The Blue Manuscript

by Sabiha al Khemir

A quest for the legendary Blue Manuscript of medieval Islam becomes a voyage of self-discovery for characters from east and west in this fascinating, many-layered novel. The Blue Manuscript is the ultimate prize for any collector of Islamic treasures. But does it still exist, and if so, can it be found? In search of answers to these questions, an assortment of archaeologists heads for a remote area of Egypt, where they work with local villagers to excavate a promising site.But as social and cultural preconceptions amongst both visitors and hosts start to unravel, the mystery seems only to deepen and darken ... What do the fables of the village storyteller mean for the westerners, and can their emotional equilibrium and scholarly integrity survive exposure to the realities of the world they have studied from afar?

Interspersed with the testimony of the early medieval calligrapher who created the Blue Manuscript, Sabiha Al Khemir’s subtle, graceful narrative builds into a rich tapestry of love, hope, despair, greed, fear and betrayal. Intensified at every turn by the uneasy relationship between Islam past and present, and between Islam and the West, The Blue Manuscript is a novel which will resonate long after the astonishing solution to its mystery has finally been revealed.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Egypt, Female Authors, Literature, Literary Fiction, Middle East

307 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2008

About the author

Sabiha Al Khemir was born in Tunisia. She is an author, illustrator and Islamic art historian. Her publications span fiction, cultural essays, art history and book illustration. She has also written and presented television documentaries, and was the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar.

Reviews

[Susan Dehn Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Blue Manuscript is a complex tale that requires the reader to journey slowly through the pages, as if moving through the heat of the Egyptian desert itself. Archeology, art, wisdom, tradition, history, and culture form the framework upon which the story develops. The words that flow from the mind and heart of Amm Gaber, as he speaks to the Tree of Wishes, are particularly evocative, eloquent, and profound. If criticism is to apply, it would be have to address the abrupt and often disconcerting shifts in story line and time sequence, which makes it necessary to reread portions of the text in order to reestablish one's equilibrium and make sense of where the author is taking the reader. Sabiha al Khemir's invitation to excavate the riches of her novel are worth the time and effort invested.

[Andrew Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Blue Manuscript is a serious read. I saw a U-Tube clip of the author presenting the book at the U.S. National Book Festival and I was intrigued. Sabiha Al Khemir weaves a tale that is far deeper than a narrative of an interesting story. We learn a great deal about Egypt, archaeology, Islamic calligraphy (art) and life. If we spend the time, we end up seeing ourselves and, humanity in general, through each character’s strengths and challenges. This is about the human condition and could not come at a better time in world history. I love the fact it is in paperback and have purchased it as gifts for friends who love to read. I look forward to the author’s next book. Her writing will make a difference.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Verso Books was having a sale at the beginning of the year, I took advantage of the large discounts and purchased The Blue Manuscript by Sabiha Al Khemir. The fictional story had a fascinating plot that assembled an international cast of characters to an archaeological site in Egypt digging for the Blue Manuscript. Unbeknownst to me at the time when I made the purchase, the story was set in the 1980s, which happened to be when I travelled to Egypt. In addition, al Khemir employed flashbacks to early 970s to the time of Caliph al-Muizz's time in order to tell the manuscript's origin story. I looked up Al Khemir and learned that she was fromTunisia and having studied Islamic art as well as serving as curator of Islamic art for multiple museum, she was an expert on the subject. She excels with her ability to integrate her practice knowledge and experience to create a thoughtful fictional story.

There were a couple of reasons I was interested in this book, beyond the low price. First, I was anxious to read a fictional story written by a Middle Eastern writer because I figured my reading experience would be enhanced by a non-American writer. I was not disappointed. Al Khemir wrote intelligently creative prose that flowered the story, teasing out the small details of everyday life, resulting in unique imagery.

Secondly, I wanted to read a story about Egypt and indeed, I got two stories in one book. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, there was the main story of the archaeological team out on a dig for a season looking for the Blue Manuscript while one of the subplots is of the document's origin back in 970s. Al Khemir developed complex emotional characters that ring true and embody the human spirit and all of its inherent flaws. Emotions run from joy, hope, sadness and despair. The secondary story follows Caliph al-Muizz and his family as he travels into Egypt with the intent to take the territory and make it part of his empire. I found the origin of the manuscript fascinating and I found myself caught with the team, wondering if they would find it. Also, the colorful local Egyptians, some from other locales that settled in Egypt, had fascinating backstories that added a layer of complexity and enjoyment to the story.

The only issue that I struggled with was how Al Khemir handled the omnipresent third person perspective. In the opening pages, I had to get used to characters supposedly saying a line of dialogue, they were in quotes, only to find out that the character didn't say the line of dialogue and instead thought the lines. Sometimes it was difficult to to determine who actually spoke and who thought a response back. Otherwise, Al Khemir wrote a well researched intriguing story and I definitely got my money's worth and then some.

[Tiffani]

So I didn't "read" it. I was about 100 pages into it and really didn't care about any of the characters and couldn't really remember what was happening. So I returned it to the library.

