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maddieardagh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I found the book to attempt a lot of topics at once and cover much ground. I loved the character of Anna Winterborne and the story of the 1900s and the following political conflict of the time but the connection to the present storyline in the 1990s did not feel thorough or well-entwined. It was very informative and insightful as a person who did not grow up knowing much about this history. I appreciated the bridge between personal and political lives in the story.
twistinthetale's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the author discuss this book and at one point Ahdaf called this book a romance. It is, indeed, a romance of grand proportions and yet this is a novel that offers so much more. The internal struggles in Egypt, as the country tries to regain independence and strive for democracy within an unstable region, become an enduring setting for the characters over the span of several generations. Great characters, amazing history.
annicajvv's review against another edition
Personally, the story did not flow well for me. I spent half the time being confused, and wondering through who's eyes I were seeing and where I were.
Maybe someday the story calls to me again.
Maybe someday the story calls to me again.
lamiaa's review against another edition
4.0
بين أوائل القرن العشرين - وهي فنرة ثرية الأحداث- وأواخره , كان الحوار المتناوب بين ليدي إنجليزية وليدي مصرية
سلاسة الحدث , وثراء الشخصيات غزلت نسيجا خاصا للرواية
من أكثر الروايات التي استمتعت بقرائتها مؤخرا
سلاسة الحدث , وثراء الشخصيات غزلت نسيجا خاصا للرواية
من أكثر الروايات التي استمتعت بقرائتها مؤخرا
tori016's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
gi_gi_g's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
TL;DR : book was very engrossing at the beginning but fell into a lot of political and semi-psychological stuff at the end that felt unrelated and disjointed. Ending is very unclear.
This book started off strong, but I had a lot of trouble following the perspective changes as the book advanced aka I didn’t know who was talking at the moment, so I had to go back and reread a lot. Also the romance of the main characters of the present (90s) was really hard to buy for me. The female lead Isabel seems to just completely give up her supposed project in order to pursue the much older Omar, which just seemed flighty, not deep and t romantic. Especially as she is described as previously divorcing “bc it made sense” or something similar, she doesn’t really seem like the type who would just throw everything to the wind for a man. Her mothers death also was barely addressed and in fact simply leads to her being “comforted” by Omar and getting pregnant with his baby. Also the whole part where he had an affair with her mother? Bizarre and didn’t really add a single thing to the plot. Maybe I just missed some kind of symbolism but mostly it was just icky for me. Also the ending of the book was totally abrupt and I’m not sure what happened… it seems like maybe Omar died just like his great uncle had due to his political activity?
This book started off strong, but I had a lot of trouble following the perspective changes as the book advanced aka I didn’t know who was talking at the moment, so I had to go back and reread a lot. Also the romance of the main characters of the present (90s) was really hard to buy for me. The female lead Isabel seems to just completely give up her supposed project in order to pursue the much older Omar, which just seemed flighty, not deep and t romantic. Especially as she is described as previously divorcing “bc it made sense” or something similar, she doesn’t really seem like the type who would just throw everything to the wind for a man.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Incest
machla's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
nurly_whirly's review against another edition
2.0
A bit confusing to read, so many point of views with jarring transitions - one character had different font, the other spoke only through letters and diaries entries, a third through traditional first person, and a forth POV was omniscient in moments when it was needed. Of course we're also jumping through time as well.
I just thought I was picking up a clever intercultural romance, instead this book was much more complex than I wanted.
It also left too much unanswered for me in the end, which I know some artists do "for the art," but I just read it as "I couldn't think of any way to cleverly tie up these loose ends, so I'll let the reader do the work."
I just thought I was picking up a clever intercultural romance, instead this book was much more complex than I wanted.
It also left too much unanswered for me in the end, which I know some artists do "for the art," but I just read it as "I couldn't think of any way to cleverly tie up these loose ends, so I'll let the reader do the work."
slrsmith's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this. Had everything I love in a book: family historical primarily set somewhere other than Europe or North America, lots of period history and socio-political context, sympathetic relate-able characters, story of love despite and against the odds. In short, I was completely charmed.
ambroisie's review against another edition
4.0
The story starts with Isabel, an American journalist, finding a trunk full of diaries and letters. These documents belonged to her English great-grandmother, Anna Winterbourne. Since some of them are written in Arabic, Isabel asks for the help of an Egyptian woman, Amal. And through translation, they retrace the history of their family as they discover that they are related. Isabel is Amal’s distant cousin. Thus, The Map of Love paints the portrait of a family that extends from Egypt to England, France to the United States, exploring themes of identity, alterity and national belonging.
