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annetjeberg's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
prettyprincesscutie's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
misspalah's review against another edition
5.0
This is a collection of folklores compiled by Najla Khoury. There are 30 stories handpicked from 100 stories by the author and the translator for this book. In order to maintain originality and authenticity, the author did many interviews and listen and then record these stories. She even attend the private party/gathering/ceremony specifically for women just to listen to these stories. The author did her best to preserve her own childhood stories narrated by her grandmother (which she herself also heard from her grandmother) is just admirable. I can vouch 80 percents of these stories are indeed original. There are few stories that has a bit resemblance from Snow white, Rapunzel and Jack the giant beanstalk. Again, the plot is somewhat familiar but the culture and customs of the Arabic land is tied to the story. It is interesting how in Arabic, "There was or There was not" was used to describe "Once upon a time". It indicates the possibility of such events/incidents occurred is indeed 50%, we never know, Only God knows kind of a way. Another phrase that was used many times in the beginning of these tales are there once was a king though God alone is sovereign. That phrase hinted that you can be powerful and mighty all you want, but you will never be above God. Since these stories were told and retold by women, from generation to the generation, Majority of these stories did possess similar themes which is a story of womanhood and how women can be strong, resilient and courageous in the face of adversity. There are few stories using animals as a main character like fox, frog, mouse and cow. Overall, i really enjoyed this book. It was short and concise. It remains unapologetically Arab (if that makes sense) . The reason i said this because if you don't get the nuances and did not understand the culture, you will not enjoy this book. Translator did her best to translate but this surely a masterpiece in the original language. I wish i did not sleep during Arabic class or disappeared somewhere else back then in school.
booksbythewindow's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
(Full review to come)
I had a really good time reading this collection, and it has reminded me how interesting it is to dip into folk tales from different cultures. Khoury has clearly chosen the tales to include with complete care and Bushnaq has some fascinating insights into cultural differences in her translator’s note.
Khoury introduces the project that led to Pearls on a Branch in a short but fascinating author’s note at the start of the collection. She describes how her work with a theatre company touring refugee camps led to her beginning to transcribe the folk tales that women in these camps would tell, remembering stories her grandmother used to relay, passed on from her own grandmother. In transcribing these stories, Khoury noticed that there was a difference between the way in which these tales would be told when the husbands and children were present and when the women were on their own. There were nuances and shared experiences included in these tales that were only clear once the women were alone; Khoury summarises this, saying ‘certain stories told by women were for women only’ (p12). With this context in mind, the tales that follow take on a new meaning for the reader, who is noticing the small moments in the tales that are particularly providing these nods to the women listening to the story.
This is a collection I have already recommended to some people in my life and I would definitely recommend to more. As with any folk tale collection, there are definitely grim and gruesome aspects to the tales, but anyone who has enjoyed the tales of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen will also enjoy this collection of Lebanese and Palestinian folk tales.
I had a really good time reading this collection, and it has reminded me how interesting it is to dip into folk tales from different cultures. Khoury has clearly chosen the tales to include with complete care and Bushnaq has some fascinating insights into cultural differences in her translator’s note.
Khoury introduces the project that led to Pearls on a Branch in a short but fascinating author’s note at the start of the collection. She describes how her work with a theatre company touring refugee camps led to her beginning to transcribe the folk tales that women in these camps would tell, remembering stories her grandmother used to relay, passed on from her own grandmother. In transcribing these stories, Khoury noticed that there was a difference between the way in which these tales would be told when the husbands and children were present and when the women were on their own. There were nuances and shared experiences included in these tales that were only clear once the women were alone; Khoury summarises this, saying ‘certain stories told by women were for women only’ (p12). With this context in mind, the tales that follow take on a new meaning for the reader, who is noticing the small moments in the tales that are particularly providing these nods to the women listening to the story.
This is a collection I have already recommended to some people in my life and I would definitely recommend to more. As with any folk tale collection, there are definitely grim and gruesome aspects to the tales, but anyone who has enjoyed the tales of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen will also enjoy this collection of Lebanese and Palestinian folk tales.
fictionfan's review against another edition
5.0
It happened, or maybe it didn’t...
