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Elsewhere, Home
From one of our finest contemporary writers whose work has been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith and Aminatta Forna, Leila Aboulela's Elsewhere, Home offers us a rich tableau of life as an immigrant abroad, attempting to navigate the conflicts of assimilation and difference in an unfamiliar world.
A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favourite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity.
Shuttling between the dusty, sun-baked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life.
A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favourite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity.
Shuttling between the dusty, sun-baked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2018
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2281 people want to read
About the author
Leila Aboulela
38 books915 followersLeila Aboulela grew up in Khartoum, Sudan where she attended the Khartoum American School and Sister School. She graduated from Khartoum University in 1985 with a degree in Economics and was awarded her Masters degree in statistics from the London School of Economics. She lived for many years in Aberdeen where she wrote most of her works while looking after her family; she currently lives and lectures in Abu Dhabi.
She was awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000 for her short story The Museum and her novel The Translator was nominated for the Orange Prize in 2002, and was chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times in 2006.
She was awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000 for her short story The Museum and her novel The Translator was nominated for the Orange Prize in 2002, and was chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
February 9, 2023
Leila Aboulela’s collection of short stories in Elsewhere Home focuses on the sorrow of people who have left their homeland, and live a life that, for them, is emotionally somewhere in between their adopted home and the home of their heart, always yearning for some part of home. The alienation of living in a land unlike the one they were accustomed to, and finding a way to hold onto one’s identity without upsetting the balance of life for all.
”Her country disturbed him. It reminded him of the first time he had held a human bone, the touching simplicity of it, the strength. Such was the landscape of Khartoum; bone-coloured sky, a purity in the desert air, bareness. A bit austere and therefore static. But he was driven by feelings, that was why he was here, that was why he had crossed boundaries and seas, and now walked through a blaze of hot air from the airplane steps to the terminal.”
”He had thought, from the books he’d read and the particular British Islam he had been exposed to, that in a Muslim country he would find elegance and reason. Instead he found melancholy, a sensuous place, life stripped to the bare bones.”
---Something Old, Something New
These two quotes show the promise of the writing in these stories, the complexity of thoughts and a vision of the experience of immigrating to a new land where life is very different from your former home. If I found any fault in this collection, the theme runs so strongly through this collection that it tends to feel a bit too much like every story is just a variation on the same note, which lessens the emotional impact each story would hold on its own. Despite this, it is a collection that I found moving and thought provoking.
Pub Date: 12 Feb 2019
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Grove Atlantic / Grove Press / Black Cat
December 19, 2018
I had mixed feelings about these stories - there are 13 - something of a usual number in short story collections. So my favourite overall was "Expecting to Give", it's about a young woman pregnant for the first time, waiting for her husband to return from the oil rig where he works. Like several of the stories this one is set in the north of Scotland, there's no specific mention of city but I'll assume it's Aberdeen like the others. I liked this because it captures so exactly those feelings and emotions when you are first pregnant - at least for me - this was exactly my experience; and it was a pleasure to read about another woman's very, similar experience. Why don't more women write about this type of thing?
The doctor says I should try eating a cracker before I get up, but it doesn't work. I walk to the bathroom and I'm sick in the basin. White froth and then further retches, it turns smooth and dark yellow, like cough medicine, only bitter. Then back into bed, sweaty and hungry.
I like the way she gets to the details of being sick - so accurate.
And then she talks about how her life has radically changed with marriage and pregnancy - the loss of her independence and status predominates:
I drive to the kebab shop for lunch. Driving is a triumph for me, a reminder that I am not completely helpless, completely housebound. It is a throwback to my single life, the career woman with the little car, with somewhere to go, always busy. In another part of the world I had been a social worker. I identified children at risk and set up a programme to rehabilitate teenage drug addicts. I have to stop the car and vomit in a paper cup. Nothing comes out but white froth, my breakfast has disappeared. It is an empty stomach that makes me sick, though it is hard to believe. When I am full, the nausea goes away. But I am digesting too fast. I can hardly hold myself back between one meal and the next.
I certainly remember the period when every thought was either about food or avoiding food, the smells, getting off a bus to be sick etc. You feel overcome with the humiliation - the shame, the weakness of your stomach taking complete control of your life - at least for those first three/four months!
So this is what I like about Aboulela - she tells it like it is.
On the other hand, I felt her weakest story was the last one, "Pages of Fruit"; it's also the longest, and is referred to in the blurb above, presumably her editors considered this to be one of the better ones. I disliked the tone - it's about a middle class housewife, an Arabic woman, who focuses on her children and home-life but likes to read books by a famous woman writer, who comes from the same country and a similar background to her, our narrator. She refers to two books by this writer - neither of which are real, so I guess Aboulela has a real person in mind, but wishes to protect her identity. The point of the story is that the lowly housewife's position is reversed in relation to the well-know, rich, and influential female writer. They eventually meet and it becomes apparent that the writer is somewhat shallow and egotistical. I don't object to this reversal of roles, not at all, but I do dislike the obviousness of the whole plot. Its predictability is clear from the outset.
Here's a short example of tone from this story:
I was in my twenties when I first read you, and I was voluble and impressionable. Immediately I wanted to be your friend. We had so much in common, both of us here and both of us from there, although you a decade older than me. I was eager to talk to you about your story; I felt that I already knew you and that sooner or later we would meet and the conversation would sparkle between us. Your story was a bridge to a world I had left behind with marriage and migration. A world I was losing, but through your words it became vivid again and I could inhabit it.
So we see the narrator is a little naive and wishful, and we understand her insecurities, and her dependence on the writer because of the loss of her homeland. Later, however, she realises the writer is not really from her own background; there are significant differences.
I spoke about you often to my husband and friends, who did not read your work, who were shocked by your progressive take and explicitness. The people around me were more conservative than the families in your books and your own family by extension. I had said that I responded to the familiarity of your characters and social circles, I had claimed them for myself. In truth, though, you and your characters inhabited the liberal fringes while I remained with the sedate majority.
So, our narrator comes across as jealous, but as the years pass, her social status improves, and she is able to see with clarity the weaknesses of the famous writer.
I admit that as a foundation, we did spring upon you the children's writing workshop. I am sorry that despite your objections, I insisted on going ahead.
And My strategy worked. But only just. After huffing and puffing, you seated yourself in front of the children. You made a few general comments about writing and the importance of books.
And then the writer tars her image by complaining, and refusing to sign a book that isn't hers in front of the child.
I actually have some difficulty writing about this story because of the lack of names, or some nomer other than writer and house-wife. This evasiveness and the general vague tone interferes with the authenticity of the story.
I suppose I just don't like the style of the whole story - everything is from the point of view of the narrator. The other woman, never has a chance to voice her position or place in the world, her reasons, or motivations. And although I don't dislike that the narrator moves through a learning curve - this is normal, natural; I did dislike her moral judgments. I realized in fact that what I really disliked, is this narrator - her low self-esteem, her confusion of identity, her rise to moral superiority, and thank goodness her improved self-image as a result of work - but her ongoing need to idolize the writer - this jarred.
On the other hand, I really liked the very short story - "The Aromatherapist's Husband", our writer makes fun of the new-age wellness beliefs with a nice little inversion.
I also liked "The Museum". An Arabic girl, studying at Aberdeen university, gradually becomes acquainted with a local lad. I thought the insights and split loyalties in the narrator's view in this story were really spot on - very, very realistic and extremely well done.
In "Something Old, Something New", a young British man comes to Khartoum to visit the family of his fiancee; this time, the strangeness and alienation of a different culture is experienced by the man - usually Aboulela's stories are from the woman's view point.
The first story in the collection; "Summer Maze" is about the relationship between a mother and daughter, returning for a visit to their home in Cairo. This one is easy to relate to and funny.
