Great African Reads discussion

This thread is for discussions of our July/Aug 2019 read of Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela - Notice that there may be SPOILERS (Find the no-spoiler thread here)
- Feel free to discuss anything you like about the book here: Here's a few questions to get you started:
How did you like the characters? The plot? The style? The portrayal of characters and their surroundings?

I finished the book , it was my first for the author and a nice read , I did like the book as a whole but I felt bored a little . It succeeded in transporting me to the intended historical era and It was very interesting to read historically about the relation between Sudan and Egypt in that era .

At the beginning I felt some names were meant to have some metaphors:
Nour (light)
Soraya (chandelier)
Badr (full moon)

Nabiha (intelligent)
wahiba (related to be feared)
Mahmoud(to be thankful for , one of Prophet Mohamed names)

Other names were just names and it did not ring a bell for me , the above characters' names made a sense specially with following the struggle between tradition and progress through the novel , the struggle was the main theme and the plot served it , Nour's accident was a major turning point of events and it pushed this struggle to the surface . The ending was realistic concerning the characters and their relationships and positions but as a metaphoric hidden message; I think its optimism is an idea to think more about .

I hope to hear more from others .

Interesting! - and thanks for the name translations, I'll keep that in mind. I'll get started, maybe today! I read The Translator last year and really enjoyed it, so this should be interesting, even if the setting is totally different.

I've read both Lyrics Alley and The Kindness of Enemies. I enjoyed them both but thought the latter was the better book.

I enjoyed the book, though I didn't find it a great read as I never fully got transported into the story. I haven't read any of her other books yet but both The Translator and The Kindness of Enemies are on my to-read list so glad to see some of you liked both of these.

I agree that it is a book full of optimism, which I have to say I found a nice change. Many books by African authors deal with heavy issues and are, as a result, somber or heart-wrenching. So I liked that Aboulela gave us a book in which she portrays people's personal struggles within the strictures of family and society, while retaining an upbeat tone. I think it challenges some of the stereotypical images we can have of African societies.

Also, I understood that the story is based on the real-life experience of one of her uncles. So I read the book as being a celebration of people's resilience.

I also enjoyed this book, the story and the historical background. That period really was a time of optimism, hope and emancipation, and the book reflects it well.

The story is told from different viewpoints and that was really well done, in my opinion.