Customer Reviews

The Map of Love

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I came across A Map of Love quite by accident. I knew nothing of the author and found myself totally entranced from the first paragraph. The first chapters were a little confusing until I was able to sort out who were the characters and who was the narrator. I found the writing style to be crystal clear and as smoothly flowing as a gentle streams luring you into its embrace. It is the story of a young English widow who goes to Egypt at the turn of the century and there meets the love of her life. The story is recounted by her great niece who at the same time interweaves the story of the family in the 1990's. It is skilfully done. Egyptian politics both at the turn of the century and today create an interesting and enlightning backdrop for the stories giving the reader an view not normally found in todays current events. I not only enjoyed the book but heartily recommend it, not only as a great love story but as an insightinto the private life of an Egyptian family.

Listed among the entries for the Booker Prize, Soueif's novel "The Map of Love" is a narrative of relationship between Britain and Egypt in the last century and a story of cross-cultural love. With innovative techniques, the author draws a parallel between the Egypt of early 1900 and the end of the century, carving the present out of the past. The past is represented by the story of an English woman (Anna Winterbourne) who identifies herself with Egyptian struggle against English occupation and married an Egyptian nationalist (Sharif al-Baroudi). The present is represented by Isabel (Anna's great granddaughter) who is determined to find the roots of her Egyptian ancestry.

Drawing upon different time lines, with interrelationships, and the use of different narrators, Soueif's novel requires an active and attentive reader. At times excessively romantic and with sugary characters, the author compensates with strong, critical, and biased (understandbly so) politics. There are no kind words for Zionism, imperialism, colonialism, and fundamentalism. In her quest to understand Egypt as a nation the author leaves the reader with the underlying notion that things have not changed much during the country's past century. Despite all the "isms" to be blamed for the country's present state of affairs, internal struggle for power is the epicenter.

A passionate, culturally enlightening story, with a beautiful symbolic artifice: the legend of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.

"Salamy Aleikum!" (Peache be upon you)

I read an advance copy, and there may be subsequent changes in the published version, but this book is definitely on my gift-giving list for Xmas 2000. In a lilting and effortless style, this page-turner by Soueif captures much that we need to know about the 20th century history of the Middle East -- while retelling the romantic tale of Valentino's 'The Sheik'. But it does SO much more than revisit the heyday of the 'naughty Orient': it explains, analyses, and criticizes a welter of stereotypes, and charts territory for better poliitcal and gender relations in all of the countries upon which it touches.

This book was a real joy to read. Ahdaf's intricate linking of the personal and the political was real and well-done, both in the plot and character-descriptions and in the dialogue.

As an Arab (Lebanese origin) living in the United States, I found her characters to be real. (In contrast to what one reviewer stated earlier, the description of the romance between Anna and Sharif *did* feel honest and real to me, and did correspond beautifully with their characters.)

What is most powerful about the book is not the romance between Anna and Sharif and between their descendents Isabel and Omar, but rather the similarity in the political struggle (both the internal domestic struggle and the struggle against Occupation and external domination) in the 1900s and in the 1990s.

Furthermore, I found Ahdaf's use of Arabic expressions and her description of the roots of Arabic words to be wonderful! I'm sure that her readers who understand Arabic fluently will enjoy these descriptions more than those who are not familiar with the Arabic language. However, one does not need to know Arabic to appreciate those discussions -- one only needs to have an appreciation for linguistics and for the way that culture influences language and language in turn influences culture.

-Rania Masri rmasri@ncsu.edu

Beginning with Fatima Mernissi, my favorite Muslim feminist, I love reading about the lives of women that are so different from mine - and usually, are more intense and more meaningful. Although a good friend who'd lived in Egypt said she had to force herself to get through some parts - I found this story to be gripping enough to hold me. Certainly the best parts are those from the diary and letters of the turn-of-the-century Englishwoman named Anna Winterbourne. After her young husband dies, Anna travels to Egypt, loves how different it is from her world, and eventually pulls away from the stuffy, closed-minded colonial community and falls in love with an older Egyptian nationalist (Sharif). Fast forward 95 years and find Isabel Parkman in New York City routing through her dying mother's things and finding a trunk full of what turn out to be Anna's documents. Because some of the documents are in Arabic she asks a man she is seeing, Omar (an unlikely international conductor) for assistance and he sends her to Cairo to his sister Amal. We learn soon enough that Isabel and Amal are cousins and the two of them begin to uncover the wonders of their ancestor's journal (and letters). Based in Egypt during unsettled times (both in the late 1890s and in the late 1990s) issues of nationalism and culture clashes are mirrored in both story lines. Soueif is much more powerful in her Egyptian characters and history and the relationship between Anna and Sharif is a pleasure to read. Sections of the book devoted to Isabel and her "issues" are considerably less enjoyable - but get through these because as the whole the book is a delightful family saga.

