Lyrics Alley in Around the World

Jul 13, 2022 Andrea rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-foreign-locale, personal-challenge-2022, 2022, around-the-world-2022

2.5★ - better than OK, but too slow to be good.

This book is set in 1950s Sudan, in the northern part of the country around Khartoum, where the Muslim, Arabic-speaking majority have more in common with the Egyptians than they do with their tribal compatriots in the south. The Abuzeid family is well known and respected, and has become wealthy through trade enterprises including cotton. The patriarch, Mahmoud Abuzeid, is in many ways a modern man, but in some respects he is still tied to the custom 2.5★ - better than OK, but too slow to be good.

This book is set in 1950s Sudan, in the northern part of the country around Khartoum, where the Muslim, Arabic-speaking majority have more in common with the Egyptians than they do with their tribal compatriots in the south. The Abuzeid family is well known and respected, and has become wealthy through trade enterprises including cotton. The patriarch, Mahmoud Abuzeid, is in many ways a modern man, but in some respects he is still tied to the customs and conventions of the past. Nowhere is this more clearly reflected than in his attitudes toward, and dealings with, his two wives. Waheeba is an illiterate Sudanese woman, slightly older than himself, and the mother of his two adult sons. Nabilah is a much younger Egyptian beauty, with a fondness for all things European (or Egyptian at the very least!), who is bringing up her two young children in a very different way from their stepbrothers. When Mahmoud's second oldest son has a devastating accident, it has ramifications for the extended Abuzeid clan.

There were a few things I liked. I liked that the story was told from 5 different points of view. Mahmoud, Nabilah, Nur (the son), Soraya (his cousin and intended) and finally Ustasz Badr, the tutor. Between them I think all bases were covered - traditional/modern, Egyptian/Sudanese, male/female, rich/poor, master/servant. I also appreciated that it was set at the very end of the colonial era, so the politics and events of the time were incorporated into the story. Finally I admired the author's decision to take a realistic approach in wrapping up certain story threads - it would have been easy to take the softer, fairytale route.

My main issue was that I didn't really connect with any of the characters, and that really slowed things down for me. There was a moment (an event) when my jaw literally dropped, ensuring there will always be one thing I remember about the book, but the rest just didn't have the drama I'd been hoping for. ...more

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May 12, 2011 Edina Truth-Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Found the juxtapositions between Sudan and Egypt, tradition and advancement, pain and love to be extremely well persuaded through out the whole story. Totally engrossed in all the characters lives, it took me a while to acquaint with, but found everybody worthy of my attention.

I will not fail to mention the author's ability to invoke the human in me, the absolute empathy with some and rage with others. I hope all that read this pay close attention to ALL traditions, as some are perpetrated to b ...more

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