I liked Ahdaf Soueif's novel In the Eye of the Sun (thought it could have been 300 pages shorter), but could not finish The Map of Love (which could have been 400 pages shorter). The love story at the center of the second book, between an Egyptian man and an English woman, was too uncomplicated and boring for my taste. I wanted to smack the characters to get some tension going. I also think she worships Edward Said a bit too much: she recreated him in her novel as the ultimate romance hero.
This is what reminded me of Soueif.
ps. Kim Jensen, as far as I can tell from her photo on her website, is not African-American (unlike what this essay says).
1 comment:
Yea, I couild hardly finish the Map Of Love either and found that, even though I am Muslim and can marry my cousin, I was surprised she would involve a White woman and an Egyptian man together and the white woman would be alright with it ( they too are cousins). This bigged me the most about the novel. Can anyone suggest GOOD novels about Egypt or Middle East for me to read? Somthing written like "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Housenni ( but obviously not that bc it's Afghani)
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