A review by kymme
Otto mesi a Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel

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.