This collection of Lebanese and Syrian folk tales begins with an introduction from the author explaining how she came to record them. During the Lebanese civil war, Khoury travelled with a theatre group that put on shows for those dispossessed or marginalised by the conflict. As she travelled, she began to ask local women to tell her the stories they were told as children so that she could adapt them for the theatre company. She speaks very interestingly of how she went about the task of collecting the stories, sometimes from individuals, more often from groups of women, and sometimes having to find a time when their children were otherwise occupied to allow the women to relate the more bawdy tales! As with most oral traditions, she found the stories varied from telling to telling, with regional differences and also different emphases on humour and darkness. Then she discusses how she decided which stories to include, firstly in the collection of a hundred stories originally published in Arabic, and then for the thirty stories in this English translation.
This is followed by a second introduction, equally interesting, from the translator. Inea Bushnaq explains the storytelling conventions of the region, pointing out the similarities and differences to our own. She talks about the patriarchal society that has only recently begun to change. These stories are ones told by women to their daughters or amongst themselves, so they’re often about girls outsmarting men, but they also show clearly the restrictions under which women lived. Bushnaq also explains the “farsheh” - a kind of nonsense rhyme or humorous story, often involving word play, that the storyteller would use to introduce herself and get the attention of her audience before beginning the telling of the main story. Where we would begin a story “once upon a time”, the Arab convention is to begin with the less definite “there was, or maybe there was not” or “it happened, or maybe it didn’t”...
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of folk tales, so I expected to find this interesting rather than enjoyable. But I’m delighted to say I was wrong! I loved these – they’re fun, or moving, or occasionally horrifying, they’re very well written, the translation is excellent, and there’s a wide range so that they don’t begin to feel repetitive. Also, they shed a huge amount of light on a society and way of life that is so different from my own, and which is slowly passing; so that there’s an importance and even urgency to the act of gathering and recording these oral traditions before they are lost. Some are fables, like the story of the fox who turns vegetarian and goes on the Hajj, while many are stories of love and marriage, two things not always connected in a world where girls have no say over who they marry.
There are loads that got five stars from me, so here’s just a brief flavour to tempt you...
The Farsheh – in traditional fashion, the book kicks off with a farsheh, on this occasion part rhyme part prose. A deliciously wicked story about a young man who falls in love with a beautiful girl and decides he must have her for his own. But the girl isn’t quite as docile as he perhaps hoped. A great little starter, very well told with good language and rhythm and lots of humour.
A House Without Worries – a rather horrifying story (to western eyes) about a woman whose husband beats her every night for no good reason. (Not that I’m suggesting there’s ever a good reason!) But as with so many of these stories, the man gets his comeuppance in the end and the woman escapes to a better life. While these stories are quite uplifting with the happy-ever-after endings, they really show the grimmer side of a life where women have no rights. I loved the idea, though, of the kind of subversiveness of women sharing these stories as a form of mutual support.
Lady Tanaqueesh and the Eggs of the Tawawees – tawawees being peacock eggs, the eating of which makes you pregnant apparently! (There are lots of stories where women get pregnant through strange means – I’m sure there was an underlying meaning to this that I couldn’t quite grasp...) In this one, Lady Tanaqueesh has two jealous sisters who trick her into eating the eggs and the resulting pregnancy leads her father to expel her. There’s lots of rather nasty stuff in this one, including the brutal revenge Lady T considers for her sisters. But it’s very well done, with lots of rhyming and repetition – a real feat of translation, I think.
The Fly – a little kind of repetitive question and answer thing that reminded me of the style of Who Killed Cock Robin. The fly lands on a series of creatures, praising each, but each replies to the effect that yes, but I can be hurt by another creature or thing, so the fly then goes off to that creature or thing, praises it, etc., until eventually... well, that would be a spoiler, but I love the end of this – quite dark.
