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bluestarfish's review against another edition
4.0
Frances Shore follows her husband Andrew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia when he gets a contract there. Hemmed in by the culture, heat, expectations, and lethargy fo the situation Frances spends her days mostly indoors with occasional trips out or visiting the women in the block of flats. The culture shock of the place seeps through as do the footsteps from the apartment above. The suspense, frustration, boredom, and clashes build up towards violence and disaster.
"Sorry to Disturb" is a short story in Hilary Mantel's collection of short stories (The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher) which is also set in Saudi of the 80s. I think that's what inspired me to pick this particular book up, as well as obviously being a fan of her writing. Dark comedy does make it into this tale with amazing little details and observations. And the combination of narrative fluidity between third person narrator and the intimacy of Frances' diary and to the general unease. Mantel is great at creating an atmosphere in her books!
"Sorry to Disturb" is a short story in Hilary Mantel's collection of short stories (The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher) which is also set in Saudi of the 80s. I think that's what inspired me to pick this particular book up, as well as obviously being a fan of her writing. Dark comedy does make it into this tale with amazing little details and observations. And the combination of narrative fluidity between third person narrator and the intimacy of Frances' diary and to the general unease. Mantel is great at creating an atmosphere in her books!
smyrvold's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
kymme's review against another edition
3.0
Despite being mostly set in an apartment and concerning the life and imagination of an expat housewife, the story here is fairly gripping. Frances has moved to Saudi Arabia with Andrew, her husband-the-architect. I found her career as a cartographer pretty unbelievable, but found the depiction of her new life as a homemaker in a society that sees women as at best second-class citizens credible. I could understand her stifling feelings about the larger society and the smaller group of visitors she's expected to entertain, her sarcasm, and her turn to a diary for comfort. She suspects that not everything is as it seems in her apartment or the country, but her own witness accounts matter less than those of others. The writing is gorgeous; the story interesting; the end disappointing.
rose_reads33's review against another edition
2.0
Did not finish. Gave up at 35%
This isn’t a bad book, it was wasn’t for me and I felt myself struggling through for what felt like hours getting nowhere.
Mantel’s writing style is overly descriptive, extremely heavy on the similes, old school classic writing that just turns my brain off. It’s obviously not bad, but I wanted some pizazz, something to draw me in and do something differently. I much prefer something overly wild and insane than something plain boring.
It’s not that there aren’t interesting conversations to be had about Saudi Arabia, it’s laws, customs, how women are treated. But the unlikeable characters weren’t having these conversations in a way that felt thought provoking. It wasn’t even that the characters were unlikeable actually, they were just flat and boring. It was clearly trying to build a mystery of some kind and I questioned if I cared enough to finish, but decided I didn’t. Too much realism to say anything interesting.
This isn’t a bad book, it was wasn’t for me and I felt myself struggling through for what felt like hours getting nowhere.
Mantel’s writing style is overly descriptive, extremely heavy on the similes, old school classic writing that just turns my brain off. It’s obviously not bad, but I wanted some pizazz, something to draw me in and do something differently. I much prefer something overly wild and insane than something plain boring.
It’s not that there aren’t interesting conversations to be had about Saudi Arabia, it’s laws, customs, how women are treated. But the unlikeable characters weren’t having these conversations in a way that felt thought provoking. It wasn’t even that the characters were unlikeable actually, they were just flat and boring. It was clearly trying to build a mystery of some kind and I questioned if I cared enough to finish, but decided I didn’t. Too much realism to say anything interesting.
michael5000's review against another edition
3.0
This often gets described as "gripping," but I wasn't gripped. I was interested, but not gripped.
I've seen the ending praised as being especially amazing. Whereas, I rather felt it that it kind of petered out in the same register of frustrated ennui that it sustained all the way through.
I've seen the ending praised as being especially amazing. Whereas, I rather felt it that it kind of petered out in the same register of frustrated ennui that it sustained all the way through.
cd3364's review against another edition
3.0
We read this for book club and it was ok but left a lot of unanswered questions
vampirefwoodstock's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
kduhy's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
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jerihurd's review against another edition
3.0
Subtitle: Some People Should Just Stay Home
Interesting plot, but the general tenor of the book was pretty much the usual "western values confronts the Muslim world and is horrified" ridiculousness. While Mantel makes a token attempt to show her ex-pats are just as rigid in their evaluations of "The Other," the bulk of her story relies on the tired, victimized women trope. And, of course, all sorts of evil-skulduggery ultimately justifies the narrator's euro-centric paranoia.
I caught myself comparing this (unfavorably) to Forster's excellent Passage to India, and wondering if Mantel was attempting a modern version.
Interesting plot, but the general tenor of the book was pretty much the usual "western values confronts the Muslim world and is horrified" ridiculousness. While Mantel makes a token attempt to show her ex-pats are just as rigid in their evaluations of "The Other," the bulk of her story relies on the tired, victimized women trope. And, of course, all sorts of evil-skulduggery ultimately justifies the narrator's euro-centric paranoia.
I caught myself comparing this (unfavorably) to Forster's excellent Passage to India, and wondering if Mantel was attempting a modern version.
foggy_rosamund's review
3.0
Frances and her husband are British expats who meet in Botswana. After a few years of marriage, her husband Andrew gets a job in Jeddah, and the two move to Saudi Arabia. Andrew arrives first, and moves into a furnished apartment. Frances spends her days alone in this apartment while her husband works; she's a cartographer by profession, but she cannot work in Jeddah. Thirty years after publication, this book is interesting snapshot of Saudia Arabia at one moment in time, as well as a portrait of British expat culture. No one comes off well in this book: the British expats are shallow, racist and avaricious; the culture of Jeddah is also described as shallow, callous and cruel. This is my second Mantel novel, and I'm really surprised by how hollow her characters are here: in Beyond Black, she showed a deep understanding of her characters, but in this novel, even Frances is not well drawn. What does a cartographer do or feel passionate about? We never know. But that's not to say this book is without its merits: the prose is careful and evocative, the dialogue is believable, the story is gripping. One of the things that I found most interesting is the ways in which the male characters are shown as being completely incapable of understanding what the women are feeling: they don't seem to be able to see the restrictions placed on women, or any of the misogyny they face. They see cat-calling and harassment as simply an inconvenience. They also can't see ways in which women may want or need to express themselves, whether it's by exploring Islam or spending time alone. This was a subtly written and thought-provoking insight in a book that often felt directionless.