so personal nor so eloquent. The author's poetry and prose is breathtakingly poignant. The emotions of displacement have not, in anything I have read so far, been so well expressed.
The pen is mightier than the sword...., 27 Nov 2007
Although Boughouti may not agree with my title,as he still awaits the independent homeland torn from him in 1967.
This slim volume of real-life recollections is one of the best middle-eastern books i have read, the tragedy of the palestinians is recounted by a peaceful,reflective middle aged veteran of the troubles. His life of constant flight is interwoven into the main story here,his return to Ramallah in the West Bank after 30 yrs of exile.
As he drives through the region,he sees the israeli flags and the settlements encroaching on what is supposed to be the palestine authority,he recalls the lives of so many people scattered accross the arab world and europe,all caused by the terrible defeat,in palestinian eyes,of June 1967,the six days war.
Having read the novels of Khanafani, i found this to have a smilar depth of sorrow, a shadowy feeling of despair but somehow boughouti does let some hope into his writing and includes some of his poetry too. Although in all reality,like Khanafani in the sixties the hopes of the noughties are just as tentative.
A window on another world,far from comfortably sleeping Western Europe...
Leaves you speechless, 23 Feb 2007
Words of wisdom have a way of entering our lives, just when the view becomes out of focus and we are drawn into the monotony of day-to-day life. This is my introduction to my feelings towards Palestine.
These feelings were awakened in me after reading an excellent book by Mourid Barghouti, the famous Palestinian poet. "I saw Ramallah". It is touching but most of all, very personal; an unattached account of what Palestinians go through today. Here is an excerpt from the book that touched my soul:
"So, when Yitzhak Rabin spoke so eloquently of the tragedy of Israelis as absolute victims, and the eyes of his listeners in the White House garden and in the whole worlds grew wet, I knew that I would not forget for a long time his words that day:
`We are the victims of war and violence. We have not known a year or a month when mothers have not mourned their sons.'
I feel a tremor that I know so well and which I feel when I know that I have not done my best, that I have failed: Rabin has taken everything, even the story of our death.
This leader knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli blood, the blood of every Israeli individual without exception. He knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli tears, and he was able to present Israel as the victim of a crime perpetrated by us. He changed facts, he altered the order of things, he presented us as the initiators of violence in the Middle East and said what he said with eloquence, with clarity and conviction. I remember every word Rabin said that day:
`We, the soldiers coming back from the war, smeared with blood, we saw our brothers and our friends killed in front of us, we attended their funerals unable to look into the eyes of their mothers. Today we remember each one of them with eternal love.'
It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story with `secondly'. Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "secondly", and the world will be turned upside down. Start your story with `secondly' and the arrows of the Red Indians are the original criminals and the guns of the white men are entirely the victim. It is enough to start with `secondly', for the anger of the black man against the white to be barbarous. Start with `secondly' and Ghandi becomes responsible for the tragedies of the British. You only need to start with `secondly', and the burned Vietnamese will have wounded the humanity of the napalm, and Victor Jara's songs will be the shameful thing and not Pinochet's bullets, which killed so many thousands in the Santiago stadium. It is enough to start the story with `secondly', for my grandmother, Umm `Ata, to become the criminal and Ariel Sharon the victim."
Mourid Barghouti
essential reading, 29 May 2006
I came upon this beautiful, unique book whilst searching for arabic poetry. The style is sometimes poetic but there's also raw experience,a reasoned,almost gentle questioning of the Israeli occupation and a sense of injustice on such a scale that it cannot be ignored. Much more effective than any textbook and more moving than any TV documentary. Read it.
Collection of previously published stories, 24 Sep 2008
A reprint of selected stories from earlier volumes - not a new work - beware if you already own Sandpiper and Aisha.
We need peace, justice, equality adn civil liberties, 19 Nov 2008
This book contains 9 texts by 9 different authors and one excellent anti-war strip by Joe Sacco. All the texts treat different aspects of power (war) relations in our modern world.
Power, free markets, democracy
For A. Roy, power is the crucial political, economic and social factor in human affairs.
Private corporations use their power through the Free Market doctrine to undermine democracy: `Today Corporate Globalization needs an international Confederation of corrupt and authoritarian governments in poor countries. It needs a press that only pretends to be free. It needs courts that pretend to dispense justice. It needs nuclear bombs, standing armies, sterner immigration laws to make sure that it is only money, goods, patents and services that are globalized.'