I didn't like - "Coloured Lights" a rather sad, and drab story, comparing the coloured lights used in Khartoum, set up for a wedding party which results in the death of the narrator's brother and how in London as our narrator travels on a bus back from the city centre to her lodgings in the suburbs, the Christmas lights remind her of her brother and his unfortunate death. It sounds like a good plot, but the telling is disjointed and rather flat, as if there is bitterness and sadness, but a sort of jaded sense as if our writer was not really "in" the story. A problem with emotional distance I felt.
"Farida's Eyes" was too simplistic for my taste.
"The Boy from the Kebab Shop" irritated me at several points - I really felt as if the writer had a somewhat restricted view of what might compromise British. I know that we are supposed to be viewing the story through the eyes of a young mixed race girl (Turkish/British), but I also felt there was a certain element of "explaining", a vague sense of a patronizing tone.
Samia was a large woman; her loose clothes gave her a tomboyish look. The white scarf that covered her hair made her eyes dark and luminous. She smelt faintly of sweat and cooking spices. Feeding her baby, she definitely did not look like an antiseptic mum in a television ad for Pampers. The baby, Dina thought, was too old for this. She could hear him breathing from the effort of sucking, could hear him swallow, draw in the flow of milk, swallow. She looked away not wanting this intimacy, shrinking away from what was fleshy and vulnerable.
Dina is supposed to represent modern British youth, not brought up with the benefits of a large family or the intimacy of an extended Muslim family, where the women would naturally share all matters of motherhood. This is the sort of message that starts to come across in this story - again there is this sense of "explaining", and an element of how much better off "youth" would be if they were integrated into a large, stable, family - with values.
I think it is normal for a writer such as Aboulela, who grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and then migrated to Scotland to have this dual insight into different cultures, but I also felt she overstated her knowledge.
If, for example, as a woman - you have breast-fed your child, there is no particular "learning" in the above scene.
And there are other minor irritants, which mar slightly a very eloquent, and rich voice.
Maybe a one off in a review like this, doesn't convey this nuance - but there is a pervading sense in the book that she is repeatedly explaining her cultural background for the benefit of the "other". I think Aboulela could reassess her audience a little and consider that some of us might know something about other cultures, and other life-styles.
Almost forgot - thank you to the publisher, Grove Press, for an ARC.
The doctor says I should try eating a cracker before I get up, but it doesn't work. I walk to the bathroom and I'm sick in the basin. White froth and then further retches, it turns smooth and dark yellow, like cough medicine, only bitter. Then back into bed, sweaty and hungry.
I like the way she gets to the details of being sick - so accurate.
And then she talks about how her life has radically changed with marriage and pregnancy - the loss of her independence and status predominates:
I drive to the kebab shop for lunch. Driving is a triumph for me, a reminder that I am not completely helpless, completely housebound. It is a throwback to my single life, the career woman with the little car, with somewhere to go, always busy. In another part of the world I had been a social worker. I identified children at risk and set up a programme to rehabilitate teenage drug addicts. I have to stop the car and vomit in a paper cup. Nothing comes out but white froth, my breakfast has disappeared. It is an empty stomach that makes me sick, though it is hard to believe. When I am full, the nausea goes away. But I am digesting too fast. I can hardly hold myself back between one meal and the next.
I certainly remember the period when every thought was either about food or avoiding food, the smells, getting off a bus to be sick etc. You feel overcome with the humiliation - the shame, the weakness of your stomach taking complete control of your life - at least for those first three/four months!
So this is what I like about Aboulela - she tells it like it is.
On the other hand, I felt her weakest story was the last one, "Pages of Fruit"; it's also the longest, and is referred to in the blurb above, presumably her editors considered this to be one of the better ones. I disliked the tone - it's about a middle class housewife, an Arabic woman, who focuses on her children and home-life but likes to read books by a famous woman writer, who comes from the same country and a similar background to her, our narrator. She refers to two books by this writer - neither of which are real, so I guess Aboulela has a real person in mind, but wishes to protect her identity. The point of the story is that the lowly housewife's position is reversed in relation to the well-know, rich, and influential female writer. They eventually meet and it becomes apparent that the writer is somewhat shallow and egotistical. I don't object to this reversal of roles, not at all, but I do dislike the obviousness of the whole plot. Its predictability is clear from the outset.
Here's a short example of tone from this story:
I was in my twenties when I first read you, and I was voluble and impressionable. Immediately I wanted to be your friend. We had so much in common, both of us here and both of us from there, although you a decade older than me. I was eager to talk to you about your story; I felt that I already knew you and that sooner or later we would meet and the conversation would sparkle between us. Your story was a bridge to a world I had left behind with marriage and migration. A world I was losing, but through your words it became vivid again and I could inhabit it.
So we see the narrator is a little naive and wishful, and we understand her insecurities, and her dependence on the writer because of the loss of her homeland. Later, however, she realises the writer is not really from her own background; there are significant differences.
I spoke about you often to my husband and friends, who did not read your work, who were shocked by your progressive take and explicitness. The people around me were more conservative than the families in your books and your own family by extension. I had said that I responded to the familiarity of your characters and social circles, I had claimed them for myself. In truth, though, you and your characters inhabited the liberal fringes while I remained with the sedate majority.
So, our narrator comes across as jealous, but as the years pass, her social status improves, and she is able to see with clarity the weaknesses of the famous writer.
I admit that as a foundation, we did spring upon you the children's writing workshop. I am sorry that despite your objections, I insisted on going ahead.
And My strategy worked. But only just. After huffing and puffing, you seated yourself in front of the children. You made a few general comments about writing and the importance of books.
And then the writer tars her image by complaining, and refusing to sign a book that isn't hers in front of the child.
I actually have some difficulty writing about this story because of the lack of names, or some nomer other than writer and house-wife. This evasiveness and the general vague tone interferes with the authenticity of the story.
I suppose I just don't like the style of the whole story - everything is from the point of view of the narrator. The other woman, never has a chance to voice her position or place in the world, her reasons, or motivations. And although I don't dislike that the narrator moves through a learning curve - this is normal, natural; I did dislike her moral judgments. I realized in fact that what I really disliked, is this narrator - her low self-esteem, her confusion of identity, her rise to moral superiority, and thank goodness her improved self-image as a result of work - but her ongoing need to idolize the writer - this jarred.
On the other hand, I really liked the very short story - "The Aromatherapist's Husband", our writer makes fun of the new-age wellness beliefs with a nice little inversion.
I also liked "The Museum". An Arabic girl, studying at Aberdeen university, gradually becomes acquainted with a local lad. I thought the insights and split loyalties in the narrator's view in this story were really spot on - very, very realistic and extremely well done.
In "Something Old, Something New", a young British man comes to Khartoum to visit the family of his fiancee; this time, the strangeness and alienation of a different culture is experienced by the man - usually Aboulela's stories are from the woman's view point.
The first story in the collection; "Summer Maze" is about the relationship between a mother and daughter, returning for a visit to their home in Cairo. This one is easy to relate to and funny.
I didn't like - "Coloured Lights" a rather sad, and drab story, comparing the coloured lights used in Khartoum, set up for a wedding party which results in the death of the narrator's brother and how in London as our narrator travels on a bus back from the city centre to her lodgings in the suburbs, the Christmas lights remind her of her brother and his unfortunate death. It sounds like a good plot, but the telling is disjointed and rather flat, as if there is bitterness and sadness, but a sort of jaded sense as if our writer was not really "in" the story. A problem with emotional distance I felt.
"Farida's Eyes" was too simplistic for my taste.
"The Boy from the Kebab Shop" irritated me at several points - I really felt as if the writer had a somewhat restricted view of what might compromise British. I know that we are supposed to be viewing the story through the eyes of a young mixed race girl (Turkish/British), but I also felt there was a certain element of "explaining", a vague sense of a patronizing tone.
