The Tattooed Map

Plot was good, but felt unfinished by the end. Maybe that was the point. Characters were also good, and I knew why I was supposed to like them, but I still didn't. Reads like a preface to a series, which I would certainly read a couple books from. I did love all the vintage ephemera, maps, and other images reproduced throughout. I also liked the little other notes and lists and puzzling over them as well. I enjoyed it, but I wanted to enjoy it more, but couldn't.

A truely fascinating read. A great fantasy that captivates you from the start. You want to keep reading to find out where this adventure will lead and how. The novel is mysterious and it engulfs you in it's secrets. The emphemera throughout the book brings Northern Africa to life for the reader. You can smell the scents from the cafes, feel the gritty heat, and hearthe cacophony of sounds. When the tattoo is finally revealed and you can see its beauty it is remarkable. A book that lovers of travel writing need to read.

Without a doubt, this was the most beautiful novel I've ever read. I'm not talking about the prose, though. I'm talking about the cover art, the glossy pages, and the marginalia and maps that are included on and between every page. Having lived in the middle east and being somewhat familiar with the Arabic language, I really loved the vocabulary words, the book names, the menus, the costs of traveling, the pieces of paper with Arabic writing, the tickets, etc. that lined the edges of this book. This feature added immensely to my pleasure at working my way through this story.

The novel was good, but not as exciting as I'd hoped. It's the story of Lydia and Chrsitopher, close friends, who travel together to Morocco. At one point in their show more travels, Lydia thinks she has been bitten on the arm by fleas, but discovers that, in lieu of flea bites, a map is beginning to spread up her arm. Strange!

I liked the quiet demeanor of this book and its characters. I was less pleased with the ending because I'm not sure I fully understand it.

This book is not long or involved, therefore I'd highly recommend it to those who love Arabic culture just for others to see how beautifully this book is designed. show less

Reading The Tattooed Map is a sensory experience (much like reading Nick Bantock's novels). It's a novel presented as a travel diary, in which its authors (our protagonists) paste tidbits much like a scrapbook. Surrounding the main text of the story are hand-written annotations as well as pasted-in maps, photographs, and other ephemeral material. Because of that, the reader lingers on each page, making sure to soak up all the details and all of the various meanings that are hidden in it.

I'm not going to try to include a synopsis. Even the ones given by the publisher seem to include too much in the way of spoilers. Suffice it to say that The Tattooed Map is a mystery that both inspires and repels wanderlust. It is remarkably evocative show more and a joy to read. show less

An exotic and mysterious tale of a woman who journeys to Morocco, only to find one day that a peculiar map has begun to appear on her hand, in the form of a tattoo. As is the case with all of Barbara Hodgson's books, the illustrations here are just as important (if not moreso) than the text. I liked the story very much, and wasn't at all put off by the open ending. And the visuals in Hodgson's books always inspire me to try to do something creative with my own collection of ephemera, collected during past travels.

Didn't live up to its promise. Interesting design, with maps and ephemera from the narrator's travels. But the narrative was boring, and the ending unsatisfactory.

I like travel books, even fictional travel books. And this book looks like how I'd hoped my travel journal would look at the end of a trip. Mine inevitably has more writing than glued-in pictures, maps and keep-sakes, and is terribly less aesthetically pleasing, but I'm not seeking to publish it either.

It had a lot of imagination, and a story line that compelled you to keep turning pages.