Available:*
Library | Shelf Number | Material Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Asherville Library | ABOU | English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Chesterville Library | ABOU | English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Malvern Library | ABOU | English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Musgrave Library | ABOU | English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Set in 1950s Sudan, LYRICS ALLEY is the story of the powerful and sprawling Abuzied dynasty. With Mahmood Bey at its helm, the family can do no wrong. But when Mahmood's son, Nur - the brilliant, charming heir to his business empire - suffers a near-fatal accident, his hopes of university and a glittering future are dashed. Subsequently, his betrothal to his cousin and sweetheart, Soraya is broken off, another tragedy that he is almost unable to bear. As British rule is coming to an end, and the country is torn between modernising influences and the call of traditions past, the family is divided. Mahmood's second wife, Nabilah, longs to return to Egypt and leave behind her the dust of 'backward-looking' Sudan. His first wife, Waheeba, lives traditionally behind veils and closed doors and resents Nabilah's influence on Mahmood. Meanwhile, Nur must find a way to live again in the world and find peace. Moving from the villages of Sudan to cosmopolitan Cairo and a decimated post-colonial Britain, this is a sweeping tale of loss, faith and reconciliation.
Author Notes
Leila Aboulela was born in 1964 in Cairo and grew up in Khartoum. She came to England to study at the LSE and now lives between Doha and Aberdeen.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Aboulela's third novel, inspired by the life of her uncle, the poet Hassan Awad Aboulela, offers a delightfully quixotic view of northern Sudan in the 1950s on the brink of its independence from Britain and Egypt. Nur is the favored son of the wealthy Abuzeid family, destined to take over the family business, until he is severely injured in an accident. Mahmoud, Nur's father, is both optimist and pragmatist, eager to embrace contemporary mores yet firmly rooted to his homeland. Mahmoud's two wives-Nur's deeply traditional and veiled mother, Waheeba, and Nabilah, a young and homesick Egyptian-have conflicts that swell and erupt in both predictable and surprising ways. The characters are lovingly and precisely rendered, and Aboulela (The Translator) describes the impact of Nur's disability with keen detail and noteworthy empathy. Though the novel offers few glimpses into life outside the Abuzeid's sheltered enclave, paying scant attention to the history and turmoil of an era that left Sudan in a lengthy civil war, Aboulela provides fine insight into the practice of Islam, especially through the children's tutor's thoughts and words, as well as a thoroughly engaging if romanticized exploration of the universal tensions between modernity and tradition, commerce and art, faith and doubt. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Aboulela is a prizewinning novelist who was born in Khartoum, Sudan, and currently lives in Qatar. This novel traces the trials and tribulations of a wealthy, semi-Westernized Sudanese clan the Abuzeids as they strive to cope with domestic turmoil as well as the transition to political independence from Great Britain in the 1950s. The family's wealth, remarkably, has been accumulated largely via domestic commerce independent of British control, so postindependence prosperity seems likely. Then a crippling accident to the young heir apparent to the family business begins a series of setbacks; the efforts of individual characters to cope with these disasters form the core of the narrative. Aboulela writes well in English, sometimes too well, as her flowery prose is sometimes excessive. Still, she creates interesting characters, knows how to manage dramatic tension, and effectively conveys a sense of a once-comfortable, insular existence slowly crumbling under the strain of events that seem beyond control. This is a well-done family saga that should appeal to general readers and those familiar with the places and period that mold the setting of the story.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
This breakthrough novel by the author of Minaret and The Translator recounts the story of the Abuzeid family of Sudan-and a country on the brink of change in the 1950s as British rule nears its end. The Abuzeids are a wealthy, powerful clan, but they are not immune to the conflict between the traditions of the past and the pull of modernization. This struggle is most evident in the animosity between the two wives of patriarch Mahmoud-the Sudanese Waheeba, who values the old ways, and the Egyptian-born Nabilah, who feels suffocated by village life-and in the desires of Mahmoud's niece, Soraya, for both marriage and career. These conflicts erupt when Mahmoud's son, Nur, suffers a catastrophic injury. Somehow, despite great pain, these characters learn to make personal sacrifices and find a way to compromise. Their stories, revealed through the novel's multiple points of view, are real, compelling, and ultimately moving. Verdict Highly recommended for readers who enjoy family sagas set against a political backdrop, such as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun. [See "Prepub Exploded," BookSmack!, 9/16/10.]-Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.