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Title: The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif ISBN: 0-385-72011-4 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.98 (56 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A fine romance.
Comment: If you love books which transport you to another world (in this case, at least two different worlds in two different time periods), which give you fascinating insights into other cultures, which incorporate a good deal of history into an exciting and completely developed story line, and which introduce you to a main character so charming and intelligent that you hate to have her disappear at the end of the novel, you will be thoroughly captivated by Map of Love.
Anna Winterbourne, an aristocratic young widow from England, travels to Egypt in the late 19th century during the height of British imperialism. She observes (and resents) the condescending behavior of her countrymen towards the Egyptians and is intelligently critical of British military "adventures" there and in other Arab states such as the Sudan, South Africa, and Palestine. As she comes to know the Egyptian people and falls in love with an Egyptian, the reader--along with Anna's granddaughter and great-granddaughter, who are reading the letters and diaries which reveal her story--learns much about the historical betrayals which have so complicated presentday relations between western and Arab countries.
Like most romances, this one requires you to accept a very high level of coincidence, but that is more than offset by fine descriptive writing, fully drawn characters, and the placing of a great many very recent Middle Eastern events into their Arab contexts. It is not surprising that this very well written book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. What is surprising is that this Egyptian author is so successful in presenting events from an Arab point of view to a western audience--a view that is culturally honest without being polemical.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good love story with authentic politics
Comment: A previous reviewer called this book propaganda, saying that all the points of view are not presented on the history of Egypt. I felt that that was exactly the point - the Egyptian characters have Egyptian opinions, and their conversations and debates are written much as they would have occurred. It's not meant to be a history book; it's a historical novel which, in addition to a compelling (but somewhat standard) set of love stories, also gives an illuminating look into the Egyptian perspective on their own culture and history. I found it a fascinating chance to explore an Egyptian point of view, presented truthfully from characters whose motivations I could understand.
Rating: 5
Summary: Mesmerizing, Enchanting
Comment: Soueif pulls you so deeply into the characters' world that you want to reach out and take the hands of the lovers... and you're almost startled--and overwhelmingly disappointed--when you cannot. I had difficulty putting this novel down and yearned to continue reading long after I had finished the last page.
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Title: In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif ISBN: 0385720378 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 03 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Women of Sand and Myrrh by Hanna Al-Shaykh, Catherine Cobham ISBN: 0385423586 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Story of Zahra by Hanan Shaykh, Hanan Al-Shaykh ISBN: 0385472064 Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street by Sabry Hafez, Naguib Mahfouz ISBN: 0375413316 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi ISBN: 081297106X Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 30 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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