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Sto caricando le informazioni... If an Egyptian Cannot Speak Englishdi Noor Naga
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. Noor Naga’s If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English is a novella set in post-Arab-Spring Cairo, where an unnamed Egyptian-American woman and an unnamed Egyptian man have a brief but toxic relationship. I’m torn about this one. For every lovely turn of phrase or bit of character work here, there were some clunky bits (“watery breasts” made me grimace irl) and trite aphorisms. There is some beautiful prose here and questioning of ideals and culture, but it's messy, weird, and at times disturbing. It sprints constantly from poignant to "fake deep FB caption" to poetic or clever, but it never stops being engaging. Our main character is in a "what's understood need not be explained" sometimes toxic relationship with a once bright-eyed, but deeply troubled former photographer, revolutionary, and recovering drug addict. Neither is named in the story. Neither need to be with the other before some intense therapy. No woman can heal a broken man; he has to want it for himself. Both fetishize, condescend, underestimate, and pleasantly surprise each other. There are side characters, but the focus is on these two. Ms. Lady wants a soul-searching journey and to reclaim her roots. She acknowledges she had a diluted version of her culture from wanting to fit in or sell the best version of herself. Her father had his own experience with that. On his part, he used his heritage as a way to market and differentiate himself. For example, changing his actual name from Freddy to Fouad to better sell his holistic expertise to foreigners seeking to exotify him. The relationship between Ms. Lady, her father, and her mother (they're getting divorced) is just as interesting as the relationship between Lady's western values and Egyptian cultures colliding and meshing, and the equally tumultuous relationship with Guy from Shobrakheit. Guy from Shobrakheit has issues and demons, but you understand why he does until he becomes increasingly too abusive to have sympathy for. Unlike most though Ms Lady has a claim to her roots and wants to fully explore it. It happens clumsily along the way from some struggles from being an outsider, a woman, or her western upbringing. Beyond that, the bits about the revolution and the fallout afterward are disheartening. You see how it affects Guy from Shobrakheit, the people of the city, and even Ms Lady who can only chase the ghost, never having been there to experience the dashed dreams. The author beautifully describes the second-guessing of everything once you THINK you've overcome culture shock or expertly learned something only to find a new layer. Part 3 is an absolute doozy! Ending spoiler: I'm not often interested in analyzing a book critically now that I've finished school, but I wouldn't mind trying to dissect this. All its moving pieces and parts. I enjoyed the reading experience. And the bite-sized chapters! 3.5 I am not sure if I would recommend this book. Spoilers absolutely abound. Absolutely. It is a book told from two different perspectives and somehow the man doesn't come off as awful. Because I'm a romantic. Because the woman is a romantic? He's broken already, from the failure of the revolution. She comes from America and doesn't see it because she doesn't know and can't see. And so she destroys him. But his destruction is within him already, and he's abusive and violent. I think there's the theme of women finding excuses for oppressed men being abusive and violent. But it isn't clear that she even sees him. What is she doing? Keeping him in her house and not giving him a key? What is she doing? Taking up with the other guy who is maybe not broken inside but reflects the broken exploitative, unjust world. I guess it takes them, the ideas of them, and puts them onto a path and sees it through. But the watery breasts. I don't understand what are watery breasts. And why would this man have such knowledge? And, is his story true. His narrative talks about women who come to Egypt and use men like him for sex and access to people in revolt. Did that happen to him or is it what he read about, fantasized about? nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimentiMenzioniElenchi di rilievo
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, an Egyptian American woman and a man from the village of Shobrakheit meet at a caf in Cairo. He was a photographer of the revolution, but now finds himself unemployed and addicted to cocaine, living in a rooftop shack. She is a nostalgic daughter of immigrants "returning" to a country she's never been to before, teaching English and living in a light-filled flat with balconies on all sides. They fall in love and he moves in. But soon their desire--for one another, for the selves they want to become through the other--takes a violent turn that neither of them expected. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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