The Others Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Others? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Others. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Others ReviewBy the time I finished writing this review I came to conclusion that I DISLIKE the book A LOT.
The description of the book intrigued me enough to order the book right away and have it shipped to Saud Arabia. As it turns out the description is highly exaggerated!!
I am not a lesbian and have no problems with people engaging in homosexual activities. The main reason I bought the book is that I thought it would offer an upclose glimpse on a highly taboo topic in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. I don't claim total knowledge of a so called "lesbian world" in Saudi Arabia but I feel comfortable in saying that my knowledge triumphs the author's. (I think any Saudi female has more knowledge about lesbians that the author).
I found myself struggling to read the 276 pages book or even get into in. The author uses way too many metaphors and clichés for my taste and the story has no plot or conflict. At first I blamed the translation and decided to search for the book in its original language. I googled the book and to no surprise found it received a wave of criticism since its release in 2006. The book is supposedly banned in Saudi Arabia and in other gulf countries (but this has not been confirmed). Finally, I did find a downloadable version.
Little by little I abandoned the English version and stayed with the Arabic one, which also contained the exact metaphors. I found it more acceptable to read it in Arabic probably because am used to such metaphors by some Arab writers, who consider using metaphor an art (the more the merrier).

The book does not give enough details to be considered an erotic novel (as some reviewers describe it). Some homophobes found the little vague details disgusting and refused to continue reading the book. (I guess seeing people's reactions are more valuable than the work itself)
Sadly, many Saudi authors like Siba and Rajaa Al-Sane (Girls from Riyadh) tend to write about cultural taboos while sticking it to minority groups (Shia, elite, biracial, tribes, western educated,... etc). End result is that readers judge the characters according to their minority status thus turn these works of fiction into evidence rather than eye openers. Unfortunately, in Saudi Arabia, there are a lot of misconceptions about Shia, especially those from the eastern region; the book succeeds in adding even more misconception about them.
The author feeds on stereotype of the "average Joe" in Saudi Arabia: in no particular order (again these are stereotypes and do not represent my views)
*Shias are deviant and lack morality (their women sleep with men and women...).
*Lesbians lack religion, morals, family values and are heavily exposed to the corrupt western world.
* Shia are groups who refuse to assimilate, have noloyalty to the country and cry wolf every now and then to gain sympathy from the world .
Another thing I did not like is the excessive amount of detail-less stories that jump from one time zone to the other. For example the author attempts to write about the lesbian world yet excludes the lesbian scene in schools, universities, dormitories and social gatherings. ( The so-called lesbian scene in not really hidden as one Amazon reviewer suggests though it might be for a non-Saudi Male). In one chapter the author comes home from school and is surrounded by her mother and other women. They strip her naked, pull her lags apart and disfigure her with a nail filer (not fingernails as translated into English). The mother then stuffs a piece of flesh in a handkerchief and throws it in a waste bag (What was that about? More details PLEASE!!! This is something unheard of in Saudi Arabia!!) In another chapter the author makes reference to her father. He is released from Jail, makes many babies with the mom and then we don't hear of him again. What happened to the male dominant society? why doesn't the father have a voice?
Moral of the review: Remove the metaphors and clichés and all you will have is a very short pointless story.
I wouldn't be surprised if the author did not turn out to be from Qateef, Shia or even a girl.
Saudi Author Zainab Hifny does a far superior job describing taboo in the Saudi Arabia (including the so-called "lesbian world" ... too bad her books are not translated into other languages.
****Tips on how to sell your book: write about women and sex in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Islam... etc) If you're lucky the book will get banned and the author will reach fame in a matter of few days .Someone will want to translate you book and if you're a female, women's magazines will writer seller reviews!!!***
The Others Overview

