Ahdaf Soueif

“So. Tell me. What do you think? Which is better? To take action and perhaps make a fatal mistake - or to take no action and die slowly anyway?”

This novel centres on three women of three differing nationalities, Egyptian, American, English, one of whom lived nearly a century earlier than the other two. An American woman arrives in Cairo looking for someone to interpret the contents of a trunk that she has inherited. Once there she is befriended by an Egyptian woman who agrees to helps show more her with the task.

The lives of the women are not portrayed in a linear fashion, rather the author reveals each of them piecemeal meaning that the reader discovers the characters and their stories in a way that is akin to how they might unpack the contents of the trunk that is at the heart of the book. Thus the three intersecting stories are revealed to the reader at much the same pace as they are to the characters themselves. This did, however, also mean that it took me a few chapters to realise who was actually telling the story. The family tree at the front of the book was a big help here.

In 1997 American Isabel Parkman, discovers amongst her mother's belongings a trunk and meets and falls in love with, Omar al-Ghamrawi, a famous Egyptian conductor who is known not only for his musical ability but also for his espousal of the Arab cause. As Isabel starts going through the contents of the trunk she realises that, unbeknown to her,she has Egyptian ancestry. Her English great-grandmother, Anna Winterbourne,had married Egyptian, Sharif el-Baroudi, in 1901. On telling Omar about the trunk he suggests that she should take it to Cairo and show it to his sister, Amal, in the hope that she might help translate the Arabic portion of the journals.

Amal immerses herself in Anna's story and in particular the love affair between Anna and the Egyptian nationalist leader who became her husband. Widowed Anna travelled to Egypt in 1900 after her husband's death. Once there she comes to dislike the insular lives of most of the colonial Britons that she meets there. Unlike most of her country men and women she wants to learn the language and about the indigenous people. She wants to experience a side of Egypt that the colonials ignore and one day disguised as a man in order to see the beauties of the Sinai Desert, she and her guide are captured by young nationalists. Her captives are appalled when they learn of her true identity and in their panic hand her over in to the care of the sister of an influential Egyptian lawyer, the man who will come her future husband.

As the two women's' friendship grows so does Anna's doubts about the British occupation of the country, gradually seeing her own nation's presence as being deeply malign as Egypt strives to free itself from the auspices of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. The longer Anna spends in the country the more sympathetic she becomes towards the Egyptians' cause. Nor do the repercussions of British rule end there. Nearly one hundred years on the legacies of British occupation continue to affect Amal's generation.

Although Britain's influence in Egypt has an important role to play in this novel as it's title would suggest love is the most important element. In particular the fact that love unlike romance comes in many different forms, love of country; love of nature; spiritual love; sensual love; love between family members and friends; love between differing generations.

Soueif cleverly gives an quick oversight of a century of Egyptian politics (unsurprisingly from the biased standpoint of the Egyptians themselves) and in doing so she conveys the sense that whereas love can bind people and nations together politics often only separates them. Equally neither can be fully resolved in one generation instead the ramifications of both are still to be revealed, like a trunk passed from one generation to the next.

''That is the beauty of the past; there it lies on the table: journals, pictures, a candle-glass, a few books of history. . . . 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.''

I found this an accomplished piece of writing from an author whom I had not previously read before, an surprisingly engaging and detailed portrayal of LOVE in its many forms. show less

This lyrical book paints a vivid and moving picture of colonial and modern-day Egypt, and allows the reader to catch a glimpse of the inherently different ways its history is viewed by East and West. Beautiful descriptions and tender scenes invite the reader to share the pain and the joy of cross-cultural relationships. The modern-day love story echoes the one from the past, showing how little some things have changed in the last hundred years in Egypt. I highly recommend this beautifully show more written book. show less

The Map of Love By Adaf Soueif

Beautifully written love story set against both contemporary Egypt and the early 20th century tumultuous British occupation. There is much detail about Egyptian history and the culture of the Arabic society, related in letters and dialogue. While it might be advantageous to have a background in this era, the broad outline is apparent and accessible.

At the heart is a family history and a love story, the intertwining of two cultures- the lovely British Lady Anna show more and the upperclass Egyptian lawyer Sharif Basha al-Baroudi who can only converse together in French.

The beautifully described scenery, the family home, the color and feel of the women's silk gowns were vivid. Indeed, when Amal writes, after reading Lady Anna's 1901 journal entry about her betrothal . . .

"Looking up from Anna’s journal I am, for a moment, surprised to find myself in my own bedroom, her trunk standing neatly by the wall, my bed, the top sheet folded back, waiting for me to ease myself in. I had been so utterly in that scene, in the hall of the old house, in my great-grandmother’s haramlek. My heart had beaten in time with Anna’s ..."

- I felt exactly how she felt, so immersed was I in the story. The events that affect this family had deep roots that continue to be felt in this troubled region of the world today. show less

rats!! the dreaded 3-star catch-all. :(

the thing i am happiest about, concerning the read of this novel, is the curiosity it has created in me to seek out excellent nonfiction books about egypt, israel and turkey. i do try to stay current with regard to world issues and events, but it's been at least 20 years since i last read purposefully about these countries/this region, in an attempt to gain an understanding of these countries, their histories and challenges. so this is a good thing and show more i hope to discover some great reads.

the novel itself, though, was fairly clunky to me. while i felt the use of letters and journal entries very good and effective, the parts outside of these forms didn't flow very well and it was a bumpy reading experience. i felt that, when soueif went into sections of political and social commentary, i was being lectured and that jarred me out of her fictional world. i kept comparing this book to john steinbeck's [b:The Grapes of Wrath|4395|The Grapes of Wrath|John Steinbeck|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352912927s/4395.jpg|2931549], which i read for the first time recently. he also employs plot devices to address social and political issues, but with his novel, it felt more natural and informative and helpful. which is weird. because his strategy took us outside of the action of the novel, into these almost stand-alone chapters. whereas souief incorporated her messages, usually, into dialogue and discussions among her characters. but it didn't feel natural to me. so, i don't know that it was fair of me to contrast this novel with a steinbeck book...but i really couldn't stop my brain from going there.

oh, one other point of interest - this novel was written in 1999. the novel is split into 2 different times - the very early 1900s and the 1990s. topics and issues going on in the novel and being struggled with are issues that are very current and relevant to the issues going on NOW in egypt, israel, palestine and turkey. it's a sad, sad thing and certainly reinforces that feeling of helplessness as a reader sitting safely in canada.

i am very glad i read this novel and i will seek out more works by soueif. i just didn't love this one the way i had hoped. which is too bad. show less