Brave Personal Quest ..Book Review of Enemy in the Promised Land by Sana Hassan

I have so thoroughly enjoyed reading this book it was difficult to put it down until the very last word. This is the story of a young Egyptian Muslim woman, from a very wealthy family who became obsessed with Israel. She left her postgraduate studies at Harvard and went to Israel for a six-week visit that lasted three years. This all happened in the mid 70's before Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and Egypt's peace with Israel.

Sana Hassan delved into numerous aspects of Israeli society. She lived on traditional Kibbutz and on "progressive" Kibbutz; she lived amongst new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere learning Hebrew, Judaism and life in Israel, she went through the process of how Israel receive new arrivals. She lived in ordinary apartments in Tel Aviv and amongst the cultural elites in Jerusalem. She also managed to pass herself as a Jew and worked in Israeli factories and restaurants and allowed herself to be recruited into religious orthodox ways. Sana Hassan managed to get herself everywhere imaginable in Israel and the occupied territories.

Sana succeeded in interacting with every possible segment of Israeli Society, politically, culturally, religiously and ethnically. From tea with Golda Meir at her house, lunch with Begin at the Knesset, and dinner with The Sharons all the way to meetings with pimps and prostitute as part of her volunteer work as a social worker. She managed to see more of Israel, perhaps than the vast majority of Israelis ever will.

The portrayal of the Israeli society is that of a country full of contradictions and racist attitudes. We see the lowly state of Eastern Jews and an almost pervasive hierarchy based solely on racial origin and beliefs. She portrays the "subhuman" untouchable type status of the vast majority of the Israeli Arabs and the West Bank Palestinians. She portrays an Israel full of push and shove, of vulgar, inconsiderate people with unabashed racism.

Sana Hassan also portrays an idealism, work ethic, warmth of ordinary people, capacity to love and learn and so much generosity. And yet, we see this hug mental barrier against admission or acceptance of the injustice befallen the Palestinians.

We are also treated to two love affairs of Sana Hassan, one with a married Israeli army officer and a very passionate affair with another young woman who was her roommate at the progressive Kibbutz. I puzzled for days over Sana Hassan's inclusion of these two stories, which undoubtedly would have been very controversial in her conservative home country. An affair with a married officer and a Lesbian episode would undoubtedly dilute Sana Hassan's message of peace. After years of condemnation in Egypt, Sana Hassan was finally rehabilitated, why did she choose to shock again and upset sensibilities?

Sana Hassan quest for peace was always personal, coming out of her inquisitive nature about Israel and things Jewish. From the days of her childhood when she was told off playing with an Israeli boy while on an Austrian holiday, from the unquestioning one sided media of Egypt, it was always a personal endeavor, she never pretended it to be on behalf of anyone else. I suspect for Sana Hassan, her on honesty and integrity were more important than acceptance and continued rehabilitation in conservative Egypt. She must have felt that she could not write about her experience in Israel without her affairs. Her recount of these stories certainly enriches the book and helps us understand her degree of assimilation and acceptance of the unthinkable.

Sana Hassan developed an in-depth understanding of Zionism, history, thought and present day attitudes. She presented the process with which she seemed apparently unable to reconcile her acceptance of Israel's right to exist, with Israel's "right" to be Zionist. She presented herself throughout the book as an unwavering supporter of Palestinian rights. Yet, she admitted to being more troubled by her army officer connections to racist South Africa than his career as an IDF officer. She also seemed throughout the book willing to accept the possibility that her lover was planted by the intelligence service.

With so much going on in her three years of Israel, you would expect a book written in simple straight forward story telling or even text style. That is not the case at all, Enemy In The Promised Land is so beautifully written. Sana Hassan is capable of great prose and lyrical descriptions of scenery, experiences and emotions, and most of all, of people. Her style comes across similar to the early work of Virginia Wolf, at times it seemed like she is even using similar words and phrases.

This is not a straight forward book. It is the sort of book that will truly makes no one happy. It is a confusing book. If you allow yourself the benefit of "learning" while reading it, it may shake many established beliefs and strongly held opinions.

Having read this book, I am absolutely certain of one thing. I will never never eat at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the standards of hygiene at the restaurant were appallingly low. On most other issues, I am a lot less certain.

AA

In the Eye of the Sun - Book Review - Ahdaf Souief

This was the second of four Souief Books and her first full-length work. It is a real treat, very well conceived and written. It is an excellent portrayal of Egyptian society and the various conflicting influences affecting the Egyptian character.

Ahdaf Souif paints each and every character in the novel in a "real" fashion, they are all very plausible in their strength, peculiarities and humanities; the goodies and the "badies" alike, are all well rounded. This does not only apply to Asya, Seif, Crissie and the other main personalities, but to the many minor ones too. No cardboard here!