War
N. Klein lambastes the war and disaster profiteers.
War on Terror
For J. LeBlanc and P. Bennis, the War on Terror is a smokescreen for US military aggression in order to gain full spectrum world dominance. The weapons of mass destruction are in the US, not elsewhere.
For T. Nguyen, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni goes after colleges and universities which are described as working against the interests of Western civilization because they are weak in the War on Terror.
War in Iraq
H. Zangara unveils the resistance of the majority of the Iraqi people against the US occupation and its puppet regime. They see control of Iraqi oil as the only reason for this occupation. She draws our attention to the systematic (!) murder of academics, journalists and clerics, the gagging of the media and the lack of freedom of speech in Iraq. But the Iraqi people, of whom 650,000 died (the equivalent of 7 million US citizens), continues to resist through the cultural sector.
L. German remembers the fact that the war created 4 million Iraqi refugees.
The `September 11th Families' stress rightly that the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime does not justify the brutality, death and destruction visited upon Iraq and its citizens.
The Palestine question
For A. Soueif, as long as `ordinary citizens are not allowed to live their daily life in a human way, the influence of the world's only superpower will be proved to be irredeemably malign.'
This book with its sometimes belligerent attacks on current international policies, is a must read for all those interested in the world we live in.
Useful collection from the anti-war movement, 11 Dec 2007
This useful anthology gives some idea of the vast range and depth of the US and British anti-war movements. It explores the impact of the `war on terror' from Palestine to Iraq, and looks at the US and British states' attacks on civil liberties and on public opinion.
In her excellent contribution, Arundhati Roy claims that capitalism undermines not national sovereignty, but democracy: in fact it undermines both. She rightly links the `war on terror' to the economic system that drives it, and points out that capitalism's international bodies, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation are all undemocratic, anti-national and secretive.
The best-researched piece is by Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. She calls our current system `disaster capitalism'. She observes that after 9/11, Israel increased its military spending by 10%, financed by social services cuts. This increase funded 350 new hi-tec firms specialising in security, surveillance and weapons: one firm is revealingly called `Instinctive Shooting International'. Israel now holds six counter-terrorism conferences a year, and Forbes Magazine calls it `the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies'.
Similarly, in the USA the Spade Defense Index, for defence, security and aerospace stocks, has risen by 15% every year since 9/11. Firms profit from the destruction caused by the wars that their states begin, then they profit again from contracts for rebuilding, then profit again by not actually rebuilding anything. Klein has rediscovered Lenin's insight that "war is terrible - and terribly profitable."
Fiction not fact, 21 Aug 2005
I found this book shelved under fiction at my local library and was pleased to find it because I've enjoyed two of her novels. Now I've read it I'm left bemused. The first part is reprints of some of her Guardian articles on Israel/Palestine, the second mainly book reviews. If I'd read the book reviews first I might have understood the political essays better: they are mostly surprisingly ungenerous and try to put the authors down by explaining how much better Soueif understands Egypt and Egyptians than they do, often putting undue emphasis on small issues of language and other details. The political essays are either mendacious or naïve and at times truly shocking. She justifies Arafat's refusal to negotiate with Barak and Clinton at Taba by saying that Clinton was on the way out and he believed it better to wait for Bush, the oil-man. This is an argument from hindsight: no one knew before the election whether Gore or Bush would win and does not begin to justify the subsequent pain and deaths among both Israelis and Palestinians which could have been avoided if Arafat had been willing to negotiate rather than initiating the intifada - Churchill was right when he said 'jaw-jaw is better than war-war'. She says 'a 'believing' Muslim cannot hate a Christian or a Jew because of who they are since Islam is clear that Muslims must live in fellowship with people of the Book'. This ignores the vile anti-Jewish sentiments preached in mosques and published in the Arab press in recent years, including a resuscitation of the mediaeval Christian blood libel that Jews use human blood to manufacture festival foods. She is falsely told that the 2 new immigrants to Israel who lost their way and were lynched in Ramallah were government agents who pretend to be Arabs and prints this without question. She claims Palestinians looking for peace cannot be expected to meet Israelis who do not accept the right of return of Palestinian refugees into Israel as well as the future Palestinian state - since there are Palestinians who say that the way forward for peace is to acknowledge that Israel cannot be asked to accept the return of the refugees to Israel as well as to Palestine, as that would destroy Israel as a Jewish state while creating three Palestinian states (Jordan, Israel and Palestine) in the area in which Britain was given as a Mandate to create a home for Jews, why does Soueif present one possible view, albeit a narrow-minded one, as if it is the only valid one. She refuses to accept that the world-view of Israeli writers has any validity - surely the only way for peace to come in the Middle East is for both sides to learn to understand the mindset of the other: anyone who refuses to accept this is open to the accusation that they are using the Middle East to further their reputation as a writer rather than seriously working for peace. Soueif's novels show she is a magnificent writer of fiction but I think my librarians have a point - her political commentary is also a great work of fiction.
