The Map of Love
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
From Amazon.com:
Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love is a massive family saga, a story that draws its readers into two moments in the complex, troubled history of modern Egypt. The story begins in 1977 in New York. There Isabel Parkman discovers an old trunk full of documents--some in English, some in Arabic--in her dying mother's apartment. Incapable of deciphering this stash by herself, she turns to Omar al-Ghamrawi, a man with whom she is falling in love. And Omar directs her in turn to his sister Amal in Cairo.
Together the two women begin to uncover the stories embedded in the journal of Lady Anna Winterbourne, who traveled to Egypt in 1900 and fell in love with Sharif Pasha al-Barudi, an Egyptian nationalist. To their surprise, they stumble across some unsuspected connections between their own families. Less surprising, perhaps, is the persistence of the very same issues that dogged their ancestors: colonialism, Egyptian nationalism, and the clash of cultures throughout the Middle East. The past, however, does offer some semblance of omniscience:
That is the beauty of the past; there it lies on the table: journals, pictures, a candle-glass, a few books of history. You leave it and come back to it and it waits for you--unchanged. You can turn back the pages, look again at the beginning. You can leaf forward and know the end. And you tell the story that they, the people who lived it, could only tell in part.
With its multiple narratives and ever-shifting perspectives, The Map of Love would seem to cast some doubt on even the most confident historian's version of events. Yet this subtle and reflective tale of love does suggest that the relations between individuals can (sometimes) make a difference. "I am in an English autumn in 1897," Amal confesses at one point, "and Anna's troubled heart lies open before me." Here, perhaps, is a hint about how we should read Soueif's staggering novel, using words as a means to travel through time, space, and identity. --Vicky Lebeau
I bought this for a birthday RABCK for AnglersRest, but I will read it before sending it.
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Edit 11.09.2005: I really loved this book. I need to get my own copy as well. I just wish I would've known more about the history of Egypt 100 years ago (not that it's necessary to be able to enjoy the book). I also would love to learn arabic now... Well I hope that AnglersRest will enjoy this as much as I did. I hadn't heard about this book before, so I'm glad I got the chance to read it. So:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGLERSREST! (on 10.10.)
Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love is a massive family saga, a story that draws its readers into two moments in the complex, troubled history of modern Egypt. The story begins in 1977 in New York. There Isabel Parkman discovers an old trunk full of documents--some in English, some in Arabic--in her dying mother's apartment. Incapable of deciphering this stash by herself, she turns to Omar al-Ghamrawi, a man with whom she is falling in love. And Omar directs her in turn to his sister Amal in Cairo.
Together the two women begin to uncover the stories embedded in the journal of Lady Anna Winterbourne, who traveled to Egypt in 1900 and fell in love with Sharif Pasha al-Barudi, an Egyptian nationalist. To their surprise, they stumble across some unsuspected connections between their own families. Less surprising, perhaps, is the persistence of the very same issues that dogged their ancestors: colonialism, Egyptian nationalism, and the clash of cultures throughout the Middle East. The past, however, does offer some semblance of omniscience:
That is the beauty of the past; there it lies on the table: journals, pictures, a candle-glass, a few books of history. You leave it and come back to it and it waits for you--unchanged. You can turn back the pages, look again at the beginning. You can leaf forward and know the end. And you tell the story that they, the people who lived it, could only tell in part.
With its multiple narratives and ever-shifting perspectives, The Map of Love would seem to cast some doubt on even the most confident historian's version of events. Yet this subtle and reflective tale of love does suggest that the relations between individuals can (sometimes) make a difference. "I am in an English autumn in 1897," Amal confesses at one point, "and Anna's troubled heart lies open before me." Here, perhaps, is a hint about how we should read Soueif's staggering novel, using words as a means to travel through time, space, and identity. --Vicky Lebeau
I bought this for a birthday RABCK for AnglersRest, but I will read it before sending it.
----------
Edit 11.09.2005: I really loved this book. I need to get my own copy as well. I just wish I would've known more about the history of Egypt 100 years ago (not that it's necessary to be able to enjoy the book). I also would love to learn arabic now... Well I hope that AnglersRest will enjoy this as much as I did. I hadn't heard about this book before, so I'm glad I got the chance to read it. So:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGLERSREST! (on 10.10.)
I finally sent this book on its way yesterday. I hope it makes it in time. I also added a bookmark for more personal present. I hope you like the book as much as I did, AnglersRest! Feel free to add it to you PC if you like. I at least have to get my own copy as well. Thanks for introducing a totally new book to me!And once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Received from RoryG as my Birthday RABCK, along with a lovely bookmark and postcard. Thanks for this, it has been on my wish list for a while.The photo of my Birthday RABCK is HERE
Journal Entry 4 by AnglersRest at British Heart Foundation Shop in Teignmouth, Devon United Kingdom on Sunday, April 25, 2010
Released 14 yrs ago (4/27/2010 UTC) at British Heart Foundation Shop in Teignmouth, Devon United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Off on its travels!
Off on its travels!
