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kansass's review against another edition
4.0
Entre el gótico más sofocante y claustrofóbico, y el thriller de lo más actual, a pesar de que es una novela de 1988, en esta su tercera obra, Hilary Mantel retrata con maestria los intentos de una mujer occidental por encajar de alguna forma en la sociedad saudí ya que se ve obligada a vivir alli durante un tiempo debido al trabajo de su marido. La mirada critica y reflexiva (con un cierto toque de humor negro), de Hilary Mantel a través de Frances, la llevan a intentar entender muchas de las cuestiones sobre todo en torno a la mujer a las que se ve obligada a enfrentarse. Hilary Mantel vivió en Arabia Saudí durante cuatro años, asi que esta novela tiene tintes autobiográficos, ya que al igual que Frances, Hilary Mantel acompañó a su marido a este pais durante cuatro años.
Una novela angustiosa en muchos momentos porque la autora consigue que te metas en el personaje de Frances y que de alguna forma vivas el confinamiento en el que se ven obligadas a vivir las mujeres en aquel pais, al mismo tiempo que reflexiona sobre las diferencias entre Occidente y Oriente, la corrupción politica y las apariencias. Lo que más me interesa es la forma en que el personaje de Frances se sitúa frente a las mujeres musulmanas de la novela: por mucho que se esfuerce en entender ciertas actitudes, Frances se siente cada vez más y más encerrada y confinada, sin apenas libertad para tomar la más mínima decisión. Todo esto adornada por una trama de un misterio que envuelve el edificio donde vive y que hace que Frances se sienta cada vez más paranoica. Una novela magnifica y muy actual teniendo en cuenta los tiempos que corren.
Una novela angustiosa en muchos momentos porque la autora consigue que te metas en el personaje de Frances y que de alguna forma vivas el confinamiento en el que se ven obligadas a vivir las mujeres en aquel pais, al mismo tiempo que reflexiona sobre las diferencias entre Occidente y Oriente, la corrupción politica y las apariencias. Lo que más me interesa es la forma en que el personaje de Frances se sitúa frente a las mujeres musulmanas de la novela: por mucho que se esfuerce en entender ciertas actitudes, Frances se siente cada vez más y más encerrada y confinada, sin apenas libertad para tomar la más mínima decisión. Todo esto adornada por una trama de un misterio que envuelve el edificio donde vive y que hace que Frances se sienta cada vez más paranoica. Una novela magnifica y muy actual teniendo en cuenta los tiempos que corren.
t_bone's review against another edition
4.0
A book about an Englishwoman who goes to live in Saudi Arabia when her husband gets a job there. She doesn't like it. That's about the extent of the plot. But this is not a book of plot, despite the blurb's claims about suspense. It is mostly a very well written and thoroughly depressing account of life for women in Saudi Arabia at the time (1988, I think, I could check, but I won't). It must have been written from personal experience (I could check, but I won't), otherwise it is a remarkable piece of detailed imagining. I grew a bit tired of life in Saudi Arabia by the end of the book though. The heat and the oppression and the mysterious goings on really take it out of you. I won't be going back to Saudi Arabia any time soon, but I will go back to Mantel.
slerner310's review against another edition
4.0
A disquieting yet compelling book.A quiet indictment of expat life and Saudia Arabia in particular.
lulwa's review against another edition
1.0
offensive in every possible way. I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't an assigned read.
janebranson's review against another edition
5.0
Tense and unnerving, punctured with moments that seem blackly comic until you remember that this is a depiction of a real place and time and not a dystopian parody, this novel reads like a cross between travel writing and psychological thriller. Frances Shore used to be a cartographer, but in her new life maps have as little value as she does. The city of Jeddah is steeped in darkness and changes too often to be caught on paper, while as a Western woman in this culture, she is both objectified and invisible. My favourite aspect of Hilary Mantel's writing is the way she renders the mundane into poetry through her lyrical turns of phrase - the description of the money-lenders' office, for example. A great read - dark, claustrophobic and immersive.
alisonp's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
lydia_reads's review against another edition
3.0
This is a book of two halves. Literally. Weirdly.