Samia was a large woman; her loose clothes gave her a tomboyish look. The white scarf that covered her hair made her eyes dark and luminous. She smelt faintly of sweat and cooking spices. Feeding her baby, she definitely did not look like an antiseptic mum in a television ad for Pampers. The baby, Dina thought, was too old for this. She could hear him breathing from the effort of sucking, could hear him swallow, draw in the flow of milk, swallow. She looked away not wanting this intimacy, shrinking away from what was fleshy and vulnerable.
Dina is supposed to represent modern British youth, not brought up with the benefits of a large family or the intimacy of an extended Muslim family, where the women would naturally share all matters of motherhood. This is the sort of message that starts to come across in this story - again there is this sense of "explaining", and an element of how much better off "youth" would be if they were integrated into a large, stable, family - with values.
I think it is normal for a writer such as Aboulela, who grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and then migrated to Scotland to have this dual insight into different cultures, but I also felt she overstated her knowledge.
If, for example, as a woman - you have breast-fed your child, there is no particular "learning" in the above scene.
And there are other minor irritants, which mar slightly a very eloquent, and rich voice.
Maybe a one off in a review like this, doesn't convey this nuance - but there is a pervading sense in the book that she is repeatedly explaining her cultural background for the benefit of the "other". I think Aboulela could reassess her audience a little and consider that some of us might know something about other cultures, and other life-styles.
Almost forgot - thank you to the publisher, Grove Press, for an ARC.
September 13, 2023
I'm not a fan of short story collections however being an expat the title appealed to me.
Thirteen short stories on being Elsewhere Home, with them all being based in the UK and the Middle East I could relate to many parts of these. The first story really touched me, I felt I was back in Egypt, I could almost smell it. The B and P mix up. Blease. Brought back so many memories!
I enjoyed these stories; I felt the author really got to heart of the complicated mix of feelings you experience when you're Elsewhere Home.
A very solid four stars from me.
Thirteen short stories on being Elsewhere Home, with them all being based in the UK and the Middle East I could relate to many parts of these. The first story really touched me, I felt I was back in Egypt, I could almost smell it. The B and P mix up. Blease. Brought back so many memories!
I enjoyed these stories; I felt the author really got to heart of the complicated mix of feelings you experience when you're Elsewhere Home.
A very solid four stars from me.
February 26, 2019
A collection of short stories about Egyptian natives and immigrants, who either revisit their country or are holding on to the last thread of connection to their homeland.
I really liked Aboulela's writing style. Her writing has a distinct nostalgic yet powerful touch to it, which even gave me goosebumps. I always used to think why immigrants weren't keen on knowing their culture and homeland, but this book changed my entire perception on that topic. The generation gap and the problems arising with it has been imaginatively dealt with. I especially loved the story of a bright girl struggling in studies because of her parent's ignorance to buy her glasses. It shows the daily life and simple struggles of people. There are some parts where I felt that the stories were kind of repetitive, but overall, I was very pleased with the array of characters and their varied stories.
The author knows what she is talking about and it reflects in her writing. This is a heartfelt piece you should not miss. Totally recommended.
I really liked Aboulela's writing style. Her writing has a distinct nostalgic yet powerful touch to it, which even gave me goosebumps. I always used to think why immigrants weren't keen on knowing their culture and homeland, but this book changed my entire perception on that topic. The generation gap and the problems arising with it has been imaginatively dealt with. I especially loved the story of a bright girl struggling in studies because of her parent's ignorance to buy her glasses. It shows the daily life and simple struggles of people. There are some parts where I felt that the stories were kind of repetitive, but overall, I was very pleased with the array of characters and their varied stories.
The author knows what she is talking about and it reflects in her writing. This is a heartfelt piece you should not miss. Totally recommended.
September 22, 2018
This punchy, yet poised, collection of short stories by Leila Aboulela explores displacement of a variety of different types; the displacement felt by a young English-Egyptian girl on her trips back to Egypt, of not really belonging and yet mysteriously drawn to her mother-land, of a young English woman recently converted to Islam, of the Scotsman who feels hopelessly disaffected when visiting his fiancee's family in Khartoum and of the displacement felt by so many immigrants as they leave their homes for a country whose customs and cultures seem to alien to them, whose reception of them can so often be hostile, accusing them of innumerable imaginary crimes. On the face of it the reader would conclude that Aboulela is exploring the disconnect and differences between cultures which are intrinsically different, yet the key theme of the novels is the things which bring is together and how the innate human desire for love and friendship as a way of overcoming our sense of isolation and the cultural differences which divide us, just as with Shadia and Bryan in 'The Museum'.
The stories unfold not so much as a narrative, but as a series of images which encapsulate the emotional journeys which the characters are going through; some characters are stirred from their catharsis by jolts of love, some by the beauty of the world around them, such as the opalescence of the Nile as the narrator in 'Something Old, Something New', however what is important is that all of the characters are attempting to find some kind of meaning and sense of belonging. And herein lies the strength of Aboulela's short stories and the innate sense of pathos which runs through them; where it be the supercilious Ostrich in 'The Ostrich' or the star-struck reader in 'Pages of Fruit', is it the insecurities of the characters, their flaws as well as their strengths which add emotional poignancy and depth to their characters, allowing the reader to invest emotionally in all the stories Aboulela weaves, whether it be the quotidian journey of a heartbroken woman through London or the young girl whose poor eyesight and inability to read the blackboard is causing her teachers to think she is stupid, these stories emanate a subtle sadness and beauty, just like the African night sky as seen by the narrator of 'Something Old, Something New';
"Out on the balcony, the contrast startled him. Sunset has softened the sky, rimmed the west with pinks and soft orange."
The stories unfold not so much as a narrative, but as a series of images which encapsulate the emotional journeys which the characters are going through; some characters are stirred from their catharsis by jolts of love, some by the beauty of the world around them, such as the opalescence of the Nile as the narrator in 'Something Old, Something New', however what is important is that all of the characters are attempting to find some kind of meaning and sense of belonging. And herein lies the strength of Aboulela's short stories and the innate sense of pathos which runs through them; where it be the supercilious Ostrich in 'The Ostrich' or the star-struck reader in 'Pages of Fruit', is it the insecurities of the characters, their flaws as well as their strengths which add emotional poignancy and depth to their characters, allowing the reader to invest emotionally in all the stories Aboulela weaves, whether it be the quotidian journey of a heartbroken woman through London or the young girl whose poor eyesight and inability to read the blackboard is causing her teachers to think she is stupid, these stories emanate a subtle sadness and beauty, just like the African night sky as seen by the narrator of 'Something Old, Something New';
"Out on the balcony, the contrast startled him. Sunset has softened the sky, rimmed the west with pinks and soft orange."
October 13, 2018
This book is a compilation of short stories. The endearing aspect of the book is that the stories are about people and circumstances you can identify with. And yet, almost none of the stories exploit the potential the build up offers - skimming the surface of characterisation or relationships. Quite a few deal with multi-cultural relationships and yet you are left feeling there is something missing.
Character building, tempo and lasting impressions are more difficult to create in short stories. While the stories are charming, and worth a read, they fall far short of potential.
My rating: 2.5 / 5
I received a free electronic copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.
Character building, tempo and lasting impressions are more difficult to create in short stories. While the stories are charming, and worth a read, they fall far short of potential.
My rating: 2.5 / 5
I received a free electronic copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.
July 29, 2018
Such beautiful stories, but what else does one expect from Leila Aboulela?!
I’m supposed to review this elsewhere so I’ll keep this short and say: please read this. Aboulela takes you to Sudan, Egypt, England, Scotland, and the UAE through her words and along the way humanises regions and a religion so maligned and poorly understood in the West.
My favourites:
- Summer Maze
- The Ostrich
- Souvenirs
- The Museum
Also highly recommend:
- Something Old, Something New
- Pages of Fruit
I’m supposed to review this elsewhere so I’ll keep this short and say: please read this. Aboulela takes you to Sudan, Egypt, England, Scotland, and the UAE through her words and along the way humanises regions and a religion so maligned and poorly understood in the West.