[Tadzio Koelb · Rating 2 out of 5]

From my review in the Times Literary Supplement:

"The Blue Manuscript naturally invites comparison with another multi-layered novel featuring a textual MacGuffin: AS Byatt’s Possession. Both present multiple plotlines, and an international cast searching for the secret of an antique text. Both use long passages set outside the immediate narrative present to establish historical and emotional perspective. Clearly, The Blue Manuscript has admirably large ambitions. Its flaws unfortunately occur on a comparable scale; the final effect is one of over-reaching.

The prose is particularly strained. Laboured phrase-making raises a veil of artificiality, obscuring and suppressing the fictional world. This is perhaps intended to give the sense of the mythic or otherworldly, but produces a constant distraction. Long passages considering the nature of time, love, and culture could be removed (and the book significantly shortened) to produce a leaner, sturdier novel. This would also give the most effective sections the prominence they deserve. Interestingly, the theory of horror vacui plays a small role in the story, but unlike in the Islamic art the author describes, overabundance here means no one image or metaphor is ever allowed to settle in the mind before another displaces it. Less certainly isn’t more, but it’s sometimes more effective."

[Melissa Embry · Rating 2 out of 5]

My book club specializes in titles by non-U.S. authors, about non-U.S. cultures. So when we heard that Sabiha Al Khemir's The Blue Manuscript was a novel about a search for a gorgeous medieval Egyptian manuscript, by a writer who was not only a North African (Tunisian) but a specialist in Islamic art, we eagerly added it to our reading list. What a disappointment to read the opening with its chaotic writing and shallow characterization. Was it intended as a dig at the Western archeologists out to loot another country's treasures, we wondered? But things improved only minimally when the story moved to a small Egyptian village, also filled with unsympathetic, similarly scantily sketched-in characters. Al Khemir's knowledge and passion for art show better in the chapters set in the book's medieval timeline when the Blue Manuscript itself was being created. But overall, the disjointed storytelling, abounding in passive, academic-sounding prose and anecdotes that go nowhere, and the lack of character depth made this a book nobody in the group liked. I only hope that this early effort -- it's only Al Khemir's second novel -- won't stop her from trying again. Her knowledge and love of her subject deserve another chance.

[p · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised how many reviews here are negative! The book does take a while to get going, but once it picks up pace it is easy to read. There is a lot of criticism about the narrative style and how it jumps from person to person. I didn't mind this, I did sometimes have to re-read a section to get my bearings but I like being kept on my toes by a book. The insights into islamic art and history were thoughtful, and the descriptions of Wadi-Hassoun were compelling. I liked the ensemble cast of characters, and disagree that they were thinly characterised. Al-Khemir's treatment of the spread of characters and their relationships felt quite Evelyn Waugh tragicomic to me. All in all, it is a gentle, thoughtful, poetic book that is well worth a read if you have an interest in islamic history and art.

[Alexia Gordon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The third person omniscient POV and the time-shifting didn't bother me. However, the author took "tell, don't show" to a whole new level. At times, felt more like an essay than a novel. Tried too hard to be "Meaningful." Couldn't figure out which character(s) to care about. Loaded down with tangential details. The most dramatic thing that had happened by the time I gave up was two flat tires, which were easily replaced. So much for dramatic tension.

[Martin Boyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is fiction! I had to keep reminding myself of this as I read; the pages come alive in details and facts.

Don't get me wrong: this is no dry tome about people with a mania to discover, acquire something amazing. The poetry and wonderful descriptions bring the novel to life so that you can feel it around you.

This is a book that deserves wider reading - discovered and shared by my son, I'm not sure how he found it - it is worth looking out for as a very good read.

[Derek Emerson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can I go lower than one? Okay, I admit it. I only made it through 1/3 of this book, but it was too painful to continue (and I rarely give up on books). Cheesy lines, everyone "thinks" full lines of boring text, no flow from paragraph to paragraph, thinly stretched characters. Seriously, who agreed to publish this!

[Cyd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book. I returned it to the library.

[Rona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this twice, both for book groups.
The contemporary story is not that interesting. I enjoyed learning about the title character, which is an amazing piece of work!

[Sarah Parkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are moments when this book ends up sagging under the weight of its own prose, but when the tone is judged right, it's gorgeous. Sometimes they're obscured by the feeling that it's trying a bit too hard to be profound, but it has really interesting ideas and I mostly fell under its spell.

[Mindy McAdams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this novel, set in Egypt in the recent past and concerning an archaeological dig at an obscure, remote spot some distance from Cairo. I continually felt it had somewhat rough edges, but I'm not certain how to characterize those flaws. The writing is imperfect, but much more polished than some popular novels I've read in the past couple of years (some awkward redundancies, too much passive tense). There's also a remoteness to the telling of the story, although we get tantalizing glimpses inside the thoughts of many of the characters throughout.

