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thebookbridgeclub's review against another edition
5.0
A realistic presentation of the entrepreneurial process, especially a female entrepreneurs’ experience in a patriarchal society. When you deeply love something that most people around you don’t understand. You don’t have to be a pleasing sweetheart, you’d be aggressive and by all means to create and protect.
booktwitcher23's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.25
carrotspi's review against another edition
2.0
I do not remember being so disappointed with a book in a long time.
I was hoping for an inspirational tale of a successful woman in Cairo and a lot of books. This is a memoir of a woman in Cairo, but it was everything but inspirational to me. What I learned from the book is that there are two classes of people in Egypt, the poor ones, who are paid in the Egyptian pound, and the rich ones, the group to which our author belongs. And I do acknowledge the difficulty to open a bookstore in Egypt as a lady. But at the same time, this woman has servants from her childhood (a cook, a driver, a woman who irons her clothes, a nanny, and so on). I am not sure what would be her story if she had to balance all responsibilities that ordinary women have and lead a business. One of the reasons why I do not see her story as inspirational is because of the way she treats all these servants and her employees. She is rude and on many occasions talks about them as if she is putting them down. I do not care how successful your business is if you are not a kind person. So I am not exactly sure why she wrote this book.
Another thing that put me off is her attitude towards the standard Arabic language (or Fus’ha). Many countries in the world have standardized language, with defined rules. In Germany the example is Hochdeutsch. But the author is obsessed with the Egyptian dialect (in many cases with the incorrect pronunciation of letters), forgetting that the standard Arabic allows people from the Middle East to Morroco to communicate. The fact that she did not learn it is her problem, as she attended the international school thanks to the status and wealth of her family.
I was so tempted to buy a physical copy before I started reading and now I am glad I did not.
I am hoping to read something nicer from Egypt soon.
I was hoping for an inspirational tale of a successful woman in Cairo and a lot of books. This is a memoir of a woman in Cairo, but it was everything but inspirational to me. What I learned from the book is that there are two classes of people in Egypt, the poor ones, who are paid in the Egyptian pound, and the rich ones, the group to which our author belongs. And I do acknowledge the difficulty to open a bookstore in Egypt as a lady. But at the same time, this woman has servants from her childhood (a cook, a driver, a woman who irons her clothes, a nanny, and so on). I am not sure what would be her story if she had to balance all responsibilities that ordinary women have and lead a business. One of the reasons why I do not see her story as inspirational is because of the way she treats all these servants and her employees. She is rude and on many occasions talks about them as if she is putting them down. I do not care how successful your business is if you are not a kind person. So I am not exactly sure why she wrote this book.
Another thing that put me off is her attitude towards the standard Arabic language (or Fus’ha). Many countries in the world have standardized language, with defined rules. In Germany the example is Hochdeutsch. But the author is obsessed with the Egyptian dialect (in many cases with the incorrect pronunciation of letters), forgetting that the standard Arabic allows people from the Middle East to Morroco to communicate. The fact that she did not learn it is her problem, as she attended the international school thanks to the status and wealth of her family.
I was so tempted to buy a physical copy before I started reading and now I am glad I did not.
I am hoping to read something nicer from Egypt soon.
bex_reads_books's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
danielledenie's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
henrismum's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.0
Take away: I've never read a book that used the "F" word more. The writer made some very good points in her narrative and then she had some odd comments. For example, the writer equated paying bribes to officials as a form of civil disobedience. The writer and her colleagues did wonder things with their bookstore in Cairo.
Narration: Vaneh Assadourian - pretty good
Normal Speed- Accelerated Speed
New - Second - Third - Committed
Series - Non Series - Non-Fiction - Author
Listening to this book was a chore.
I'm glad I listened to this book.
I didn't want this book to end.
I could not wait to be done with this book.
Average, but better than anything I've written.
Narration: Vaneh Assadourian - pretty good
Normal Speed
New - Second - Third - Committed
Series - Non Series -
I'm glad I listened to this book.
I didn't want this book to end.
I could not wait to be done with this book.
Average, but better than anything I've written.