My favourites:
- Summer Maze
- The Ostrich
- Souvenirs
- The Museum
Also highly recommend:
- Something Old, Something New
- Pages of Fruit
March 24, 2022
Elsewhere Home
Raw and emotional, its a collection of short stories about; a child of immigrants trying to adapt with her homeland, learning the heritage, a person whom adopted the land no matter how hard it is after falling in love with an egyptian, and much more.
I have mixed feelings about this book and its always hard to review short stories books. But her empathetic writings are charming.
My favourite would be about a Sudanese pregnant wife living in the West who sacrificed her social life, job, left her home to move to a foreign country to be the wife her husband wants to but only to find that her husband, admires foreign women much more and is beginning to forget his roots.
“But perhaps they cannot twist fate; perhaps I am not strong enough to hold him to his roots”.
Some Muslims doesn’t need to leave home to forget their identities, beliefs and cultures, some had found themselves in foreign country, and some only discovered their truest self when they embraced the religion of peace. Its always different to everyone but at the end, holding to our beliefs helps us from going astray. InshaaAllah.
Raw and emotional, its a collection of short stories about; a child of immigrants trying to adapt with her homeland, learning the heritage, a person whom adopted the land no matter how hard it is after falling in love with an egyptian, and much more.
I have mixed feelings about this book and its always hard to review short stories books. But her empathetic writings are charming.
My favourite would be about a Sudanese pregnant wife living in the West who sacrificed her social life, job, left her home to move to a foreign country to be the wife her husband wants to but only to find that her husband, admires foreign women much more and is beginning to forget his roots.
“But perhaps they cannot twist fate; perhaps I am not strong enough to hold him to his roots”.
Some Muslims doesn’t need to leave home to forget their identities, beliefs and cultures, some had found themselves in foreign country, and some only discovered their truest self when they embraced the religion of peace. Its always different to everyone but at the end, holding to our beliefs helps us from going astray. InshaaAllah.
August 2, 2018
These short stories cover a variety of characters who find themselves living away from their homeland or their parent's homeland. A variety of situations are covered of people who miss their families, of those who have moved on, those who cope and those who don't. These stories tell of the complexities of life for people who are different, their feelings towards religion, and how they deal with separation, racism and bigotry within and outside of their communities. The book left me with the reminder that everyone's journey is different, life is not fair and kindness is a gift.
October 5, 2021
He was by nature cautious, wanting new things but held back by a vague mistrust.
It was easier for his parents to accept that he was in love with a Muslim girl than it was to accept that he was in love Islam
Maybe this is what getting older means, becoming disappointed in our own selves.
People, I am sure, had said to you, "I devoured your novel," bit your novel devoured me.
What an exceptionally brilliant, cohesive, intelligent and well written short story collection. Lelila Aboulela's ability to distill worlds in 10 pages or less makes her a brilliant story teller. I did not finish any story feeling like I was short changed or wondering "what just happened" the characters, their lives and current problems were well thought out, nuanced and deeply impacting.
These 13 stories, follows the lives of characters who long for home in some way. There is a sense of unease, longing, regret and deep loss in how their stories are told, but handled so beautifully. We meet a man who marries for green card, a girl falling in-love with a Kebab maker, a man visiting home without his family because his white wife refuse to step on the continent of Africa.. all wanting a piece of home.
I particularly LOVED the story Pages of Fruit as a reader, I have been down the rabbit hole our protagonist goes down and it was nice to see how that played out from her and the writer's perspective. What a well written book!
Honestly, if you loved Manchester Happened and How To Love A Jamaican you will LOVE this.
It was easier for his parents to accept that he was in love with a Muslim girl than it was to accept that he was in love Islam
Maybe this is what getting older means, becoming disappointed in our own selves.
People, I am sure, had said to you, "I devoured your novel," bit your novel devoured me.
What an exceptionally brilliant, cohesive, intelligent and well written short story collection. Lelila Aboulela's ability to distill worlds in 10 pages or less makes her a brilliant story teller. I did not finish any story feeling like I was short changed or wondering "what just happened" the characters, their lives and current problems were well thought out, nuanced and deeply impacting.
These 13 stories, follows the lives of characters who long for home in some way. There is a sense of unease, longing, regret and deep loss in how their stories are told, but handled so beautifully. We meet a man who marries for green card, a girl falling in-love with a Kebab maker, a man visiting home without his family because his white wife refuse to step on the continent of Africa.. all wanting a piece of home.
I particularly LOVED the story Pages of Fruit as a reader, I have been down the rabbit hole our protagonist goes down and it was nice to see how that played out from her and the writer's perspective. What a well written book!
Honestly, if you loved Manchester Happened and How To Love A Jamaican you will LOVE this.
June 8, 2022
I've never met a Leila Aboulela (@leilaaboulela) book that I didn't like!
"Elsewhere, Home" is a collection of her short stories, spanning - as so many of her stories do - Sudan and Scotland, exploring nostalgic longing, homesickness and belonging, faith and faltering identity, broken hearts and hushed possibilities, families in all their fraught states.
Aboulela's work explores these themes organically and honestly, uncluttered by the irritating tropes that abound in so many other mainstream published Muslamic fiction. Her characters are imperfectly Muslim and yet never deliberately, obnoxiously flaunting of their faulty religiosity; instead, there is an underlying understanding of gentle humanity and a sincere connection - no matter how tenuous - to their faithful origins.
5/5 🌟
#bookstagram #Muslimbookstagram #MyMuslimShelfSpace #OwnVoices #WeNeedDiverseBooks #authenticrepresentation #MuslimRepresentation #MuslimFiction #MuslimWomenWriters #MuslimBooks #MuslimReads #IGReads #Sudan #Scotland #anthology #shortstories
"Elsewhere, Home" is a collection of her short stories, spanning - as so many of her stories do - Sudan and Scotland, exploring nostalgic longing, homesickness and belonging, faith and faltering identity, broken hearts and hushed possibilities, families in all their fraught states.
Aboulela's work explores these themes organically and honestly, uncluttered by the irritating tropes that abound in so many other mainstream published Muslamic fiction. Her characters are imperfectly Muslim and yet never deliberately, obnoxiously flaunting of their faulty religiosity; instead, there is an underlying understanding of gentle humanity and a sincere connection - no matter how tenuous - to their faithful origins.
5/5 🌟
#bookstagram #Muslimbookstagram #MyMuslimShelfSpace #OwnVoices #WeNeedDiverseBooks #authenticrepresentation #MuslimRepresentation #MuslimFiction #MuslimWomenWriters #MuslimBooks #MuslimReads #IGReads #Sudan #Scotland #anthology #shortstories
September 15, 2020
Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela is a collection of thirteen short stories dealing with variations of the same theme: immigrants negotiating their presence in an unfamiliar country while feeling the tug of home with its familiar sights, sounds, smells, and textures.
The stories illustrate the challenges and rewards of being an immigrant in a foreign land. Aboulela captures the alienation and loneliness of immigrants as they straddle between two cultures. They struggle to assimilate in their adopted country as they attempt to forge a new identity for themselves. But the yearning for the familiarity of home is a constant presence in their hearts and minds. The tension can be manifested internally or externally and it can take many forms.
One such conflict is between first generation immigrants and their children born in the West. In “Summer Maze,” for example, a young girl is at odds with her mother and resents their compulsory annual visits to Egypt. The tables are turned in “Something Old, Something New,” which shows a Scottish man struggling to adjust to his position as an outsider when he goes to Khartoum to meet his fiancé’s family. “Farida’s Eyes” illustrates how sexist attitudes toward a girl’s education almost cause her to fail in school. “The Ostrich” shows how a former classmate on a plane reminds a young woman of all she cherishes in her home, reinforcing her feelings of alienation in a foreign land. In “Souvenirs” we see young man in search of souvenirs from Khartoum to take back to his Scottish wife. He carries with him his own intangible souvenirs—images of his homeland and snippets of conversations with his sister as he prepares to return to Scotland. “The Museum” shows a young Sudanese student from a wealthy family finding herself attracted to and in conflict with her Scottish classmate.