O Palace Beautiful! O Fancy Friend! - First off, what a great title! I’ve included this one because it has many elements of Snow White in it, which made me realise how much crossover there is in traditional tales – it made me feel closer to the culture than some of the other tales. Plus, it has Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in it! Jealous mother, beautiful girl, poisoned apple – what’s not to love?
Oh, I want to tell you about the woman who farts in front of the cow, and the chiffchaff who wants to be Queen of the Birds, and the donkey who ate the wheat, and... but I’ve run out of room! So loads of variety, lots of interest and hugely enjoyable. Great stuff – highly recommended, and not just to folk tale fans!
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Archipelago.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
This collection of Lebanese and Syrian folk tales begins with an introduction from the author explaining how she came to record them. During the Lebanese civil war, Khoury travelled with a theatre group that put on shows for those dispossessed or marginalised by the conflict. As she travelled, she began to ask local women to tell her the stories they were told as children so that she could adapt them for the theatre company. She speaks very interestingly of how she went about the task of collecting the stories, sometimes from individuals, more often from groups of women, and sometimes having to find a time when their children were otherwise occupied to allow the women to relate the more bawdy tales! As with most oral traditions, she found the stories varied from telling to telling, with regional differences and also different emphases on humour and darkness. Then she discusses how she decided which stories to include, firstly in the collection of a hundred stories originally published in Arabic, and then for the thirty stories in this English translation.
This is followed by a second introduction, equally interesting, from the translator. Inea Bushnaq explains the storytelling conventions of the region, pointing out the similarities and differences to our own. She talks about the patriarchal society that has only recently begun to change. These stories are ones told by women to their daughters or amongst themselves, so they’re often about girls outsmarting men, but they also show clearly the restrictions under which women lived. Bushnaq also explains the “farsheh” - a kind of nonsense rhyme or humorous story, often involving word play, that the storyteller would use to introduce herself and get the attention of her audience before beginning the telling of the main story. Where we would begin a story “once upon a time”, the Arab convention is to begin with the less definite “there was, or maybe there was not” or “it happened, or maybe it didn’t”...
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of folk tales, so I expected to find this interesting rather than enjoyable. But I’m delighted to say I was wrong! I loved these – they’re fun, or moving, or occasionally horrifying, they’re very well written, the translation is excellent, and there’s a wide range so that they don’t begin to feel repetitive. Also, they shed a huge amount of light on a society and way of life that is so different from my own, and which is slowly passing; so that there’s an importance and even urgency to the act of gathering and recording these oral traditions before they are lost. Some are fables, like the story of the fox who turns vegetarian and goes on the Hajj, while many are stories of love and marriage, two things not always connected in a world where girls have no say over who they marry.
There are loads that got five stars from me, so here’s just a brief flavour to tempt you...
The Farsheh – in traditional fashion, the book kicks off with a farsheh, on this occasion part rhyme part prose. A deliciously wicked story about a young man who falls in love with a beautiful girl and decides he must have her for his own. But the girl isn’t quite as docile as he perhaps hoped. A great little starter, very well told with good language and rhythm and lots of humour.
A House Without Worries – a rather horrifying story (to western eyes) about a woman whose husband beats her every night for no good reason. (Not that I’m suggesting there’s ever a good reason!) But as with so many of these stories, the man gets his comeuppance in the end and the woman escapes to a better life. While these stories are quite uplifting with the happy-ever-after endings, they really show the grimmer side of a life where women have no rights. I loved the idea, though, of the kind of subversiveness of women sharing these stories as a form of mutual support.
Lady Tanaqueesh and the Eggs of the Tawawees – tawawees being peacock eggs, the eating of which makes you pregnant apparently! (There are lots of stories where women get pregnant through strange means – I’m sure there was an underlying meaning to this that I couldn’t quite grasp...) In this one, Lady Tanaqueesh has two jealous sisters who trick her into eating the eggs and the resulting pregnancy leads her father to expel her. There’s lots of rather nasty stuff in this one, including the brutal revenge Lady T considers for her sisters. But it’s very well done, with lots of rhyming and repetition – a real feat of translation, I think.