Want to learn more information about The Others?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Muntaha: A Modern Arabic Novel Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Muntaha: A Modern Arabic Novel? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Muntaha: A Modern Arabic Novel. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Muntaha: A Modern Arabic Novel ReviewHala el Badry is a contemporary novelist who has stories to tell us. In this era of conflict between the Mid-East and the West, the Islamic culture and the rest of the world, it is necessary to read these authors and discover the important things that make us different from each other, and those very many things that make us the same.
Muntaha is a story of a rural village and it's wealthiest family--"wealthiest" being a relative term here. It takes place during the years of WWII and after, when British imperialism was definitely on the wane and communism and the reign of King Farouk were on the rise. It is full of beautiful poetic imagery and also euphemisms to indicate the intimate. There is a certain beauty in that, given the penchant for so much to be graphic in the West. None of the tale is straightforward leaving us to work a bit and find the warp and weft of this place and time ourselves. A good book to read for literary content, but also a good book to read to learn about the "other", which is most important today.Muntaha: A Modern Arabic Novel OverviewSet in the sleepy Egyptian village of Muntaha during the late 1940s, this novel paints a vibrant portrait of rural life in Egypt that is both moving and memorable. Between the turbulent events of 1948 and the final years of the British presence in Egypt, the village's inhabitants find themselves caught up against their will in the swirl of larger world events, although their daily lives, concerns, and beliefs are grounded in the timeless nature of a rural past. Hala El Badry s masterful narrative depicts, in intimate detail, her characters relationships, not only to each other but to the natural environment that surrounds them: from fishing on the Nile and cotton and corn harvests, to chicks raised to be members of the family, crazed bulls, hordes of ravenous locusts, and donkeys and sparrows gone tipsy on overripe fruit.The trials and fortunes of Taha El Musaylihi, the mayor of Muntaha, together with those of his extended family, form the backbone of this tale of real life in the guise of fiction. Confronted with the fear and injustices born of war and foreign occupation, as well as the insecurity of their dependency on Nature and her forces, Taha joins the village farmers in valiant defiance of their British occupiers.

Want to learn more information about Muntaha: A Modern Arabic Novel?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) ReviewEditor-in-chief of the literary review 'Akhbar al-adah' and the author of six collections of short stories, Egyptian author Gamal al-Ghitani has written "Pyramid Texts", a novel that fully reveals his impressive abilities at story telling that blends Sufi mysticism and medieval Islamic history with the imagery and mystery those enigmatic monuments of Egyptian antiquity that are the only surviving member of the ancient seven wonders of the world. Designed so that a series of chapters, each of which is shorter than the last, represents a uniquely modernist style of narrative. Ably translated into English by Humphrey Davies, and made available to an American readership through the auspices of International Publishers Marketing, "Pyramid Texts" transcends cultures to provide a modern work of literary excellence that is a modern Arabic novel which is enthusiastically recommended for academic and community library collections in general, and enthusiasts of avant garde literature in particular.Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) OverviewWith its Sufistic parables of the human condition, rendered in a style redolent of both the austere meditations of Borges and the dark engorged ruminations of Arthur C. Clark, Pyramid Texts engages the mind and beguiles the imagination. In a series of chapters each shorter than the last so that, like their subjects, they taper ultimately into nothingness, the author evokes the obsessions that have drawn men over the centuries to the brooding presence of mankind's most ancient and mysterious monuments. Among others in a procession of exotic characters, a Moroccan seeker after knowledge spends years contemplating the pyramids in the hope that one day he will understand the mysterious writing that fitfully appears on their sides. Another waits patiently for the moment when the shadow of one will diverge from its accustomed path and bestow immortality. A man celebrated for his record ascents and descents makes one final, dazzling, climb, and the Sphinx performs a celestial dance. Pyramid Texts leads us into a world of endless passages and mysterious sighing winds, a world whose claustrophobic and shadowy spaces may be illuminated by flashes of ecstasy leading to scintillating transfigurations and dizzying annihilations.