The stories approach the experience of immigrants in their adopted country from different angles. Some have internalized racism and try to diminish the positives in their own culture. Others recognize the opportunities presented in their adopted country but still long for the texture and beauty of their homeland. Some are eager to assimilate, while others cling firmly to their identity. But they all have in common an awareness of their status as outsiders. Their lives are fraught with tension. And they all yearn for a place to belong, a place where they no longer feel isolated or as aliens on a different planet.
The stories are well written and immerse the reader in the warp and weft of the lives of immigrants. But since the stories are variations of the same theme, some have the flavor of being repetitive and of trying too hard to reiterate the common dilemma facing immigrants. Nevertheless, this is a good collection of short stories and is recommended for its thought-provoking insights and sensitive portrayal of the challenges facing immigrants.
My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com
The stories illustrate the challenges and rewards of being an immigrant in a foreign land. Aboulela captures the alienation and loneliness of immigrants as they straddle between two cultures. They struggle to assimilate in their adopted country as they attempt to forge a new identity for themselves. But the yearning for the familiarity of home is a constant presence in their hearts and minds. The tension can be manifested internally or externally and it can take many forms.
One such conflict is between first generation immigrants and their children born in the West. In “Summer Maze,” for example, a young girl is at odds with her mother and resents their compulsory annual visits to Egypt. The tables are turned in “Something Old, Something New,” which shows a Scottish man struggling to adjust to his position as an outsider when he goes to Khartoum to meet his fiancé’s family. “Farida’s Eyes” illustrates how sexist attitudes toward a girl’s education almost cause her to fail in school. “The Ostrich” shows how a former classmate on a plane reminds a young woman of all she cherishes in her home, reinforcing her feelings of alienation in a foreign land. In “Souvenirs” we see young man in search of souvenirs from Khartoum to take back to his Scottish wife. He carries with him his own intangible souvenirs—images of his homeland and snippets of conversations with his sister as he prepares to return to Scotland. “The Museum” shows a young Sudanese student from a wealthy family finding herself attracted to and in conflict with her Scottish classmate.
The stories approach the experience of immigrants in their adopted country from different angles. Some have internalized racism and try to diminish the positives in their own culture. Others recognize the opportunities presented in their adopted country but still long for the texture and beauty of their homeland. Some are eager to assimilate, while others cling firmly to their identity. But they all have in common an awareness of their status as outsiders. Their lives are fraught with tension. And they all yearn for a place to belong, a place where they no longer feel isolated or as aliens on a different planet.
The stories are well written and immerse the reader in the warp and weft of the lives of immigrants. But since the stories are variations of the same theme, some have the flavor of being repetitive and of trying too hard to reiterate the common dilemma facing immigrants. Nevertheless, this is a good collection of short stories and is recommended for its thought-provoking insights and sensitive portrayal of the challenges facing immigrants.
My book reviews are also available at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com
February 4, 2019
Aboulela maintains a certain tone...how to describe it? It's gentle and "soft-spoken" but with impeccable pacing, the tension and urgency build and then release.
These short stories are beautiful pieces of writing but they end too soon for my taste. My favorite stories were: Summer Maze, The Ostrich, The Boy from the Kebab House, Coloured Lights, and The Museum.
I prefer her novel-length stories where in the course of a book, she draws out the reading experience.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for this advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. Its general description is amply available on GoodReads, on Amazon and elsewhere.
These short stories are beautiful pieces of writing but they end too soon for my taste. My favorite stories were: Summer Maze, The Ostrich, The Boy from the Kebab House, Coloured Lights, and The Museum.
I prefer her novel-length stories where in the course of a book, she draws out the reading experience.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for this advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. Its general description is amply available on GoodReads, on Amazon and elsewhere.
June 8, 2022
Pleasantly surprised because I liked all 13 stories in this collection.
January 20, 2020
I hadn’t heard the name till someone suggested this book to me. But ever since, I have come across her name multiple times. Elsewhere, Home is an anthology of 13 short stories. The stories are taken up from every day struggles of Sudanese who leave their countries to seek their future in some western country, which is not merely a cultural shock for most of them but also religious one. Hence they find themselves hanging in two boats at the same time, unable to cope up with life to their satisfaction.
I didn’t feel this book was extraordinary, but it wasn’t very bad either. There is nothing gripping about her writing style and characterisation nor there is anything special about her prose. Also I was left with a feeling of incompleteness at the end of some of the stories, it seemed like the author didn’t know how to finish them and ended too abruptly when they could have taken up a little bit more space.
Aboulela is a well respected writer amongst the contemporary literary circle, and I am sure there is some good reason behind it. So i am ready to not finalise my opinion about the writer basing it only one book, and will give her one more try, and this time preferably a novel than short stories.
I didn’t feel this book was extraordinary, but it wasn’t very bad either. There is nothing gripping about her writing style and characterisation nor there is anything special about her prose. Also I was left with a feeling of incompleteness at the end of some of the stories, it seemed like the author didn’t know how to finish them and ended too abruptly when they could have taken up a little bit more space.
Aboulela is a well respected writer amongst the contemporary literary circle, and I am sure there is some good reason behind it. So i am ready to not finalise my opinion about the writer basing it only one book, and will give her one more try, and this time preferably a novel than short stories.
February 13, 2019
All in all I am not as impressed with Leila Aboulela’s collection of short stories “Elsewhere, Home” as I hoped to be. I read some of them over ten years ago in her first, now out of print, collection “Coloured Lights” (and this title story remains my favourite). They showed a new world for me then. I didn’t know any writer who would tackle the topics she did, write about bridges between cultures in such a simple and honest way. Living in London then I saw Sudanese women all the time and Aboulela’s stories helped me see the reality around me with their eyes. They helped me understand the complexity of Islam from a female perspective and I will be forever grateful to the author for opening my eyes wider. I interviewed her for the literary magazine of which I used to be the editor and was extremely lucky to get her answer all the questions which were buzzing in my head (she’s one of the most gracious and kind ladies I have ever met). Reading her stories now I didn’t feel they are still revelatory in any way. They are interesting, they beautifully and tenderly talk about all sorts of vulnerabilities an immigrant may feel, but they also sound a bit repetitive. I also found the ending of some of them a little too simple or uninspiring. These stories show me how long a journey I myself have travelled and how much more nuanced and deeper narratives I crave these days. By all means read Leila Aboulela as she is an underrated writer, very well worth reading, in my opinion - and “Elsewhere, Home” is a great book to start your encounter with her.
September 22, 2019
As expected, a fluid style of writing, the right dose of description and all that. I'm just a bit bored with the themes, Sudanese expatriation, homesickness, goody goody wives and mothers, Islam in inter racial love or marriage.
Seems like a lot of themes to complain about? But believe me, I read quite a few of her books and I would like to see her write out of her comfort zone and what she actually knows.
Seems like a lot of themes to complain about? But believe me, I read quite a few of her books and I would like to see her write out of her comfort zone and what she actually knows.
October 1, 2025
2.5 🌟
“𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝; 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐚𝐲-𝐭𝐨-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.”
The centered theme that connects nearly all the short stories included in this collection is immigration, the process of starting anew in an foreign country, along with the feelings of alienation and the longing to fit in. However, what I found upsetting in many of the narratives is the presence of contradictions to the message that I assume the author intended to convey. I mean, don't get me wrong, she might have been aiming for a realistic approach of the circumstances, but I don't think it was executed effectively.
Additionally, numerous stories seem to lack depth; they offer just a brief outline without any substance. I struggle to articulate it more clearly, but I felt as though I had just read a page ripped from a book that I couldn't find.
“𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝; 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐚𝐲-𝐭𝐨-𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.”
