The Translatorby
Leila Abolela
From Publishers Weekly:
"Sammar, a young Sudanese widow, is working as a translator in a Scottish university when love blossoms between herself and her Scottish supervisor, Rae Isles, a scholar of the Middle East and of Third World politics. A religious Muslim who covers her hair, Sammar has left her young son in Khartoum to be raised by her aunt and quells her loneliness by throwing herself into her job translating terrorist documents for kindly divorcé Rae. The two signal their growing love for one another with sympathy (and chastity). On the eve of her trip to Khartoum to see her son and bring him back with her, she confronts Rae, desperate to know if he will accept Islam—since a relationship to her is impossible without marriage, and that marriage is impossible without his conversion. His hesitation reveals the cultural gulf between them, and Sammar is pierced to the quick. Though The Translator is Aboulela's second novel to be released in the U.S., it is the Sudanese-British author's first, published in the U.K. in 1999. (Her third, Minaret, appeared here last year.) With authentic detail and insight into both cultures, Aboulela painstakingly constructs a truly transformative denouement."
(This is the second book by this title I have posted about in the last month. If you remember, the last one was one I listened to by mistake and found very meaningful. This is the book that I was supposed to read for the book group at the library this month. I had to stay up most of Sunday night to get through it in time for book group yesterday before work. I can't say that I liked this book very much. First of all it was mostly a love story and I am not real fond of love stories unless there is something else to them that interests me. Second of all the author weaves in and out of the present, the past and dreams and I spent a lot of the book trying to figure out where the story was at the moment. Third, the main character in the book was a woman that I had little patience with. I know the book is supposed to help a person understand a different culture but I felt the woman the book was about needed to get a grip in general. Even though it was probably her religion and her culture that made her so depressed and mealy mouthed I just was not impressed. If you are in the mood for something a little different perhaps you will enjoy this book. It did make for some lively conversation at book group. I make it clear I never met a man I would pine over for four years and eat moldy bread because I was so depressed over him. As always, click on the title and the author's name above to learn more.)
(This is the second book by this title I have posted about in the last month. If you remember, the last one was one I listened to by mistake and found very meaningful. This is the book that I was supposed to read for the book group at the library this month. I had to stay up most of Sunday night to get through it in time for book group yesterday before work. I can't say that I liked this book very much. First of all it was mostly a love story and I am not real fond of love stories unless there is something else to them that interests me. Second of all the author weaves in and out of the present, the past and dreams and I spent a lot of the book trying to figure out where the story was at the moment. Third, the main character in the book was a woman that I had little patience with. I know the book is supposed to help a person understand a different culture but I felt the woman the book was about needed to get a grip in general. Even though it was probably her religion and her culture that made her so depressed and mealy mouthed I just was not impressed. If you are in the mood for something a little different perhaps you will enjoy this book. It did make for some lively conversation at book group. I make it clear I never met a man I would pine over for four years and eat moldy bread because I was so depressed over him. As always, click on the title and the author's name above to learn more.)
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