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Journal Entry 1 by LeishaCamden from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Monday, October 27, 2008
 Subtitle: 'A Novel of Nubia'.
From the inside front flap:
'In this, the first Nubian novel ever translated, Awad Shalali, a Nubian worker in modern Egypt, dreams of Dongola - the capital of medieval Nubia, now lost to the flood waters of the Aswan High Dam. In Dongola, the Nubians reached their zenith. They defeated and dominated Upper Egypt, and their archers, deadly accurate in battle, were renowned as 'the bowmen of the glance.' Halima, Awid's wife, must deal with the reality of today's Nubia, a poverty-stricken bottomland. Men like Awad now work in Cairo for good wages while the women remain at home in squalor, ignorant of the glory now covered by the Nile's water. Left to tend Awad's sick mother and his dying country, Halima grows despondent and learns the truth behind the Upper Egyptian lyric: 'Time, you are a traitor - what have you done with my love?'
Through his characters' pain and suffering, Idris Ali paints in vibrant detail, with wit and a keen sense of history's absurdities, the story of cultures and hearts divided, of lost lands, impossible dreams, and abandoned loves. Dongola received the University of Arkansas Press Award for Arabic Literature in Translation in 1997.'
This is a paperback copy from The American University in Cairo Press, published in 2006. The book was originally published in 1993, and for the first time in English in ... I don't know, 1997? :-)
I got this book in the museum shop at the Nubian Museum in Aswan, Egypt, on Friday, October 17th, 2008. I was there on vacation and I'm interested in reading some local literature.
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Journal Entry 3 by LeishaCamden from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Tuesday, April 14, 2009
I've read this book now ... or actually I read it a while back, like a couple of months ago. I'm just the slowest journaller ever.
I didn't really fall for this book ... the plot was a bit too blurry for me, kind of 'arty' I guess but not really to my taste. The story jumps back and forth and I found it rather hard to follow. There was a lot of emotion going on :-) but I didn't feel that I connected with it. It was pretty well written though, and well translated. And of course it was interesting to read a book from that part of the world. So I found it a worthwhile read because of that. But the story didn't appeal to me and the characters IMO weren't that well developed, I found it hard to get a real handle on them.
I suspect the book may be too 'poetic' for me, it does lean in that direction :-) and it just isn't to my taste. But an interesting read all the same.
This book will now become part of my Permanent Collection as a souvenir of my trip to Egypt last October. Although it may be available for loans ... or maybe as a bookring one day. :-)
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Dongola