The centered theme that connects nearly all the short stories included in this collection is immigration, the process of starting anew in an foreign country, along with the feelings of alienation and the longing to fit in. However, what I found upsetting in many of the narratives is the presence of contradictions to the message that I assume the author intended to convey. I mean, don't get me wrong, she might have been aiming for a realistic approach of the circumstances, but I don't think it was executed effectively.
Additionally, numerous stories seem to lack depth; they offer just a brief outline without any substance. I struggle to articulate it more clearly, but I felt as though I had just read a page ripped from a book that I couldn't find.
May 8, 2022
this turned out to be a short story collection! i think it may be my first ever that i completed. the audiobook was really good and can be credited for that.
all the stories in this book are about how displacement impacts our faith and our relationships. love that, obviously. exactly my jam. she delved deep into different strains that show up in relationships between families, spouses, past and present selves, with God, and with those we deem as foreigners. every story had parts that hit home, and some even a little too close to home. reading a few of these stories is really impactful in encapsulating how it feels as a muslim have your home always be elsewhere and your heart scattered.
this went from "like" to "love" for me because it came through how much the author herself loves africans and muslims. i didn't sense any of the cliché inferiority complex that accompanies the writing of most immigrant muslim authors.
i especially felt this in how she wrote heroines that were hijabi, traditional, mothers, housewives. she didn't write them as submissive victims but as deeply human, and explored their inner worlds and emotions too, in a way that felt very authentic to me.
tbh that aboudela can write 13 short stories about immigrants' connections to their faith and family, and never glorify westernisation in any of them makes her a gem to me. guess it isnt that hard to do this if youre genuine in your faith and culture.
my fav stories were: ostrich 5, majed 6, the boy from the kebab shop 7, the museum 11, pages of fruit 13
i was really torn between a 4 or a 5 as my rating. i had some complaints though they're all relatively small: a) i didn't fall absolutely in love with any one story, b) my experience was uneven. the stories in the first half made less of an impression on me. 3) i needed more time to formulate my thoughts and insights on each story. time is just so limited in a short story. this could be a me problem, so i kinda wish i buddy read this so i could discuss the stories and analyze them to help me connect to them more.
all the stories in this book are about how displacement impacts our faith and our relationships. love that, obviously. exactly my jam. she delved deep into different strains that show up in relationships between families, spouses, past and present selves, with God, and with those we deem as foreigners. every story had parts that hit home, and some even a little too close to home. reading a few of these stories is really impactful in encapsulating how it feels as a muslim have your home always be elsewhere and your heart scattered.
this went from "like" to "love" for me because it came through how much the author herself loves africans and muslims. i didn't sense any of the cliché inferiority complex that accompanies the writing of most immigrant muslim authors.
i especially felt this in how she wrote heroines that were hijabi, traditional, mothers, housewives. she didn't write them as submissive victims but as deeply human, and explored their inner worlds and emotions too, in a way that felt very authentic to me.
tbh that aboudela can write 13 short stories about immigrants' connections to their faith and family, and never glorify westernisation in any of them makes her a gem to me. guess it isnt that hard to do this if youre genuine in your faith and culture.
my fav stories were: ostrich 5, majed 6, the boy from the kebab shop 7, the museum 11, pages of fruit 13
i was really torn between a 4 or a 5 as my rating. i had some complaints though they're all relatively small: a) i didn't fall absolutely in love with any one story, b) my experience was uneven. the stories in the first half made less of an impression on me. 3) i needed more time to formulate my thoughts and insights on each story. time is just so limited in a short story. this could be a me problem, so i kinda wish i buddy read this so i could discuss the stories and analyze them to help me connect to them more.
April 17, 2020
„Elsewhere, Home” is a collection of 13 short stories about Egyptian and Sudanese immigrants and natives. And let me tell you one thing – I’m not usually a fan of short stories.
These, however, had the author’s expert knowledge and experience going for them and therefore they were worthy reads. They explored the precarious line between assimilation and cultivating the connection one needs to have to their homeland. The clash of the had-been and what now is. The constant struggle for the older generation (not just them though) not to forget where they came from and who their ancestors were. I found it that the gap between the generations (the parents and the children) was showcased and explained in an excellent way. As someone who doesn’t have such experience, I could still understand their reasoning and what they stood for. Especially given that the children are usually fully assimilated and the parents struggle or miss home more.
I did have a favourite short story (the one with the short-sighted girl), one that perhaps touched on the ‘bigger picture’ of immigration in the least significant way but I still loved the story and how it encompassed the struggles of growing up while being an immigrant and feeling that peer pressure or feeling inadequete because of a number of reasons. It was a rather short one but marvellous at touching on that subject of wanting to be accepted by your peers, no matter what really.
All of them were very interesting, even for a person who is not very religious or rather grew not to be, despite my religious, albeit Christian, upbringing. Or perhaps they were interesting and novel to me exactly because of those reasons.
I also liked the writing style. It had a nostalgic undertone but it wasn’t overly sentimental. Aboulela certainly knows how to spin stories with depth without her words tripping over themselves and creating a chaotic bundle of something overly dramatic. It all held so much more meaning because of that. It’s not a style that I think could work with everything but it proved an excellent option here.
I would recommend reading „Elsewhere, Home” to everyone who has some interest in cultural history of our world and who wants to explore the depths and struggles of mixed cultures that are now our reality. It’s a wise read with a lot of background. One we can learn from.
**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**
These, however, had the author’s expert knowledge and experience going for them and therefore they were worthy reads. They explored the precarious line between assimilation and cultivating the connection one needs to have to their homeland. The clash of the had-been and what now is. The constant struggle for the older generation (not just them though) not to forget where they came from and who their ancestors were. I found it that the gap between the generations (the parents and the children) was showcased and explained in an excellent way. As someone who doesn’t have such experience, I could still understand their reasoning and what they stood for. Especially given that the children are usually fully assimilated and the parents struggle or miss home more.
I did have a favourite short story (the one with the short-sighted girl), one that perhaps touched on the ‘bigger picture’ of immigration in the least significant way but I still loved the story and how it encompassed the struggles of growing up while being an immigrant and feeling that peer pressure or feeling inadequete because of a number of reasons. It was a rather short one but marvellous at touching on that subject of wanting to be accepted by your peers, no matter what really.
All of them were very interesting, even for a person who is not very religious or rather grew not to be, despite my religious, albeit Christian, upbringing. Or perhaps they were interesting and novel to me exactly because of those reasons.
I also liked the writing style. It had a nostalgic undertone but it wasn’t overly sentimental. Aboulela certainly knows how to spin stories with depth without her words tripping over themselves and creating a chaotic bundle of something overly dramatic. It all held so much more meaning because of that. It’s not a style that I think could work with everything but it proved an excellent option here.
I would recommend reading „Elsewhere, Home” to everyone who has some interest in cultural history of our world and who wants to explore the depths and struggles of mixed cultures that are now our reality. It’s a wise read with a lot of background. One we can learn from.
**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**
June 13, 2021
Whenever Hamid was stressed he changed into a clown. The haha of laughter covered problems. Haha had wheels...to slide and escape on. from chapter 6
These 19 longish short stories are not exactly or obviously connected. At some point the attentive reader will begin to feel a certain familiarity in the territory and with the characters even. Didn't we see that woman with her little dog over there by the bakery? Isn't that the man from the diplomats party, was it in Cairo or London? Perhaps it was in Aberdeen, where many of the men from Khartoum and thereabouts have moved to work on the oil rigs and live part time with their Scottish wives.
Your writing did not transport me to another world but instead welcomed me into a conversations and outings that had been barred to me. It was as if, in the reading, I was mixing with people who at some time had brushed past me. p199
These 19 longish short stories are not exactly or obviously connected. At some point the attentive reader will begin to feel a certain familiarity in the territory and with the characters even. Didn't we see that woman with her little dog over there by the bakery? Isn't that the man from the diplomats party, was it in Cairo or London? Perhaps it was in Aberdeen, where many of the men from Khartoum and thereabouts have moved to work on the oil rigs and live part time with their Scottish wives.