The novel juxtaposes two love stories: the one between Anna and Sharif in the 19th century, and the one between Isabel and Omar at the turn of the 21st century. Both love stories are inseparable from the political context of the time. Sharif is fighting the British occupation while Omar is engaged in the Palestinian cause. This book tells the story of a family over several generations while offering an elaborate critique of imperialism and Orientalism. The writing is amazing too: In Egypt, the successive colonial occupations influenced the use of language itself. Characters speak English, French, Arabic, sometimes at the same time, code-switching easily.
As for Orientalism, The Map of Love, at first glance, is an Arab story fitting western expectation of exotism. We can find the usual Orientalist clichés of the harem, the desert, mysticism.... However, what is interesting is the way that the author manipulates them so as to subvert them.
One of the main points that Soueif challenges in her book is the ahistoric and monolithic view of the Middle East which remains pervasive in media. She explores the heterogeneity of Egyptian society, where languages, religions and ethnicities coexist, where political, social, and cultural opinions diverge. We discover Egypt mainly through Anna as she struggles to recognize the country she heard of back home, as she compares it to the paintings and tales of harems and deserts: I sit here in my room at Shepheard’s Hotel possessed by the strangest feeling that still I am not in Egypt.
Another brilliant aspect: Soueif explores the role of women in Egyptian society, particularly in the struggle for independence. Women were actively working to build a modern Egypt, participating in social and political life. The status of Arab women, whether submissive or sensual, is central to the Orientalist discourse. Western feminists often denounce Islamic culture and religion as antithetical to feminism, thinking that Muslim women cannot be feminist, without first going through westernization. Indeed, while Western feminists are able to criticize, subvert and redefine their heritage and environment, Muslim women "can" only do the same by rejecting their culture. Soueif shows that feminism is not a Western product, and most of all, women all around the globe don't have the same one feminist agenda (goals and aspirations) because they don't experience the same one oppression. Soueif's female characters have to navigate between patriarchy and imperialism.
All this to say, Soueif proposes decolonization through deconstruction.
Beautifully done.
The novel juxtaposes two love stories: the one between Anna and Sharif in the 19th century, and the one between Isabel and Omar at the turn of the 21st century. Both love stories are inseparable from the political context of the time. Sharif is fighting the British occupation while Omar is engaged in the Palestinian cause. This book tells the story of a family over several generations while offering an elaborate critique of imperialism and Orientalism. The writing is amazing too: In Egypt, the successive colonial occupations influenced the use of language itself. Characters speak English, French, Arabic, sometimes at the same time, code-switching easily.
As for Orientalism, The Map of Love, at first glance, is an Arab story fitting western expectation of exotism. We can find the usual Orientalist clichés of the harem, the desert, mysticism.... However, what is interesting is the way that the author manipulates them so as to subvert them.
One of the main points that Soueif challenges in her book is the ahistoric and monolithic view of the Middle East which remains pervasive in media. She explores the heterogeneity of Egyptian society, where languages, religions and ethnicities coexist, where political, social, and cultural opinions diverge. We discover Egypt mainly through Anna as she struggles to recognize the country she heard of back home, as she compares it to the paintings and tales of harems and deserts: I sit here in my room at Shepheard’s Hotel possessed by the strangest feeling that still I am not in Egypt.
Another brilliant aspect: Soueif explores the role of women in Egyptian society, particularly in the struggle for independence. Women were actively working to build a modern Egypt, participating in social and political life. The status of Arab women, whether submissive or sensual, is central to the Orientalist discourse. Western feminists often denounce Islamic culture and religion as antithetical to feminism, thinking that Muslim women cannot be feminist, without first going through westernization. Indeed, while Western feminists are able to criticize, subvert and redefine their heritage and environment, Muslim women "can" only do the same by rejecting their culture. Soueif shows that feminism is not a Western product, and most of all, women all around the globe don't have the same one feminist agenda (goals and aspirations) because they don't experience the same one oppression. Soueif's female characters have to navigate between patriarchy and imperialism.
All this to say, Soueif proposes decolonization through deconstruction.
Beautifully done.