Want to learn more information about Pyramid Texts: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Women of Sand and Myrrh Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Women of Sand and Myrrh? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Women of Sand and Myrrh. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Women of Sand and Myrrh ReviewA friend passed this book along to me with the usual 'You have GOT to read this...' commentary. The cover of the copy I was lent has this quote from the Literary Review:
"Marvelously Vivid. I was reminded of The Handmaid's Tale."
Being a big fan of The Handmaid's Tale , I was intrigued.
The sheer reality this book describes is disturbing. Extremely disturbing...at least to a women who was born and raised in the United States after 1969 (like me).
The book get's inside the character's heads while vividly describing what's going on around them, and the sheer maddening aspect of never really knowing what was happening outside of the walls of your home - of knowing that you had little to no real power over your existence.
It's told from the point of view of four different women, with each women getting a separate section of the book. this is an excellent way to arrange this novel because, not only do ! you get to see each of the characters from both the inside and the outside (e.g.: they describe each other), but you also get an in-depth look at life as it is for very different women. For example: Tamr goes on a hunger strike in order to force the male head of her family to allow her to go to school and learn to read, and who witnesses the brutal punishment enacted on a young woman who becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Of all of the women, her story is the most inspiring because of her sheer determination to become self sufficient. After being divorced twice (men are able to divorce their wives at any time, and all it requires is the proper documentation which is delivered to the woman after everything is said and done. She doesn't even know what's happening until someone walks in, hands her the form, and says, pack up and go to your parents house...), she's decided she wants nothing more of marriage and manages to pull! strings and bust heads (e.g.: she actually walks into ! government offices...she's supposed to send in a man to do it for her), until she has the finances and documentation allowing her to open her own beauty shop. It's amazing what the woman had to go through to open a hair salon! Apparently, the author's first novel was banned in several Middle Eastern countries due to it's explicit descriptions of female sexuality. I would not be surprised if this novel were also banned for the same reasons.
I imagine this novel should leave a person thinking how lucky she is to be living someplace other than the Middle East, but I actually found I could relate to many things the characters described, though on a less extreme level. That's part of the reason this book is so disturbing and is so similar to the Handmaid's Tale - it's not to hard to imagine your own world becoming very similar to the one Hanan describes.Women of Sand and Myrrh Overview

Want to learn more information about Women of Sand and Myrrh?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Proof of the Honey Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Proof of the Honey? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Proof of the Honey. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Proof of the Honey ReviewThe nameless (and unreliable) narrator of The Proof of the Honey has studied the classical Arabic erotica of al-Suyuti and al-Nafzawi, as well the KAMA SUTRA and Western works by Casanova, Henry Miller, and Georges Bataille. She also at times claims to have taken numerous lovers of both genders. These then form the bases of her addictions to stories and beds.
Her eleven chapters are "gates" she leads us through in latter-day Scheherazade style. Instead of a thousand stories, she boasts as many sexual partners. She tells us tales of an ancient mercury bed (to assist physical union) and the legalities of the temporary Shiite "marriage of pleasure". She quotes Arab songs, verses, and folk wisdom (" 'There are two kinds of women --lettuce women and women of embers' "). In free-love fashion she declares, "Some people conjure spirits. I conjure bodies. I have no knowledge of my soul or the soul of others. I know only my body and theirs." And one body she repeatedly encounters as she passes through her gates is that of the Thinker, the man whose sexual prowess caused her public and secret lives to converge. However, the Thinker is an illusive entity, a concoction, on whom this woman desires to hang her feelings and her thoughts on sex in the Arab world at large...and her in own.
Syrian Salwa Al Neimi's novel (more correctly, novella) reportedly raised a sensation when it was published in Arabic. One can assume in Islamic culture it is a daring volume. One example: it's "Ninth Gate: Linguistics" dwells on a very course word for intercourse. The narrator's Arabic spell check program won't acknowledge the word, proving, she says, that it is "programmed for dissimulation." It has "castrated the language....castrated the computer....castrated me" she rants. Whether true freedom is dependent on the ability to spew the f-word at will is highly debatable, but it illustrates well that THE PROOF OF THE HONEY is intended as an Arab-circle provocation. It desires to poke the stick at the wasps' nest in a part of the world that remains relatively insular and circumspect about sexual matters. The author, through her narrator, propounds an extreme feminist view -- with curious spears of male chauvinism protruding in some passages. Using this short volume as a barometer, the sexual revolution that shook the Western world in the 1960's and '70's may be, for good or not, edging farther into the Muslim consciousness now.
The sensual cover suggests a novella of refined eroticism and lyricism. One cannot, upon finishing the book, be entirely satisfied, however, because the thin plot is really veneer for mini essays, the thoughts are often confused and partial, and, although sexual honey and seductive lower backs are embedded (pun intended) in certain passages, for the most part, one needn't fan oneself from embarrassment. Much original English-language erotic literature is arguably far more developed and arousing than this translation.
Despite its shortcomings as fiction, THE PROOF OF THE HONEY is a unique and intriguing historical and contemporary insight into Arab perspectives on sex (and this book may play a part in causing them to shift). (3.5 stars)The Proof of the Honey Overview

