Middle East/North African Lit discussion

هنا سوف نناقش رواية دارية للكاتبة سحر الموجي باللغة العربية

ممتاز - أنا بدأت

Sorry, I see it is a book. But from which country? Thanks.

قرأت الكتاب ولم يعجبني
اضطررت لتصفح بعض الأجزاء بسرعة، كأحلام دارية وأبيات الشعر التي تكتبها

*تصفح بسرعة

Johanna
it is a novel from Egypt. by Sahar Al Mougy. only available in Arabic.

Inji
هل قرأت نون؟
لا أذكرها جيدا الآن.

قرأت من فترة بعد قراءة نون ومرة أخرى في الأسابيع الماضية

Niledaughter wrote: "Johanna
it is a novel from Egypt. by Sahar Al Mougy. only available in Arabic."
Thanks.

انتهيت من الكتاب. لم يرق لي أيضا. ربما لعدم اهتمامي بالشعر. أو عدم حبي لأجزاء الأحلام المبهمة. كنت أتمنى أن تكون هناك نهاية أوضح. وضع دايرة مع أولادها و سيف مفتوح تماما لكل التفسيرات.

انا موافقة تماما ولكن ما انتهيت..

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post my thoughts here! I'll sum them up first, and then you can read my notes below if you want. I'm glad to read something by this author because I think she and I have some shared interests and views, however I didn't love the book and don't think I'd love her other books either unfortunately. Who knows - hopefully she'll prove me wrong someday. I'm also glad that we finally managed to do an all-Arabic group read, just so we know that we can. In future, if you find a book that's only available in Arabic and you want to read it with friends here, just mention it and we'll be more likely to actually make it happen since we've proven we can ;)

In this book, Dariya is a wife, mother, and artist. She’s unhappy in her marriage because her husband is so patronizing. They appreciated one another until they had children, it seems. At that point their different perspectives came to the fore. Their choices have more impact now on the other and on their children.

The author makes it clear that Dariya’s husband is not cruel, but he diminishes Dariya and undervalues her work, both for their household and in terms of her talents. She longs to spend more time on her writing. The author includes Dariya’s poetry and her dreams to show what Dariya is missing in her workaday life.

Honestly, I don’t love reading about women’s undervalued and unfulfilled lives. I prefer to be inspired! However, I do like getting to know what is available (authors and their works). And I really enjoyed the Egyptian colloquial dialogue. It makes me miss it!

I loved the reference to Khalil Gibran, but like you, Niledaughter, I'm not a fan of her poetry or dream episodes generally. There is value, I think, in showing the bind experienced by women who are not permitted by their partners and/or families to pursue their own self-care and personal interests. This just wasn't the most compelling depiction of that for we readers. The next Arabic-only books I plan to read include ديتون and محطات الرحيل. I mention these just in case any of you really want to read the same book. If not, keep this group read potential in mind if you find a different book that might work. Thanks and take good care of yourselves!

Thanks for sharing Melanie. I will let you know if I can join you reading these books, I haven't check them yet.
I am more into reading historical fiction nowadays, so I was considering حاكم جنون ابن الهيثم for my next Arabic read.

I am planning to read في أثر عنايات الزيات

Wonderful, enjoy your reading and feel free to share your thoughts. Take care!

Let me know if you read it too