That brings up one of my favorite things about this story -- the seemingly random feelings and observations of several very different people who are members of the archaeological team. This was very uneven, though. We sense that Zohra functions as a clear proxy for the author, as a Tunisian-European woman who's lived mostly in London. We see occasionally into the minds of a younger German male team member (called "Glasses"), the Italian female archaeologist who enchants him, and Mark, who has suspicious motives for joining the team. Others, however, remain mostly blank -- the Japanese photographer who produces aerial views of the dig by flying a kite; the Irish professor who leads the team (although we too repeatedly share his concerns that the dig might not unearth the ceramic evidence in which he is most interested). Several local people weave in and out of the story again and again, and they add a great deal of interest -- but we're not so much inside their heads.

The "Blue Manuscript" of the title is a 10th-century work of Arabic calligraphy that may or may not be buried at this site. Its beauty is legendary -- the Quran written in gold-leaf ink on vellum dyed with lapis lazuli. Other favorite parts of this book, for me, were the chapters set in the distant past, especially when the master calligrapher is seen doing his work on this marvelous codex.

I think I'm going to remember the atmosphere and feelings of this novel for a very long time. That's definitely a big plus. But while reading, I sometimes felt impatient with the slow passing of time. The author certainly conveyed that deliberately -- the reader must get that sense of tedium to appreciate the end of the story. It required a large effort, though, to stick with the book through the second half.

[Hema Penmetsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the literature based in Egypt I’ve read so far has been related to ancient Egypt and Pharaonic times. This book, which alternates between 10th century A.D. when the Fatimid Dynasty was advancing towards Egypt & late 20th century where an international team of archaeologists is digging the Fatimid ruins, gave me quite a different view of history of the area.

There’s an otherworldliness, a philosophical bent, to the lyrical writing in this book. It deals mostly with the experiences of the different members of the archaeological team in a small town in modern Egypt. Like the excavation process itself, each layer is brushed off each character in a slow progression to reveal their many facets.

One thing that was disconcerting for me in the book was its PoV: it hops heads at seemingly random order, almost like a fly. As a result, I never had a chance to empathize with any of the characters.

[Tarfah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written book. I'm not usually a fan of too much description, but the author draws a wonderful picture with her words. Interesting characters, especially Amm Gaber who is an intriguing character throughout the book. Another aspect was the inner turmoil that the main character lives through of being Arab AND English and her struggle to equally balance both cultures within herself. The highlight of the book is the history/storytelling of the Fatimid era as well as the focus on Islamic art.

A different type of book for me, but one that I must say I quite enjoyed. Definitely recommend.

[Hasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite some confusion i felt concerning the third person, i found the book very intriguing. The idea of having few people from multiple nations travel to Egypt and passionately search for a rare and precious manuscript is quit fascinating. There are many cultural and personal aspects to be found within the book. Highly recommended for those interested in Art, philology, orietnlism, colonization and even some specific literary and philosophical themes such as translatability vs untranlatabilty i,e. Zohra and her role throughout the book.

[Sandy]

I am putting this one aside for a while. I may or may not finish it. I have extended my status with it at the library....... the author has a beautiful way of describing ideas and landscapes, but she also does this really odd thing of speaking through different characters voices within the same chapter, I find it confusing and not enjoyable because of it. It seems like a book I should really like, but I don't. I am moving on for now to the Twilight series.

[Daughters Of Abraham]

An international team of archeologists travels to a remote village in Egypt in search of the manuscript of the title. The journey involves characters and stories from different times, and unfolds much like a mystery where the plot is braided together in surprising ways. Careful read.
Discussion became very excited when we discovered photos of this gorgeous manuscript in Wikepedia. We want to take a DOA field trip to see it. Do not recall issues of controversy.

[Louise Hartvigsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to get into. I wanted to like this book but didn't get more than half way through it before it was due back at the library (after renewing it twice). I saw the exhibit on Beauty and Belief at the Museum of Art at Brigham Young and was really moved by it. The author was instrumental in putting that exhibit together. The premise of the book sounded OK, but I never got the momentum to finish it.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought on now-regretted impulse at the National Book Festival last week. I don't like giving up on books but this is likely to make that cut - wooden characters and too many "did she really write that?" stylistic double-takes.

[Fiedha · Rating 2 out of 5]

udah baca versi indonesia-nya
bikin penasaran aja tuh...
bisa gak naskah langka itu ditemukan...
ingin tahu cerita serunya? baca aja buku ini dengan versi indonesia
di dalamnya penulis sangat lihai membuat intrik-intrik permasalahan.
:)

[Irka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that there are 2 main plots in this book, but twist in twist of a twist of action at the end, makes no sense to me, I litterally got lost in the end thinking - what that book really is about?

[Kerri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan, anticlimactic. Ended up a dull read.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Archeologists in Egypt look for Fatimid finds - Good idea for a book but everything was described or explained in excruciating detail, over, and over again... and then again.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Just awful.

[Swati · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even after pushing my way through half of the book, I could not get into it. I have now just given up.

[Iffat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is one of the curators and advisers of Dallas Museum of Art and this book was part of their book list. Her writing is poetical and mystic. Very insightful on archaeology!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read. The premise is excellent, the characterizations clear and concise. Al Khemir seamless crossing between cultures, genders, and centuries to weave a story that at the end, left me wondering what was real and what was forged.