It's very strange. I spent the first 50-60% of the book sighing in exasperation: white western woman arrives in arab country and hates everything! Urgh! I had so many issues with it! I couldn't tell whether Mantel was trying to make her main protagonist appear racist or whether she genuinely believes what she's writing. For example, Frances says that white women who adopt the headscarf on arriving in Jeddah are "selling out" and she genuinely asks her Muslim neighbour "why does your culture make you suffer?" Nothing at this point could have made me cringe more... other than the following:
That said, there was a bizarre and almost immediate shift from about 60% in onwards. Suddenly, events take a turn from the mundane day-to-day, to the frighteningly violent. Without spoiling it, it basically all goes a bit Agatha Christie and the results are thrilling! I found myself not only interested but hooked. There simply wasn't time for prejudiced musings on culture any more, the plot was just so much more exciting.
Based on the first half of this book, I would have given it two stars. Based on the last half, four. I compromised at three for now but I still can't really work out how to place it. It's like Jekyll and Hyde, one minute it's one thing, the next it's something completely different. I love Mantel, her works on Thomas Cromwell are my favourite works of historical fiction, but this just doesn't seem to live up to her standard at all. I won't be rereading this I don't think.
It's very strange. I spent the first 50-60% of the book sighing in exasperation: white western woman arrives in arab country and hates everything! Urgh! I had so many issues with it! I couldn't tell whether Mantel was trying to make her main protagonist appear racist or whether she genuinely believes what she's writing. For example, Frances says that white women who adopt the headscarf on arriving in Jeddah are "selling out" and she genuinely asks her Muslim neighbour "why does your culture make you suffer?" Nothing at this point could have made me cringe more... other than the following:
"The word Christmas is not to be mentioned but nobody can impede the progress of goodwill to all men."URGH! I was quite frankly embarrassed by the western-centricity of a book set entirely in the Middle East!
That said, there was a bizarre and almost immediate shift from about 60% in onwards. Suddenly, events take a turn from the mundane day-to-day, to the frighteningly violent. Without spoiling it, it basically all goes a bit Agatha Christie and the results are thrilling! I found myself not only interested but hooked. There simply wasn't time for prejudiced musings on culture any more, the plot was just so much more exciting.
Based on the first half of this book, I would have given it two stars. Based on the last half, four. I compromised at three for now but I still can't really work out how to place it. It's like Jekyll and Hyde, one minute it's one thing, the next it's something completely different. I love Mantel, her works on Thomas Cromwell are my favourite works of historical fiction, but this just doesn't seem to live up to her standard at all. I won't be rereading this I don't think.
octavia_cade's review against another edition
4.0
Closer to three and a half stars, I think, but I'm rounding up.
The back cover has a quote from a review comparing this to The Turn of the Screw, and I think that's an accurate comparison. Not in subject, but in a sort of sinister muddling of reality, as the main character adapts to life as an un-person, essentially, in a repressive religious environment. She sees truths and half-truths both, and can never quite get anyone to take her seriously - even her husband and fellow expatriates start slowly treating her as less-than, though they'd honestly deny it.
Quietly horrifying, and informed by the author's own experiences of Jeddah.
The back cover has a quote from a review comparing this to The Turn of the Screw, and I think that's an accurate comparison. Not in subject, but in a sort of sinister muddling of reality, as the main character adapts to life as an un-person, essentially, in a repressive religious environment. She sees truths and half-truths both, and can never quite get anyone to take her seriously - even her husband and fellow expatriates start slowly treating her as less-than, though they'd honestly deny it.
Quietly horrifying, and informed by the author's own experiences of Jeddah.
jeanetterenee's review
2.0
Zzzzzzzzzz...If you want to know how dreadfully stultifying life would have been for an expat wife in Jeddah in the 80s, read the first 60 or 70 pages of this book. You'll soon be transported to the Land of Nod. When you awaken, wipe your nap-drool from the book and go exchange it posthaste for one with an identifiable plot.