The Fly – a little kind of repetitive question and answer thing that reminded me of the style of Who Killed Cock Robin. The fly lands on a series of creatures, praising each, but each replies to the effect that yes, but I can be hurt by another creature or thing, so the fly then goes off to that creature or thing, praises it, etc., until eventually... well, that would be a spoiler, but I love the end of this – quite dark.
O Palace Beautiful! O Fancy Friend! - First off, what a great title! I’ve included this one because it has many elements of Snow White in it, which made me realise how much crossover there is in traditional tales – it made me feel closer to the culture than some of the other tales. Plus, it has Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in it! Jealous mother, beautiful girl, poisoned apple – what’s not to love?
Oh, I want to tell you about the woman who farts in front of the cow, and the chiffchaff who wants to be Queen of the Birds, and the donkey who ate the wheat, and... but I’ve run out of room! So loads of variety, lots of interest and hugely enjoyable. Great stuff – highly recommended, and not just to folk tale fans!
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Archipelago.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful books composed by story told by Arabian women. The stories are charming, stunning and wonderful.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to Archipelago and Edelweiss
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to Archipelago and Edelweiss
xyzeereads's review against another edition
2.0
Does everything and everyone have to be the bestest? As a lover of fairytales, the redundant use of superlatives is not the bestest.
camillalice's review against another edition
3.0
This is a collection of 30 Syrian and Lebanese folktales, told by women and collected and translated by women as well. I have always loved fairy tales, so I was really interested in this book. I was surprised to see how some of them are very much like some of the Western tales, for example one of them was a different version of Snow White (with Ali Baba and the 40 thieves instead of 7 dwarves!).
I enjoyed discovering the folktales of another culture – I don’t think I had read tales from the Arab world before, or it might have been one here or there in a collection of world tales. My problem with them is that I didn’t feel like I connected with them like I do with Western or Eastern European tales, maybe because I didn’t grow up with them.
That being said, I greatly admire the work of Najla Khoury and Inea Engler (the translator). They accomplished a tremendous amount of work and it is very important in my opinion to record and safeguard the folk traditions of all cultures.
Disclaimer – thanks to NetGalley and Archipelago for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed discovering the folktales of another culture – I don’t think I had read tales from the Arab world before, or it might have been one here or there in a collection of world tales. My problem with them is that I didn’t feel like I connected with them like I do with Western or Eastern European tales, maybe because I didn’t grow up with them.
That being said, I greatly admire the work of Najla Khoury and Inea Engler (the translator). They accomplished a tremendous amount of work and it is very important in my opinion to record and safeguard the folk traditions of all cultures.
Disclaimer – thanks to NetGalley and Archipelago for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
ijustkindalikebooks's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of stories from the Arab world, this book collects what is a cross between a fairy tale and a fable written by women, and written incredibly well.
Each story starts with a short poem that reflects the story and gives you a taste of what you’re about to read, and what you read are stunning stories. So expressive but also pretty, they have a stunning quality to them that makes this book so easy to devour.
Certain stories stick with you, The House With No Worries for example sees the strength of women rewarded with happiness and that’s a recurrent theme within this collection of stories, there’s a hope to these stories that make them so charming and I like this book for it.
An incredible collection of stories,that if you like fairy tales, Pearls On A Branch is probably your next favourite read, these stories are wonderfully written and perfectly told, Pearls On A Branch is a treat.
(I received an ARC from NetGalley),
Each story starts with a short poem that reflects the story and gives you a taste of what you’re about to read, and what you read are stunning stories. So expressive but also pretty, they have a stunning quality to them that makes this book so easy to devour.
Certain stories stick with you, The House With No Worries for example sees the strength of women rewarded with happiness and that’s a recurrent theme within this collection of stories, there’s a hope to these stories that make them so charming and I like this book for it.
An incredible collection of stories,that if you like fairy tales, Pearls On A Branch is probably your next favourite read, these stories are wonderfully written and perfectly told, Pearls On A Branch is a treat.
(I received an ARC from NetGalley),