In 1996 the well-traveled German-American businesswoman Brigitte embarks on a vacation—Nile cruise. It is the beginning of a mystery that will consume over eight years of her life. She is drawn into a tortuous long-distance love relationship with the enigmatic Nubian archaeologist-turned-tour-guide Abdul. Her compassion and desire to help a desperate man eventually evolve into inexplicable passion. She inadvertently becomes involved with a powerful Egyptian mafia who has a hold over Abdul and prevents the relationship from going forward. Abdul’s tortured personality, stalking at her home, and abruptly ended close relationships with people tied to her Egyptian experience turn her life into an emotional nightmare. Yet there are the vivid memories of her trips to Egypt where she sees much of the grandiose ancient culture through Abdul’s eyes and experiences the modern Egypt, which is on the verge of change.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Hefty Book Trying To Figure Out What It Wants To Be,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Nile Cruise and Beyond (Paperback)
NILE CRUISE AND BEYOND is a fair title for this lengthy memoir cum novel cum travelogue cum mystery cum adventure cum expose by an author who unfortunately uses a moniker 'Brigitte' instead of her full name Brigitte Foulke. And therein lies the problem for this reader: if this is supposedly a true story with the main character in a Richard Halliburton-mode, there are too any holes in the text for total credibility, as though the author edited her thoughts to support her story. Were the book simply presented as a novel with some travelogue elements for flavor it would likely have been more successful - with the aid of a very judicious editor.
The content of this book is indeed fascinating and when 'Brigitte' shares the glories of Egypt as an observer and visitor there is a wonderful sense of aura that rises from the pages like an exotic Egyptian perfume. But when the diary aspect of the heavy book begins, things get a bit tedious and while the 'romance/intrigue/espionage' aspect makes a good film script, it stretches our patience as a reader. Brigitte does a fine job conveying her affair and involvement with the Nubian Abdul (though at first it does seem a bit forced and too peppered with supposed statements about phallus braggadocio), but as she pulls us into this propulsive aspect of her drama she still takes extraneous asides to describe in detail the tourist attractions of Egyptian expeditions. Still, the story has interest and has the makings of a good book: for a first novel that says a lot. What 'Brigitte' needs is an editor and a step back from her confessional stance and re-write what could be a truly interesting novel. Less is more. Grady Harp, February 07
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating tale of intrigue, adventure and conspiracy.,
By
This review is from: Nile Cruise and Beyond (Paperback)
Equal parts memoir, travelogue and obsession, Brigitte Foulke's story had me hooked from the beginning and kept my attention to the end.
Nile Cruise and Beyond offers revealing insight into how the search for truth can become blurred when blinded by `love.'
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Brigitte and Abdul "love" story told in excruciating detail,
By Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
This review is from: Nile Cruise and Beyond (Paperback)
While the author goes many places, the book does not. On a tourist trip to Egypt, she meets a German tourist named Hans and an Egyptian named Abdul. After first bragging about the large size of his penis, Abdul date rapes Brigitte to the point where she is suffering vaginal bleeding. This begins a bizarre relationship that is tedious and repetitious. Over and over again, she calls and he refuses to talk and then he calls whining and asking for things. At one point, she writes a formal letter of complaint about the date rape, yet she still remains involved with him. There is a claim of mutual love, but it is hard to see what this is as that. It is clear that Abdul is either playing a duplicitous game for his own ends or is a couple of balls short of a full rack. Towards the end of the book, she even attempts to loan him $2,800, which does not go well. I won't spoil the ending by telling you how their relationship turns out.
The level of detail is excruciating, so much so that it was impossible for me to maintain interest. There are sections that end with questions like, "Why didn't he just call a cab?" If these were events that were important to the conclusion of the story, then they should be included, but they really were not. In my opinion, close to one-fourth of the text could have been eliminated without affecting the story that was told. The "love" story of Brigitte and Abdul is painful to read because it is the same thing repeated far too many times to be interesting.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
