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Title: Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif, Abd Al-Rahman Munif, Erroll McDonald ISBN: 039475526X Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.82
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent historical novel, gracefully translated.
Comment: The first book of the trilogy, Cities of Salt, describes the discovery of oil in the Arabian penninsula and the effect it has on the people living there. As Europeans and Americans arrive to develop and control the production and sale of the Arabian oil, their presence inevitably changes the indigenous people for good and bad. Munif articulates both the political and personal aspects of this interaction and forms an interesting critique of the rulers' reactions.
As both history and literature, Cities of Salt succedes at the highest levels (in the Arabic, he includes much of the traditional dialect) and is helped by a lucid, unobtrusive translation by Peter Theroux
Rating: 4
Summary: Cities of Salt Turning to Tears
Comment: I can see why this book has been banned in Arab countries. Cities of Salt details the transition of an unnamed Arab emirate from how it had apparently been functioning to a current, oil producing state. The story, taken as a whole is heartbreaking. The story begins before oil is discovered, and tells a tale of a generous, yet human, people. Their Emir, unbeknownst to them, allows some Americans into the country to test for oil and eventually, drilling takes place. On the way, people are driven out of their homes, villages are leveled, lives irrevocably, irretrievably changed. The old way of life is gone, and with it, the general pleasantness and generosity that had once been prevalent. The story is of mainly of a place, the characters only secondary, for their is no true protagonist, save the land. Characters play the lead for a time, but soon something happens, someone leaves, someone arrives and things change again. Cities of Salt is a moving and bittersweet story told in a matter-of-fact manner, a story which mourns the passing of a way of life, without being mournful itself.
Rating: 5
Summary: A nostalgia to humanity before oil era
Comment: This is the first part of the pentology city of the salt.I read this pentology 3 times,and i will read it again and again.In this volume the author described the Saudia,s people"before the oil era"they were poor but happy and how they had changed with the oil drilling and the coming of the Americans,you can feel the nostalgia of the old days.i laugh a lot about the prince when he saw the first radio and how he loaded his gun before he put it on.The next 4 volumes"i do not know how many volumes had been translated to English as i read it in Arabic" described how people there changed,rich but lost their old nobel feelings.you can know easly the real names of the main characters.This book is forbidden in Saudia Arabia ,even there is a debat about rhe real nationality of the author,but surely he feels nostalgia for old days,even the name of this novel,as he said in one of his pages,means ir will collapse for the first rain because it is made of salt.Many members of my family have the same feelings when they read this book,they are so absorbed to the book ,so that they can not even talk to anyone at home.lastely i think this is the second great book written in arabic after mahfouz Cairo triology
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Title: The Trench (Cities of Salt Trilogy, Vol 2) by Abdelrahman Munif, Peter Theroux, Abd Al-Rahman Munif ISBN: 0679745335 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1993 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Variations on Night and Day by Abd Al-Rahman Munif, Peter Theroux, Abdelrahman Munif ISBN: 0679755519 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1994 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih ISBN: 0435900668 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 1970 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali ISBN: 0860916766 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist (Emerging Voices: New International Fiction Series) by Imil Habibi, S. K. Jayyusi, T. Legassick, Trevor Le Gassick, Emile Habiby ISBN: 1566564158 Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Pub. Date: 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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