In the Eye of the Sun [Paperback]

Ahdaf Soueif (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Vintage Books (1993)
• ASIN: B0013SMZLA
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book ..great details full of culture & history, August 19, 2000

By 

AA "ashour001" (Newton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Eye of the Sun (Paperback)

This was the second of Four Souief Books and her first full-length work. It is a real treat, very well conceived and written. It is an excellent portrayal of Egyptian society and the various conflicting influences affecting the Egyptian character.

Ahdaf Souif paints each and every character in the novel in a "real" fashion, they are all very plausible in their strength, peculiarities and humanities; the goodies and the "badies" alike, are all well rounded. This does not only apply to Asya, Seif, Crissie and the other main personalities, but to the many minor ones too. No cardboard here!

In part this is a story of young idealistic Egyptian girl, Asya, growing up in the quasi-socialist days of Nasser. Ahdaf Souief paints a remarkably accurate picture of life in Cairo during that era. The 1967 Six days war takes place, dreams are shattered and many lives are torn, but largely life goes on. Asya's love story in Egypt moves with her abroad as she goes to the North of England for post Graduate education. Again Souief paints a remarkable detailed and accurate picture of life in the North of England in that era. Asya struggles and adapts with life in the west. She is so very firmly anchored in her roots, upbringing, and culture; yet she still wades into The West.

Asya strengths and weaknesses as a human being dominate much of the second half of the book, all written in a gripping language that makes you feel you are right there, part of the scene. At times I wanted to shout out "leave him.. throw him out .. he's no good ..don't you see ..." or "call him ..tell him ... don't put up with that .."

Souif painted an outstandingly accurate picture of how a wedding, a funeral, school life and even war and politics feel like in Egypt. Souif was specially masterful at the way she weaved the funeral scene, with her superb translation of the Quran. I could actually picture myself in Etba in Cairo receiving the mourners.

Ahdaf Souif's mastery of both English and Arabic comes across in every word in the book. She loves both languages and takes and gives joy in illustrating their beauty without losing the theme of the book.

The book shed a great deal of light on how Egyptian view not only themselves but also how they view the west, the Arabs and also Israel. It provides a very realistic look on how integrated Moslems and Christians are in City life in Cairo. (at least used to be , not really sure about now)

Aisha and Sandpiper are 2 other outstanding books by AS, if you enjoy this book, you will certainly like these 2. In a funny way, some of the stories from these 2 books are intertwined with In the Eye of the Sun. You will appreciate these 2 shorter books many times more after you have read this one.

The Map of Love, her most recent book 1999, was short listed for the Booker prize (and should have won it over Disgrace which is also a fantastic book with great insight on life at the other end of the Africa) , is an excellent book but not half as good or real as this book, In The Eye Of The Sun is a real treat. I was depressed when I finished it, I wanted more!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping novel, memorable characters., November 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Eye of the Sun (Paperback)

This is a very sad story, but it has been shaped into a very satisfying book. The writing is often remarkably beautiful. There are passages which could be pulled out and stand up on their own as vignettes, but the novel is also well structured, with subtle echoes of details occuring from one place to another. But this work does not merely impress with its technical skill. The characters live. The truth is, I liked this novel mostly because I liked Asya. I often did not understand why she did what she did, particularly why she endured what she endured, but I liked her mind, her observations, her sense of humor. In addition to all of this, the book seems to be a good orientation to recent Arab history, from an Arab perspective, something which adds to my interest in the work. It's been a few years since I read it and it's about time to read it again.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book - Egyptian in detail and universal in nature..., September 16, 1999

By 

Nadia S. Edwards "aidan" (Miami, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Eye of the Sun (Paperback)

From a Jewish woman poin of view, totally devoted to the existence of the State of Israel, I could read the other side's opinions and attitudes without feeling offended or irrate. Just saddened. Ms. Soueif is too smart a writer to give it fanatic overtones. As far as the story is concerned, I couldn't put the book down. The dialogue and the characters are so real that I deeply cared for what happened to them. My God, this Saif, never wanting to have a conversation, became quite talkative when the pain was in his soul. And Asya, so emancipated and yet so impotent to take a strong stand against the lowest of men; compliant and scared not to hurt his feelings; totally paralyzed by her Middleeastern upbringing. Some things a woman just doesn't do... Oh, this book... I took pleasure in the smallest detail - doing the dishes, putting handcream on, metaphors and semantics, important and unimportant, they breathe life into this novel. It's one of the best I read in a long time. My only question is: do Saifs exist? I know there are plenty of Geralds, but except for Saif's aloofness that is real, his generosity and at the same time his disinterest in his wife - are they real? I wish I could personally congratulate the writer.