Transporting the reader into two different worlds in two different time periods, Ahdaf Soueif provides fascinating insights into British and Egyptian cultures. At the same time, she also incorporates a good deal of British colonial history into an exciting and completely developed story line, introducing a main character whose charm and intelligence are not necessarily an advantage in the colonial society in which she finds herself.

Anna Winterbourne, an aristocratic young widow from England, travels to Egypt in the late 19th century during the height of the British Empire. She observes (and resents) the condescending behavior of her countrymen towards the Egyptians and is intelligently critical of British military "adventures" there and in other Arab states, such as the Sudan and Palestine. As Anna comes to know the Egyptian people and falls in love with an Egyptian, the reader learns much about the historical betrayals which have so complicated relations between western and Arab countries even to the present day.

Anna's story unfolds through letters and diaries which her granddaughter and great-granddaughter have found in a trunk a hundred years later, and when Isabel Parkman, the great-granddaughter, travels to Egypt and asks a friend to translate some of the letters, which are in Arabic, she discovers a whole new world, not just her grandmother's world but a new world of her own. Obvious parallels between Anna's life and Isabel's are developed in the unfolding love stories, and they are further emphasized when Isabel and an Egyptian friend discover that they have more in common than they had suspected.

Like most romances, this one requires the reader to accept a very high level of coincidence, but that is more than offset by fine descriptive writing, well drawn characters, and the placing of a great many very recent Middle Eastern events into their Arab contexts. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1998, the novel's biggest surprise lies in the author's ability to convey an Arab point of view so successfully and sympathetically to a western audience--a point of view that is culturally honest without being polemical. Mary Whipple

Ahdaf Soueif has really worked magic here. This novel is extraordinary in its scope. Ignore the publisher's synopsis of this book, as it really does not do the plot justice. The book is split between two time periods--turn of the century England and Egypt--and modern New York City and Egypt. The real strength of this novel is the relationship between Anna and Sharif Pasha Al-Baroudi. Soueif uses this relationship as an opportunity to discuss the different difficulties of inter-cultural relationships, and she also addresses really well the stereotypical fears that the Western world holds of Muslim Arab men. But don't let the presence of serious issues keep you from reading and enjoying this book. Even if you haven't the slightest interest in history or politics, this book has enough beauty and passion to keep you turning the pages. I couldn't stop reading it until I was finished.

Ahdaf Soueif's book is a wonderful reading experience. She is no doubt the voice of the egyptian generations born after Nasser's military group came to the power in 1952. She describes our lives, hopes, dreams in such a beautiful and elegant way. For anybody who is interested in the modern egyptian culture, this book is a must and it is so full of insights about our national identity crisis throughout this last one hundred years.

Having already read Aisha and In the Eye of the Sun, I was thrilled that Soueif had recently published another novel in time for my summer vacation! Anyone who loves reading about the Middle East will truly enjoy this book. It is utterly romantic but retains a logical, intelligent perspective; lots of political and sociocultural details are also interwoven. Thanks to Soueif's adept storytelling, the reader comes to value the characters as good friends (I cried for Anna!). Soueif's command of both English and Arabic is evident and beautiful, the incusion of Arabic phrases adds to the appeal of her writing style. As always, I was devastated to finish the book and leave the characters she crafted. I can't wait to see one of her books made into a film...

I can't understand why this book was short-listed for the Booker prize - except perhaps due to British guilt over their colonial policy in Egypt. I found the book to be a dense (and one-sided) treatise about Egyptian history and Arab nationalism more generally. The love stories between both sets of couples are underdeveloped and seem to be merely excuses to attach the pages of historical material. Her treatment of Anna is particularly one-dimensional and lacking and presents a far too romantic and celebratory view of Egyptian treatment of women -- it's too hard to believe that an English women would so easily fit into Egyptian culture and so readily accept things like the veil, the almost absolute separation of men and women, or the lack of education for women without feeling any disjuncture. This is especially difficult for the reader given that Soudeif expects us to believe that Anna is so intellectually sensitive that she can see beyond her English upbringing and completely understand and embrace the Egyptian perspective. But there is very little room in this book for any negativity about Egypt or the Arab world (excepting a section on contemporary Egyptian treatment of the fellhadeen, but that only serves to make the heroine of the book seem more enlightened and sympathetic). There are a few layers of subplots which are often confusing and the author leaves most of them thin and unresolved. In sum, I wasted too much time trying to slog through this unrewarding and irritating book.