Reviews

The Wedding of Zein by Tayeb Salih

motifenjoyer's review against another edition

mysterious

4.0

"And we, when we take ourselves back to childhood memories, to that dividing line beyond which you remember nothing, see in our minds a giant doum tree standing on a river bank; everything beyond it is as cryptic as talismans, like the boundary between day and night, like that fading light which is not the dawn but the light directly preceding the break of day."

100reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this novella. Tayib Saleh is always a 5 star for me. Surrealism, mysticism, Sufism.

mistercrow's review against another edition

5.0

Superb! My kind of style of story, with its surrealism and mysticism. Thoroughly enjoyed it, was very strange.

hibanotized's review against another edition

5.0

"وقت شفتك .. شعرت الرعشة من صوف راسي لي كرعي .. و من الساعة ديك يا السمحة ولع فيني جمر الغي .. كتمت الريدة ما شافوها ناس الحي و قلت الجنة عاد ان شاء الله ما يقسن دروبها علي"
- محمد وردي

ذكرتني صورة العرس بالاغنية .. و رقصة سلامة و قدلتها .. اتخيلتها ترقص على انغامها ..

----------------

يا الله! يا جمال عرس البلد .. اشتقت!!
و الطيب صالح أعاد أحياء صورة العرس في بالي .. كم عرس حضرتو بالشكل دا؟؟
لا لا ما كان في شيتن زي عرس الزين ..


"انطق يا لسان جيب المديح أقداح
الزين الظريف خلا البلد أفراح"

edensreadingcorner's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

anniesmanybooks's review against another edition

4.0

For my Around the World challenge (Sudan).

Beautifully crafted short stories and novella from a village by the Nile, written by one of Sudan's greatest writers. Through Zein, the toothless but loveable village fool, the scheming but generous elders, and the other quirky villagers we get glimpses of "a world that was fast disappearing."

hannah_le_seelleur's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

axmed's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The fact was that this rendezvous of ex-slave-girls was something alien that contained the spirit of adventure and rebellion; it represented a departure from the familiar. There, on the edge of the desert far from the village, squatted their houses made of straw, and at night, when people had gone to bed, beams of lamp-light flickered from their doorways and windows, and drunken laughter could be heard. In their displeasure the inhabitants of the village burned them down, but they returned to life like the alfa plant that will not die. 

‘You should, sir, be careful when talking of Zein,’ said Abdul Samad with profound conviction. ‘He’s a man blessed of God and was a friend of that devout man Haneen, God rest his soul.’

kingkong's review against another edition

3.0

Nice look at another way of life. And yet we're not so different

lesausser's review against another edition

3.0

An interesting look into the lives of village Muslims and their society, told by fable-esq stories. The story was fairly well written for a translation, and I enjoyed learning about the community in a narrative form.