Your writing did not transport me to another world but instead welcomed me into a conversations and outings that had been barred to me. It was as if, in the reading, I was mixing with people who at some time had brushed past me. p199
June 20, 2021
A collection of 13 heartfelt stories which move between Khartoum, Cairo, London, and Scotland. Although they are bound by similar themes like immigrant loneliness, a longing for home, and abiding faith, there is no sameness or reader fatigue that sets in — each one stands independent of the other. This book was a wonderful introduction to Leila Aboulela’s writing.
April 21, 2023
"Elsewhere, Home" is a collection of stories that connect Scotland with the whole wide world. Most characters have left their home, are homesick, or reconnect with their home but have been altered by their other home. Aboulela now lives in Aberdeen and Aberdeen can be found in the short stories just like Sudan or Egypt. The stories cover cultural identity, displacement, cultural expectations and identity questions. Some stories are better than others but that's to be expected. 3.5 stars
May 15, 2019
A nice collection of short stories that evoke the overlapping worlds of the Western and Eastern cultures. My favorites are The Ostrich and The Museum.
February 25, 2019
Thanks to NetGalley for providing this arc!
Review: http://evelynreads.com/review-elsewhe...
Review: http://evelynreads.com/review-elsewhe...
March 28, 2022
This collection centres on the theme of displaced African men and women living between Sudan and Scotland, most often Aberdeen and Khartoum.
The first half of the collection passes in a daze of dead uncles, fathers and husbands. Many of Aboulela’s women are inarguably too forgiving of abusive and angry partners, often in the name of religion (Something Old, Something New; Majed; The Ostrich). There is a fixation on airplanes, postgraduate studies, tumultuous mother-daughter relationships; economics and/or statistics and/or mathematics: all areas of the author’s life that crop up again and again. One story becomes hard to distinguish from another. Because of this, the first half of Elsewhere, Home seems more recursive, almost obsessive, than thematic.
The highlight of the collection, Farida’s Eyes, is disappointingly short. A Catholic school teacher admonishes the parents of a student whose sight is deteriorating. Issues with Farida's vision have been causing a decline in her grades, and due to a general unwillingness to listen to such concerns from the student, other teachers have been punishing her physically. Farida's parents are described as careless, or their priorities do not synchronise with what Sister Carlotta believes should be their top priority, which is their daughter's health. This may be an instance of cultural disonance on which I am obviously not equipped to comment, and enjoy learning from.
Another highlight is The Boy From The Kebab Shop, which involves a Muslim girl (Dina McIntyre, ‘an average British girl of eighteen’) being courted by a boy who works in a kebab shop, Kassim, who in turn is under the religious tutelage of his colleague Basheer. Aboulela describes Dina’s shock upon seeing Kassim praying as visceral, which demonstrates Dina’s reluctance to abandon her (perceived) Britishness as Kassim invites her to his faith, elaborating on Kassim’s earlier reluctance to exhibit intimacy—‘even to kiss’—prior to marriage. Kassim is eager to impress Basheer (‘inshallah the wife you choose will be good and calm like you, and a strong believer’). This is difficult to support, socially abusive (note: from my profoundly white viewpoint), as we also know that Kassim’s first and only thought regarding Dina, from the moment he meets her, is that of ‘the early stages’ of a potential marriage. Does he have feelings for her, or is she a marital recruit for his religious ends? A parallel foreshadow being the relationship between Dina’s mother and father—never explicitly described beyond Dina’s potentially naïve/uninformed perspective, one of admiration, and her mother’s negative words (“‘it was a black day when I first met your father’”)—resulting in Dina's mother's alcoholism and eating disorder.
These stories have all been published previously. There are editing issues which are difficult to ignore. I cannot be sure this is the fault of the publisher/editor. I would like someone to blame. Misattribution of pronouns and genders, along with the artistic choice to introduce names and places in a clunky grammatical fashion, often irregularly and late in each story, means that dialogue is difficult to follow, the characters difficult to enjoy.
Unexpectedly, for me, the final two stories in this collection redeem it. The Circle Line is punchy and better utilises the concept of dissatisfied African women finding joy in the quirks of men who are more authentically human than their predetermined partners, back home or elsewhere. Although again, frustratingly, the story relies on a parallel drawn with the mother/wife’s too-late regret at her arranged relationship with the father/husband whose priority is religiously vindicated polygamy. Nevertheless, Aboulela is a master of metafiction, subtle and geometric and short enough to not weaken prematurely.
Pages of Fruit is a masterpiece. Eerily similar to Wendy Erskine’s ‘Arab States,’ although less visceral or humourous, far more comprehensive, far more satisfying. If Aboulela’s earlier stories employed biography as this does, they would be more successful in clarifying the ‘author-character’/’biographical detail-theme’ distinction. Beginning with the narrator writing to an author of a piece found in ‘an anthology of stories written by women … way back in the 1990s,’ a stand-in for Aboulela’s early success with the Caine Prize and publication in Opening Spaces (anthology of African women’s writing published in 1999), here you see, for the first time, the author’s relentless interpolation of biography end and the unadulterated creation of fiction begin
The first half of the collection passes in a daze of dead uncles, fathers and husbands. Many of Aboulela’s women are inarguably too forgiving of abusive and angry partners, often in the name of religion (Something Old, Something New; Majed; The Ostrich). There is a fixation on airplanes, postgraduate studies, tumultuous mother-daughter relationships; economics and/or statistics and/or mathematics: all areas of the author’s life that crop up again and again. One story becomes hard to distinguish from another. Because of this, the first half of Elsewhere, Home seems more recursive, almost obsessive, than thematic.
The highlight of the collection, Farida’s Eyes, is disappointingly short. A Catholic school teacher admonishes the parents of a student whose sight is deteriorating. Issues with Farida's vision have been causing a decline in her grades, and due to a general unwillingness to listen to such concerns from the student, other teachers have been punishing her physically. Farida's parents are described as careless, or their priorities do not synchronise with what Sister Carlotta believes should be their top priority, which is their daughter's health. This may be an instance of cultural disonance on which I am obviously not equipped to comment, and enjoy learning from.
Another highlight is The Boy From The Kebab Shop, which involves a Muslim girl (Dina McIntyre, ‘an average British girl of eighteen’) being courted by a boy who works in a kebab shop, Kassim, who in turn is under the religious tutelage of his colleague Basheer. Aboulela describes Dina’s shock upon seeing Kassim praying as visceral, which demonstrates Dina’s reluctance to abandon her (perceived) Britishness as Kassim invites her to his faith, elaborating on Kassim’s earlier reluctance to exhibit intimacy—‘even to kiss’—prior to marriage. Kassim is eager to impress Basheer (‘inshallah the wife you choose will be good and calm like you, and a strong believer’). This is difficult to support, socially abusive (note: from my profoundly white viewpoint), as we also know that Kassim’s first and only thought regarding Dina, from the moment he meets her, is that of ‘the early stages’ of a potential marriage. Does he have feelings for her, or is she a marital recruit for his religious ends? A parallel foreshadow being the relationship between Dina’s mother and father—never explicitly described beyond Dina’s potentially naïve/uninformed perspective, one of admiration, and her mother’s negative words (“‘it was a black day when I first met your father’”)—resulting in Dina's mother's alcoholism and eating disorder.
These stories have all been published previously. There are editing issues which are difficult to ignore. I cannot be sure this is the fault of the publisher/editor. I would like someone to blame. Misattribution of pronouns and genders, along with the artistic choice to introduce names and places in a clunky grammatical fashion, often irregularly and late in each story, means that dialogue is difficult to follow, the characters difficult to enjoy.
