Customer Reviews

Mezzaterra

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Ahdaf Soueif is an Anglo-Egyptian novelist of deserved reknown. However, her collection of some 20 years of newspaper commentaries, published as "Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground," does not enhance her writing reputation by much, in I my opinion.

Apart from the opening essay in this book, which explains her theory of "mezzaterra," and one or two of her pieces on modern life in Egypt, most of the collection goes from one angry rant to another. Soueif's indignation is mostly aimed at Europeans, Israelis and Americans who have, in her opinion, abused and disrespected Islamic nations and Islamic people over a long period of time. She launches some vitriol toward the recently ousted Mubarak n government as well.

While her complaints are not unfounded, her voice is so shrill and her moral authority compromised by her self-imposed isolation from the Middle East and its manifold problems. This made me less sympathetic to her perspective. In fairness to Soueif, she was ill-served by a negligent editor at the publishing house who allowed these essays to be pulled together in a haphazard fashion. Overall, I think Soueif's works of fiction are a better investment of the reader's time.