Scan barcode
A review by camillalice
Pearls on a Branch: Tales from the Arab World Told by Women by Najla Jraissaty Khoury
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.