Unexpectedly, for me, the final two stories in this collection redeem it. The Circle Line is punchy and better utilises the concept of dissatisfied African women finding joy in the quirks of men who are more authentically human than their predetermined partners, back home or elsewhere. Although again, frustratingly, the story relies on a parallel drawn with the mother/wife’s too-late regret at her arranged relationship with the father/husband whose priority is religiously vindicated polygamy. Nevertheless, Aboulela is a master of metafiction, subtle and geometric and short enough to not weaken prematurely.
Pages of Fruit is a masterpiece. Eerily similar to Wendy Erskine’s ‘Arab States,’ although less visceral or humourous, far more comprehensive, far more satisfying. If Aboulela’s earlier stories employed biography as this does, they would be more successful in clarifying the ‘author-character’/’biographical detail-theme’ distinction. Beginning with the narrator writing to an author of a piece found in ‘an anthology of stories written by women … way back in the 1990s,’ a stand-in for Aboulela’s early success with the Caine Prize and publication in Opening Spaces (anthology of African women’s writing published in 1999), here you see, for the first time, the author’s relentless interpolation of biography end and the unadulterated creation of fiction begin
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2019
I absolutely loved this collection of short stories about people who straddle cultures or homes in different countries and how difficult that is. Some of the stories deal with major life events, but others are about quiet, everyday moments and how being half this and half that and living half here and half there affects even those moments. The majority of the characters are Egyptian or Sudanese women living in England or Scotland.
This is a must-read book for expats, third-culture kids, or anyone who dreads being asked "Where are you from?" But it also speaks to the way that all of us struggle with belonging, especially when we're between belonging to our family completely and forging out on our own.
"Summer Maze" is my favorite story, and it is the closest words on a page have ever come to mirroring my life. It follows an English daughter and her Egyptian mother as they travel to Cairo to spend the summer. It was the little things in this story that got to me: the crazy amounts of luggage Egyptians travel with, the weird, almost surreal relationships you forge with relatives you see only once a year, and being able to order whatever you want at Pizza Hut because the meat is all halal. The story is told first from the daughter's point of view and then from the mother's. It's about expectations, but it's also about each woman being torn in half by their mixed identities and double homes. There is a poignant moment where the daughter is delighted to see an English couple and hear their accent while sightseeing because she is feeling rather homesick. But when she finally catches their eyes, they see an Egyptian girl. They are surprised by her English and compliment her on it. She belongs to many identities, but none of those identities accept her into their fold fully. Her mother, meanwhile, is as homeless as her daughter: by leaving Egypt, she has fallen behind the times and the culture, and her sister tells her, that's not how we do it anymore. By leaving home, she lost touch with it, but she doesn't quite belong to the new place either.
My other favorites were "The Boy from the Kebab Shop" (about a non-practicing Muslim student who meets a boy at a fundraiser and starts to rethink her life) and "Pages of Fruit" (a woman's second-person narration to a writer she spends years admiring).
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a must-read book for expats, third-culture kids, or anyone who dreads being asked "Where are you from?" But it also speaks to the way that all of us struggle with belonging, especially when we're between belonging to our family completely and forging out on our own.
"Summer Maze" is my favorite story, and it is the closest words on a page have ever come to mirroring my life. It follows an English daughter and her Egyptian mother as they travel to Cairo to spend the summer. It was the little things in this story that got to me: the crazy amounts of luggage Egyptians travel with, the weird, almost surreal relationships you forge with relatives you see only once a year, and being able to order whatever you want at Pizza Hut because the meat is all halal. The story is told first from the daughter's point of view and then from the mother's. It's about expectations, but it's also about each woman being torn in half by their mixed identities and double homes. There is a poignant moment where the daughter is delighted to see an English couple and hear their accent while sightseeing because she is feeling rather homesick. But when she finally catches their eyes, they see an Egyptian girl. They are surprised by her English and compliment her on it. She belongs to many identities, but none of those identities accept her into their fold fully. Her mother, meanwhile, is as homeless as her daughter: by leaving Egypt, she has fallen behind the times and the culture, and her sister tells her, that's not how we do it anymore. By leaving home, she lost touch with it, but she doesn't quite belong to the new place either.
My other favorites were "The Boy from the Kebab Shop" (about a non-practicing Muslim student who meets a boy at a fundraiser and starts to rethink her life) and "Pages of Fruit" (a woman's second-person narration to a writer she spends years admiring).
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 24, 2020
"He knew why he had wanted her to come with him, not to 'see', but so that Africa would move her, startle her, touch her in some irreversible way."
These short stories are a beautifully written collection that are rich and diverse. They take you through the streets of Khartoum, Cairo, Aberdeen and more. They question what is home and where do you belong as well as examining ideas of culture and differences in identity. Many of these stories focused on love and relationships, both familial love and love between couples.
Summer Maze was one of my favourite stories from the book. It follows a young girl, Nadia who was raised in London and returns with her mother to Cairo. She examines how in Cairo she feels both a stranger and an unnoticed foreigner. Her journey this time opens up her relationship with Cairo and makes her consider her understanding of the country, Arabic and herself. It was a beautiful examination of the impact of heritage, identity and cultural conflict as we see the impact the western world had on her upbringing compared to her family's culture.
Another favourite was Pages of Fruit as a woman who is predominantly a housewife talks about her love for a specific author and how she saw herself in the books. This story was especially poignant as she came face to face with the concept that those you identify with do not always live up to your expectations. It was also a story about personal growth and identity.
The final story in my top three was Souvenirs which followed the story of Yassir who was visiting his family and sister Manaal back in Khartoum. He talked about the misunderstanding his wife had of his home and his longing to bring her there and show her the real Sudan.
Overall this was a really strong and beautifully written collection of short stories that looked at love, home and belonging.
January 14, 2023
Some are good, we are missing a lot of texture and humanity in many, though. With short stories, this can happen when too many characters are squeezed in, leaving little time to develop or show the important ones as human. The writing is focused and refined, this is just not bringing it all the way home though. Could’ve been a little more raw in my opinion. To be honest though, a lot of these characters are white worshipping buffoons who have no confidence, pride, or reverence in their own culture, identity or heritage. Embarrassing and quite disgusting. Especially the dodo who let the Caucasian wife completely dominate and humble him lol I read that men of color are 3x more like to assimilate to their wife’s culture if she is white, whereas men rarely relinquish their own culture in any other case (ex, a white mama with an Indian wife). This is why so many biracial with Caucasian mothers are so confused and self hating. I only give two stars instead of one because I truly believe Leila knows her way around a pen, and each story at least had a theme. Otherwise I do not recommend this book.
Read
February 7, 2022I was assigned several of the short stories in this collection for a seminar a couple of months ago. ‘The Museum’ was one of them, and also the one I found most impactful. I figured I might as well finish the book and read the other stories.
Sadly, most of these are variations on a theme, to such an extent that I found myself not really investing much care in a new story after I read about half of them. I also have to say that reading story after story was a bit too depressing for my taste (perhaps it is better to read one every now and then in between other books?). There’s a subtle bleakness to most stories that got under my skin—not in a way that I like. The prose itself is elegantly written, often with a poetic element of sensuous language that reminded me of Warsan Shire’s delicious poetry. Some stories here might have been better suited for a poetry format as well, I think.
Ultimately, I’m drawn towards very different kinds of stories normally, so I feel it would be unfair to rate this book.
Sadly, most of these are variations on a theme, to such an extent that I found myself not really investing much care in a new story after I read about half of them. I also have to say that reading story after story was a bit too depressing for my taste (perhaps it is better to read one every now and then in between other books?). There’s a subtle bleakness to most stories that got under my skin—not in a way that I like. The prose itself is elegantly written, often with a poetic element of sensuous language that reminded me of Warsan Shire’s delicious poetry. Some stories here might have been better suited for a poetry format as well, I think.
Ultimately, I’m drawn towards very different kinds of stories normally, so I feel it would be unfair to rate this book.
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