Fantastic for anyone interested., 09 Aug 2008
this book offers a unique chance to learn of the personal experience side of the palestinian exodus, it is a highly personal account of many events, and holds vivid memories for the reader, and although the books is translated from arabic, it has lost non of its readability.
the book is not as political as some would want, it does offer some political thought now and then, but these mainly reflect the palestinian view.
overall it is an amazing read, a short but concentrated
acount that is also - interestingly - a gripping page-turner.
A deeply moving book., 09 Mar 2008
The words that the author uses in his account of displacement and his return are so powerful. I have read many many books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and none have been so personal nor so eloquent. The author's poetry and prose is breathtakingly poignant. The emotions of displacement have not, in anything I have read so far, been so well expressed.
The pen is mightier than the sword...., 27 Nov 2007
Although Boughouti may not agree with my title,as he still awaits the independent homeland torn from him in 1967.
This slim volume of real-life recollections is one of the best middle-eastern books i have read, the tragedy of the palestinians is recounted by a peaceful,reflective middle aged veteran of the troubles. His life of constant flight is interwoven into the main story here,his return to Ramallah in the West Bank after 30 yrs of exile.
As he drives through the region,he sees the israeli flags and the settlements encroaching on what is supposed to be the palestine authority,he recalls the lives of so many people scattered accross the arab world and europe,all caused by the terrible defeat,in palestinian eyes,of June 1967,the six days war.
Having read the novels of Khanafani, i found this to have a smilar depth of sorrow, a shadowy feeling of despair but somehow boughouti does let some hope into his writing and includes some of his poetry too. Although in all reality,like Khanafani in the sixties the hopes of the noughties are just as tentative.
A window on another world,far from comfortably sleeping Western Europe...
Leaves you speechless, 23 Feb 2007
Words of wisdom have a way of entering our lives, just when the view becomes out of focus and we are drawn into the monotony of day-to-day life. This is my introduction to my feelings towards Palestine.
These feelings were awakened in me after reading an excellent book by Mourid Barghouti, the famous Palestinian poet. "I saw Ramallah". It is touching but most of all, very personal; an unattached account of what Palestinians go through today. Here is an excerpt from the book that touched my soul:
"So, when Yitzhak Rabin spoke so eloquently of the tragedy of Israelis as absolute victims, and the eyes of his listeners in the White House garden and in the whole worlds grew wet, I knew that I would not forget for a long time his words that day:
`We are the victims of war and violence. We have not known a year or a month when mothers have not mourned their sons.'
I feel a tremor that I know so well and which I feel when I know that I have not done my best, that I have failed: Rabin has taken everything, even the story of our death.
This leader knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli blood, the blood of every Israeli individual without exception. He knew how to demand that the world should respect Israeli tears, and he was able to present Israel as the victim of a crime perpetrated by us. He changed facts, he altered the order of things, he presented us as the initiators of violence in the Middle East and said what he said with eloquence, with clarity and conviction. I remember every word Rabin said that day:
`We, the soldiers coming back from the war, smeared with blood, we saw our brothers and our friends killed in front of us, we attended their funerals unable to look into the eyes of their mothers. Today we remember each one of them with eternal love.'
It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story with `secondly'. Yes, this is what Rabin did. He simply neglected to speak of what happened first. Start your story with "secondly", and the world will be turned upside down. Start your story with `secon | | |