Sandpiper

by Ahdaf Soueif

From the Man Booker Nominee author of The Map of Love.

Sandpiper is a collection of stories which provide insight into Egyptian and Western life and the links between them, looking at relationships within and across continents.

People from many places - England, Alexandria, Istanbul - pass through defining crises in their relations with others. Most of them are women, and most find themselves in countries other than their own, where language, culture and prescribed emotions such as 'love' create confusion. New understandings are registered in intensely recalled moments and sensations.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Egypt, Middle East

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Ahdaf Soueif (Arabic: أهداف سويف) is an Egyptian short story writer, novelist and political and cultural commentator. She was educated in Egypt and England - studied for a PhD in linguistics at the University of Lancaster.

Her novel The Map of Love (1999) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and subsequently translated into 21 languages. Soueif writes primarily in English, but her Arabic-speaking readers say they can hear the Arabic through the English. Along with in-depth and sensitive readings of Egyptian history and politics, Soueif also writes about Palestinians in her fiction and non-fiction. A shorter version of "Under the Gun: A Palestinian Journey" was originally published in The Guardian and then printed in full in Soueif's recent collection of essays, Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground (2004). Soueif has also translated Mourid Barghouti's I Saw Ramallah (with a foreword by Edward Said) from Arabic into English.


In 2007, Soueif was one of more than 100 artists and writers who signed an open letter initiated by Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism and the South West Asian, North African Bay Area Queers (SWANABAQ) and calling on the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival "to honor calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not cosponsoring events with the Israeli consulate."


In 2008 she initiated the first Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest). Soueif is also a cultural and political commentator for the Guardian newspaper and she has been reporting on the Egyptian revolution. In January 2012 she published Cairo: My City, Our Revolution – a personal account of the first year of the Egyptian revolution

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

With each ebb of green water the sand loses part of itself to the sea, with each flow another part is flung back to be reclaimed once again by the beach. That narrow stretch of sand knows nothing in the world better than it does the white waves that whip it, caress it, collapse onto it, vanish into it. The white foam knows nothing better than those sands which wait for it, rise to it and suck it in. But what do the waves know of the massed, hot, still sands of the desert just twenty, no, ten feet beyond the scalloped edge? And what does the beach know of the depths, the cold, the currents just there, there - do you see it? - where the water turns a deeper blue.

Through stark (with the exception of one story, from which I have quoted above) but piercing prose, we experience struggles through loneliness, love and loss in seven absorbing tales. Soueif's writing in this collection concerns place and displacement, and of the search and expression of identity within a culturally oppressive society.

[Zainab Magdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in Sandpiper are so mesmerizing and so painful. Its not the author's style of writing as much as the pain and the feelings pulsating from every word that made me appreciate it so. Soueif tells stories beautifully and she tells stories from the heart; it's that which makes literature after all, isn't it?

[Yomna Sh. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remarkable literary style. Stories are a bit dull and sad

[Ashton McGarvie]

The short story Sandpiper was probably the first favourite short story I've ever had. I remember reading it in high school English and being floored by its dancing lyricism. So when I saw this in a second-hand bookstore on the weekend I just had to get it. Most of the stories in this collection are alright (I liked them, but they weren't anything special), which is how I end up feeling about most short story collections overall. But this one passage from the titular story remains one of my favourite passages of any writing from anything ever. Seriously. I fucking love this passage:

"Now, when I walk to the sea, to the edge of this continent where I live, where I almost died, where I wait for my daughter to grow away from me, I see different things from those I saw that summer six years ago. The last of the foam is swallowed bubbling into the sand, to sink down and rejoin the sea at an invisible subterranean level. With each ebb of green water the sand loses part of itself to the sea, with each flow another part is flung back to be reclaimed once again by the beach. That narrow stretch of sand knows nothing in the world better than it does the white waves that whip it, caress it, collapse onto it, vanish into it. The white foam knows nothing better than those sands which wait for it, rise to it and suck it in. But what do the waves know of the massed, hot, still sands of the desert just twenty, no, ten feet beyond the scalloped edge? And what does the beach know of the depths, the cold, the currents just there, there - do you see it? - where the water turns a deeper blue."

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book of short stories, each one had a unique voice and gave a good look into different cultures.
I found it to be interesting, some stories were naturally better than others, but I enjoyed most of them.

For a longer review please visit my website at http://www.thebooktower.webs.com

[John Nduli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this books, especially how real and relatable the characters are. The book's stories are mostly sad, but coupled with the writer's lyrical style, they have a great impact on the reader. However, I feel the writer sometimes became too poetic, losing me occassionally.

[Laura Besley]

'Sandpiper' (Bloomsbury, 1996) by Ahdaf Soueif is a collection of seven short stories, each steeped in rich details and portraying themes of loss and belonging. Although all are excellent, for me the standout story was 'The Water-Heater' about a brother's love for his sister and his struggle to fulfill the role of the man of the house.

[Sofie · Rating 4 out of 5]

European and African women, from all over, displaced.
It's about the forced inferiority of women, love, loss, Islam.
Soueif is short story strong: Almost right away, you're IN.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating short stories on perspectives from the Middle East and London. Easy to read and impactful.

[Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are superbly written. There are confusing parts. But some characters are beautifully captured.

[Venkataraghavan Srinivasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These excellent stories exist in the liminal space between thought, feeling and action. Each is exquisitely told. The first few stories are amongst the best short fiction I have ever read.

[Reema La2ima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the perfect collection of stories to read after "In The Eye of The Sun".

[ELMAATAOUI MOHAMED · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a bit repetitive and being truly honest I didn’t really understand the final story

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Egyptian expat author provides the opportunity to encounter characters (all but one, women) within the matrix of women's and intergenerational roles in the Arab diaspora.

[Deirdre O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful