The Translator [Paperback]

Leila Aboulela (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2001

Subtle investigation into the meaning of exile and home, doubt and faith, loss and love, as a young Muslim exile falls in love with a worldly non-Muslim.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sammar, a young Sudanese widow, is working as a translator in a Scottish university when love blossoms between herself and her Scottish supervisor, Rae Isles, a scholar of the Middle East and of Third World politics. A religious Muslim who covers her hair, Sammar has left her young son in Khartoum to be raised by her aunt and quells her loneliness by throwing herself into her job translating terrorist documents for kindly divorcé Rae. The two signal their growing love for one another with sympathy (and chastity). On the eve of her trip to Khartoum to see her son and bring him back with her, she confronts Rae, desperate to know if he will accept Islam—since a relationship to her is impossible without marriage, and that marriage is impossible without his conversion. His hesitation reveals the cultural gulf between them, and Sammar is pierced to the quick. Though The Translator is Aboulela's second novel to be released in the U.S., it is the Sudanese-British author's first, published in the U.K. in 1999. (Her third, Minaret, appeared here last year.) With authentic detail and insight into both cultures, Aboulela painstakingly constructs a truly transformative denouement. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Aboulela's debut novel, the second to be published in the U.S., touches on themes of culture shock, religious fervor, loneliness, loss, and love, each illuminated by her lyrical yet understated writing style, and her uncanny ability to capture a fleeting moment with photographic precision. Sammar, a young Sudanese widow, leaves her 4-year-old son with her aunt and returns to Scotland, where her husband died, and where she works as an Arabic translator. She begins translating for Rae, a Scottish Islamic scholar, and their work relationship gradually becomes a tentatively romantic one. But Aboulela has left subtle but frequent hints of how important Sammar's faith is to her--prayer bringing her "something deeper than happiness"--so it comes as no surprise that Rae's inability to profess his faith in her religion, in which he is so intellectually engaged, causes her to flee. Aboulela's perceptive description of Sammar's aching loss of both Rae and her profession leaves an indelible impression, as does the conclusion of this beautifully crafted novel. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Polygon (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074866257X
• ISBN-13: 978-0748662579
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,175,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leila Aboulela won the first Caine Prize for African Writing. Her new novel Lyrics Alley is set in 1950s Sudan and is inspired by the life of her uncle, the poet Hassan Awad Aboulela, who wrote the lyrics for many popular Sudanese songs. Leila is the author of two other novels: The Translator, one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year, and Minaret- both long-listed for the Orange Prize and IMPAC Dublin Award. Leila's work has been translated into twelve languages and included in publications such as Granta, The Washington Post and the Virginia Quarterly Review. She grew up in Khartoum and now lives in Doha.
For more info visit www.leila-aboulela.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A matter of faith, November 20, 2006

By 

Roger Brunyate "reader/writer/musician" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Translator (Paperback)

This short novel by a Sudanese author living in Scotland is as simple as it is rich, beautiful, and emotionally true. Most other books that I have read about the Moslem immigrant experience* lament the dilution of an ancient culture by modern Western values. But here the influence is in the opposite direction, portraying the immigrant with the power to enrich the lives of those around her. Sammar is a young Sudanese widow who works as a translator for Rae Isles, an Islamist at the University of Aberdeen. Their mutual respect, first professional then personal, blossoms into an unspoken love. But this can go no further because Sammar is a practising Moslem while the study of Islam is merely an academic discipline for the secular Rae. What happens is as much a matter of faith and the nature of belief as it is an account of the relationship between these two people.

But that relationship is beautiful, and it results in a love story whose outcome is by no means predictable, since both leading characters are too honorable for short cuts or compromise. It is made more poignant by the social distance between the two and saved from sentimentality by the cold grayness of the northern Scottish city that is its setting. Later, the action moves to the Sudan, and the scenes in Khartoum -- brighter, more colorful, where Sammar is surrounded by an extended family -- have the ring of a very different truth. I do not think I have read any recent novel that has presented Islam in such sympathetic light. There is much that Abouela might have developed into a much longer novel (for example, hints of Rae's involvement with offstage political activity), but book that she did choose to write is a tour-de-force of compact simplicity.

*In recent months: Monica Ali's BRICK LANE, Salman Rushdie's THE SATANIC VERSES, and Zadie Smith's WHITE TEETH, all set in London, and Jhumpa Lahiri's INTERPRETER OF MALADIES, set in the United States. Kiran Desai's recent THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS is waiting on my unread pile.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely stranger in a cold, strange land, June 27, 2008

By 

Jenny Knight "Aisha" (Deep South, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Translator (Paperback)

The Translator is one of the best novels I've ever read. Leila Aboulela is a beautiful, honest writer who gave me a hundred precious, wise, funny insights into Islam, Sudanese family life and Western culture as viewed by a non-Westerner. It's not just the character of Sammar, whose goodness is striking but not perfect, or the character of Rae, whose opinions made me love him. Her novel had the ring of authenticity and believability, not an easy feat anyway, but especially in the current geopolitical climate, nor among Muslims who wish to show only flawless personifications of Islam. And yet she managed to write a "halal" novel in English. It is a blessing for English speakers who seek to understand Islam through a Muslim's eyes. I also can recommend Ms. Aboulela's collection of short stories, Coloured Lights, and her second novel, Minaret. Inside are all wonderful, genuine examples of Islam and the West meeting, circling each other warily, touching, and being surprised by what they find.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Translator, March 1, 2002

By 

Christina Andersen "Andi" (Newmarket, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Translator (Paperback)

Although I do not know much about the Muslim religion I found the book be well written and have a good story line. It was easy to get into the mind of the main character Sammer and know exactly how she was feeling. I have added bonus of working with a Muslim gentleman who explained some of the religious aspects to me. I would read another book written by Leila Aboulela.