Want to learn more information about The Proof of the Honey?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Piazza Tales (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Piazza Tales (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Piazza Tales (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Piazza Tales (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition) ReviewThe Lighting-Rod Man is one of Melville's lesser known stories. Despite the cold, dark setting, it is more comical than most of his works other works. This satire tells about one door-to-door salesman, and how annoying, pushy, and arrogant he was to his perspective customer (Doesn't seem like a lot has change since then), and how he ends up getting thrown out of the house.
The story The Lighting-Rod Man jumps right into the story in the first paragraph and just goes, which makes it much easier to get into and a much easier read for those that have a hard time getting started reading. I feel that it is worthy buying The Piazza Tales even if you just read this one story let alone the five other stories.The Piazza Tales (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition) OverviewWebster's paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently assigned readings in English courses. By using a running English-to-Arabic thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this edition of The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville was edited for three audiences. The first includes Arabic-speaking students enrolled in an English Language Program (ELP), an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program, an English as a Second Language Program (ESL), or in a TOEFL� or TOEIC� preparation program. The second audience includes English-speaking students enrolled in bilingual education programs or Arabic speakers enrolled in English-speaking schools. The third audience consists of students who are actively building their vocabularies in Arabic in order to take foreign service, translation certification, Advanced Placement� (AP�) or similar examinations. By using the Rosetta Edition( when assigned for an English course, the reader can enrich their vocabulary in anticipation of an examination in Arabic or English.TOEFL�, TOEIC�, AP� and Advanced Placement� are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

Want to learn more information about The Piazza Tales (Webster's Arabic Thesaurus Edition)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Season of Migration to the North (New York Review Books Classics) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Season of Migration to the North (New York Review Books Classics)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Season of Migration to the North (New York Review Books Classics). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Season of Migration to the North (New York Review Books Classics) ReviewTayeb Salih's great novel is a compelling satirical rewrite of Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS. In Salih's version, instead of a European intellectual travelling to Africa to be corrupted by his contact with "primitive savagery," the protagonist starts out as an idealistic young man from Sudan who travels northward to Europe, where he is undone by corruption, decadence, and the mutual destructiveness of unhappy love affairs. The novel is cleverly written and well translated, with terrific insights into the relationships of southern and northern hemispheres; the colonized to their colonizers; Arabs and Europeans; and men and women. I've read a lot of Arab novels (and many more African ones); A SEASON OF MIGRATION TO THE NORTH is the best I've read to date.Season of Migration to the North (New York Review Books Classics) Overview

