The narrator, an unnamed Sudanese man, returns to his native village on the Nile after studying literature in England. He is struck by the warm welcome from his tribe, but at the same time feels alienated from traditional life. He becomes intrigued by Moustafa Sa'eed, a man who has settled in his village during his absence, but who, like him, has studied and lived in England. And then there follows a disappearance, a murder and a suicide. Described this way, this novel seems like a dime a dozen, but the Sudanese author Tayeb Salih (1929-2009) has mixed quite a bit into the cocktail: the (post)colonial setting, the struggle with a strange, colonial culture (in this case of the English) who simultaneously looks down on traditional African culture, but is also attracted to it, the author's and Moustafa's own struggle with Western modernity, the patriarchal character of Sudanese culture (with its horrific misogyny in the form of imposed clitoral circumcision), and so on.
This is one of those stories in which the author has done his best to make it as difficult as possible for his reader: Salih tells it in bits and pieces, the narrator and the main character (Moustafa) remain an enigma, and the themes touched on remain in limbo, they are not really laid down. Intriguing. Hence the many references made in literary discussions to Heart of Darkness by Conrad and L'Etranger by Camus. And then there are those downright lyrical passages about life in a Sudanese village, and the narrator's scorching journeys through the desert on the way to Khartoum. Even after more than half a century, this novel remains a fascinating read. ( )

This was a book that left me swirling with many thoughts, and it took me a while to process how I felt about it. The writing was rich and transporting, but it was also not a "fun hang" in that it did not seem, as a book, very kind to women. Of course, the world wasn't and isn't very kind to women much of the time (whether in high society Europe or rural North Africa), so perhaps that is only one way in which the book is honest, but it still makes me weary to read it one more time.

The book is Serious and has Important Themes and the writing is so lovely in places, but also I am just tired. ( )

Dust rose up behind us, and I watched the bedouin running towards some tattered tents by some bushes southwards of us, where there were diminutive sheep and naked children. Where, O God, is the shade? Such land brings forth nothing but prophets. This drought can be cured only by the sky.

After studying in Europe and having taken a civil servant job in Khartoum, a man returns to his home village on a bend in the Nile only a few times a year. On one visit, he is astonished to meet another English-speaking man and is unsure of what to make of a Western-educated man living in a farming village where traditions remain unchanging and education is rare. Mustafa later shares his story, a remarkable one, with the narrator.

This was a remarkable book. Originally published in 1966, it holds many insights about the effects of colonialism that remain relevant today. The narrator allows the customs and traditions of his birthplace commit an injustice, with repercussions that shock everyone. There's a lot going on in this slim novel set in an obscure corner of Sudan and I'm glad to have read it.

The war ended in victory for us all: the stones, the trees, the animals, the iron, while I, lying under this beautiful, compassionate sky, feel that we are all brothers; he who drinks and he who prays and he who steals and he who commits adultery and he who fights and he who kills. The source is the same. No one knows what goes on in the mind of the Divine. Perhaps he doesn't care. Perhaps he is not angry. ( )

Even though it’s a short book, I put it down and couldn’t finish it
Beautiful writing, but I lost the story and gave up ( )

Recommended in a blog post at https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2021/02/15/the-longest-shortest-month-of-the-ye...