Want to learn more information about Season of Migration to the North (New York Review Books Classics)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Munira's Bottle: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Munira's Bottle: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Munira's Bottle: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Munira's Bottle: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) Review... and with the subject phrase repeated, Yousef Al-Mohaimeed neatly summarizes the unlikely but plausible chain of events, and the lost opportunities that might have saved the novel's protagonist, Munira al-Sahi, from her fate. This is a novel of love, duplicity and revenge. Surely these are universal themes, that transcend cultural specifics, yet Al-Mohaimeed's tale is deeply rooted in the particulars of life in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The time period is the six months centering on Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Not only does this provide unique background for the novel's action, as well as "cover" for the actions of the anti-hero, but it also provides a metaphor that Al-Mohaimeed uses several times in depicting Munira's fate. Ali Al-Dahhal, or is that really his name, receives a kick in the chest from his superior at work, and his wounded ego decides to exact revenge by entrapping his superior's sister, Munira, in a disastrous love affair. That is the central thread that ties the novel together, and there are several sub-plots that illustrate the particulars of life in Riyadh.
Munira's work at the Remand Center (for women in various troubles with the law) is a useful mechanism for the author to present some vignettes, which includes the wife who killed her husband, and would gladly do so again, and the unwed pregnant woman who couldn't help herself, as well as the tale of Bandar (a/k/a Mueed) who seduced a young girl, but made a classic mistake of letting her discover his true identity. It is a story that foreshadows Munira's, but she is too blind to realize that this young girl's fate could also be her own. And there is an unforgettable vignette concerning why a woman who washes the dead prior to burial refuses to enter a car with an unrelated man, even though he is accompanied by his wife. The invasion of Kuwait served as a catalyst for a famous incident, known even throughout the West, of the women dismissing their drivers, and driving their own cars, and this is another event that Munira barely missed.
The Al-Sahi family is composed of individuals who reflect the various Saudi character types, certainly including Mohammad, back from jihad in Afghanistan, shedding his iqal (the black coil which sits on the head over the gutra, which is eschewed by the fundamentalists), and who sets to work making a lot of money promoting the fundamentalist vision. His brother, Saleh, is much more secular, a major in the military, and off to England for six months of training. The father, Hamad, desires domestic tranquility, escapes via his perfume shop in the souks, yet is liberal enough to be supportive of his daughters' education and their desire to work. He even supports Munira when she wants to write a column in the local paper using her own name.
Didn't Rod Stewart once have a song entitled: "The World is Going to Riyadh"? It sure wasn't Paris, nor did it pretend to be, but for those who considered themselves fortunate to have spent some of their youth in Riyadh, be they Saudis or expats, this novel will certainly resonate. The backdrop of the city is carefully woven into the tale, be it the Khuzama coffee shop, the Al-Nakheel restaurant on Olaya street, Takhassusi Ave., the Deira souks and the clock tower; all rivals in their own way, for another generation, to the Café Flore and the Boulevard St. Germaine. And who else but Al-Mohaimeed has ever evoked the desert of Al-Samman?
The novel was first published in Arabic in 2004, and has only now become available in English, thanks to a masterful and lively translation by Anthony Calderbank. I detected only one mistake, be it in the original, or in the translation. The American Army no longer has "conscripts," and certainly not female ones, if you exclude the economic variety (p. 4).
I thoroughly enjoyed Al-Mohaimeed's Wolves of the Crescent Moon, and this novel confirms that he has the deft touch for authentic portrayals of life in Saudi Arabia which serves as a useful counterpoint to the numerous "fantasy versions." Furthermore, he has the empathy, and has obviously listen well to his own sisters, relatives, as well as, hum, other females, which has provided him with the background to write sensitively about the issues that they face. I'm currently finishing Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls: A Novel, and am struck by the parallels between the two novels: groundbreaking authentic portrayals of the lives of a country's ordinary citizens. Al-Mohaimeed is now the preeminent Saudi novelist who hopefully will be honored in his own country, including by the Ministry of Information. A solid 5-stars plus.
Munira's Bottle: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) OverviewIn Riyadh, against the events of the second Gulf War and Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, we learn the story of Munira - with the gorgeous eyes - and the unspeakable tragedy she suffers as her male nemesis wreaks revenge for an insult to his character and manhood. It is also the tale of many other women of Saudi Arabia who pass through the remand center where Munira works, victims and perpetrators of crimes, characters pained and tormented, trapped in cocoons of silence and fear. Munira records their stories on pieces of paper that she folds up and places in the mysterious bottle given to her long ago by her grandmother, a repository for the stories of the dead, that they might live again. This controversial novel looks at many of the issues that characterize the lives of women in modern Saudi society, including magic and envy, honor and revenge, and the strict moral code that dictates male-female interaction.

Want to learn more information about Munira's Bottle: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Scents of Marie-Claire: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Scents of Marie-Claire: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Scents of Marie-Claire: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Scents of Marie-Claire: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) ReviewTunisian author Habib Selmi believes that "the novel should be a novel of the self as it intersects with its surroundings," and this novel deals almost exclusively with the thoughts of one of the lovers in a relationship. Mahfouth, who has a doctorate in Arabic literature, is living with Marie-Claire and is a devoted but somewhat more free-wheeling partner who loved college but now works at the post office. Everything we learn of Marie-Claire, we discover through Mahfouth's point of view, and when, after the initial bloom of love wears off, he becomes annoyed with her for doing or saying something he does not like, readers will have no problem understanding why she becomes annoyed with him, in turn.
Though the book blurb stresses that this is a "collision of cultures," it seems far less a collision of cultures than a collision of two individual lovers, one of whom is arrogant, selfish, jealous, unable to apologize, and always seeking to blame his partner. He is immature and unwilling to bend, and he behaves more like a spoiled child than a thinking and feeling adult of any specific culture. Gradually, their childhoods unfold--he, the son of a peasant from a small Tunisian village, has grown up tormenting scorpions, roasting small birds, burning ants, and abusing donkeys--and this is the first time he has ever been in love. Marie-Claire, from the French countryside, is warm and caring. So jealous that he even resents Ladislaus, a boy Marie-Claire once kissed years ago when she was a teenager, Mahfouth tries to provoke her when she ignores his boorishness. If she responds in anger, then he feels he does not need to apologize for his own behavior. Though she has released his sexual inhibitions, his understanding of love is limited by his lack of experience of love on the emotional level, and he responds to problems with an even greater need to control.
Readers know from the outset that the relationship lasts for several years before Marie-Claire finally leaves, but it is the slow deterioration of the relationship from Mahfouth's point of view that becomes the fascination here. Chronically unable to bear any responsibility for the failure of any aspect of the relationship, Mahfouth has learned little from the years during which Marie-Claire has tried to show him the meaning of love.

Those interested in a love story which reveals every nuance of a complex relationship will find this a fascinating novel, and the relationship's slow deterioration becomes hypnotically suspenseful in its own right. This intimate novel reveals everything Mahfouth thinks and feels and, through his point of view, everything that Marie-Claire is thinking and feeling. How and why he is unable to trust, share, and really love is a question for the reader to decide. Mary WhippleThe Scents of Marie-Claire: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature) OverviewThis novel from one of Tunisia's leading writers, the first of his works to be translated into English, narrates a love story in all its stages, in all its glorious and inglorious details. Moment by moment we become acquainted with the morning rituals, the desires of the flesh, the turbulence of the spirit, and even a few unattractive personal habits. It is a journey that takes us inside the nuances of what passes between two lovers, from the first glances of attraction to the final words of anger. It is a journey filled with all the hallmarks of the complex relationship between one man and one woman - the mystery and the ambiguity, the intricacy and the confusion - which, in the end, serve to expose its fragility. This is an intimate tale that manages to tell not only the story of two individuals, but also that of the collision of two cultures.

Want to learn more information about The Scents of Marie-Claire: A Modern Arabic Novel (Modern Arabic Literature)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Da Vinci Code (Arabic Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Da Vinci Code (Arabic Edition)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Da Vinci Code (Arabic Edition). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Da Vinci Code (Arabic Edition) ReviewFor a while I resisted reading this book, thinking that it could not possibly be as good as its hype. Well, I was wrong. This is simply one terrific book that will keep the reader riveted to its pages until the very last one is turned. It is a very well-written, intricately plotted thriller in which a great number of esoteric historical facts and interesting theories of a religious nature are woven. Those who read it should, first and foremost, keep in mind that this book is simply a work of fiction.
All hell breaks loose when Jacques Sauniere, the elderly and revered curator of the Louvre, is murdered inside the museum. The crime scene and the body itself are laden with symbols and cryptic messages pointing to renowned Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon. He is invited to the crime scene by the wily Captain Bezu Fache, of the Central Directorate Judicial Police, the French equivalent of our Federal Bureau of Investigation, ostensibly to assist the police. Little does Langdon know that he is, in fact, the prime suspect.
When he meets police cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, they join forces. They are then led on a merry chase by a series of riddles and ciphers that are ground in a historical context. They are always just one step of the French police, who seem determined to charge Langdon with the murder of Jacques Sauniere. During their voyage of discovery, Langdon and Sophie come across a secret society, the Priory of Sion, that has a startling list of former members, which list includes Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as the late Jacques Sauniere. There is also some interesting historical detail about the ancient Knights Templar, as well as Opus Dei, a conservative religious organization currently in existence.
Langdon and Sophie peel back layers of historical clues that point to a secret of such magnitude that some would kill for it. As Langdon and Sophie surreptitiously travel from France to England and seem to be headed closer to the heart of the mystery that they are trying to unravel, an unknown nemesis is closer to them than they would dare imagine. This unknown adversary is marshaling resources in order to obtain the long hidden secret that Langdon and Sophie appear to be on the brink of discovering. It is one that has the potential to have earth shattering implications.
This is a fast-paced, plot driven, rather than character driven, thriller. It hurls itself into the reader's consciousness at break-neck speed, and before the reader realizes it, the book holds the reader in its thrall: hook, line, and sinker. For those readers who love historical detail and unusual facts and coincidences, this is definitely a fascinating book that will hold their interest. It is a page-turning thriller in which nearly every chapter leaves the reader on the brink of a precipice. The book is written in clear, effortless prose, which makes the most esoteric historical details surprisingly easy to understand. Simple in its presentation but intricate in its plotting, it is no surprise that this book has become a runaway, international bestseller. Bravo!The Da Vinci Code (Arabic Edition) OverviewWhile in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

Want to learn more information about The Da Vinci Code (Arabic Edition)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...