In part this is a story of young idealistic Egyptian girl, Asya, growing up in the quasi-socialist days of Nasser. Ahdaf Souief paints a remarkably accurate picture of life in Cairo during that era. The 1967 Six days war takes place, dreams are shattered and many lives are torn, but largely life goes on. Asya's love story in Egypt moves with her abroad as she goes to the North of England for post Graduate education. Again Souief paints a remarkable detailed and accurate picture of life in the North of England in that era. Asya struggles and adapts with life in the west. She is so very firmly anchored in her roots, upbringing, and culture; yet she still wades into The West.

Asya strengths and weaknesses as a human being dominate much of the second half of the book, all written in a gripping language that makes you feel you are right there, part of the scene. At times I wanted to shout out "leave him.. throw him out .. he's no good ..don't you see ..." or "call him ..tell him ... don't put up with that .."

Souif painted an outstandingly accurate picture of how a wedding, a funeral, school life and even war and politics feel like in Egypt. Souif was specially masterful at the way she weaved the funeral scene, with her superb translation of the Quran. I could actually picture myself in Etba in Cairo receiving the mourners.

Ahdaf Souif's mastery of both English and Arabic comes across in every word in the book. She loves both languages and takes and gives joy in illustrating their beauty without losing the theme of the book.

The book shed a great deal of light on how Egyptian view not only themselves but also how they view the west, the Arabs and also Israel. It provides a very realistic look on how integrated Moslems and Christians are in City life in Cairo. (at least used to be , not really sure about now)

Aisha and Sandpiper are 2 other outstanding books by AS, if you enjoy this book, you will certainly like these 2. In a funny way, some of the stories from these 2 books are intertwined with In the Eye of the Sun. You will appreciate these 2 shorter books many times more after you have read this one.

The Map of Love, her most recent book 1999, was short listed for the Booker prize (and should have won it over Disgrace which is also a fantastic book with great insight on life at the other end of the Africa) , is an excellent book but not half as good or real as this book, In The Eye Of The Sun is a real treat. I was depressed when I finished it, I wanted more!

A Border Passage - by Leila Ahmed - Book Review

A Border Passage is not a typical autobiography. It has many elements of an autobiography, but it is also a book of well reasoned essays on some of the most difficult aspects of the history of Egypt and its culture. Essays on Islam, imperialism and on the identity and language of Egypt.

Leila Ahmed recount of her childhood and upbringing in Cairo and Alexandria is beautifully written. Her complex relationship with and her views of her mother are an important theme in the first half of the book. Her analysis of the social impact of the colonial and post colonial on her own family and the events that surrounded her is particularly insightful.

In writing this book Leila Ahmed clearly has done a considerable amount of sole searching with objective detachment. She describes that process and articulates clearly her reasoning. You can actually sense the struggle and pain she went through to reach a particular conclusion. This is the work of a sensitive person with a superb analytical mind and an ability to reflect. I particularly enjoyed her pointing out of what was a recollection and knowledge in retrospect, in her process of understanding an issue or an emotion.

The book contains a very well researched and argued section on the "Arabization" of Egypt. Here, she presents why she is not an Arab, but rather an Egyptian, from a historical, cultural, linguistic and social viewpoint. She illustrates with significant historical substantiation Arabism in Egypt as a colonial invention. Yet, she appears to be willing to accept an Arab identity as well as an Egyptian one in the west, because of what she shares with Arabs in the west. She talks of two "Arabnesses", I think I understood her correctly, but I am not sure. If you are interested in the subject you will find this part very rewarding, and if you couldn't care less, it will still be fascinating. It is her search for an identity, and her willingness to accept an additional identity in the west so as not to see herself escaping, in vain, the negative connotations that she has dedicated her life to fight.

A Border Passage is remarkable in its political correctness. This, largely, comes across as natural political correctness, not forced or contrived. It comes across from Leila Ahmed's own suffering from racial, religious and gender discrimination. She tells of stories of a teacher giving her no grades, because he couldn't believe an Egyptian could do in English what she did. She tells of man a spitting in her face in England once he found out she is Egyptian not an Israeli. She also tells of American feminists not taking her seriously because she is a Moslem. As a result of her own experiences, she was very careful not to offend sensibilities particularly in the West.

This is a truly wonderful, sensitive, insightful, lyrical and brave book.

The Map of Love -- by Ahdaf Souief - Book Review

The Map of Love is very well written, with lots of insight on a critical period in the History of Egypt. Amal, the primary charachter in the book, is very warm and real. You can actually picture her in an appartment in Cairo working through the night on the manuscripts.

Her "counterpart" from nearly a century earlier is equally real. The male charachters are not as well developed, Sheriff basha and Omar come across a bit too good, too perfect!

The book deals very well with the confused nature of the modern egyptian society and its roots; part islamic, part Turkish, part Arabic, a bit of French with a unique Egyptian outcome. Refernce to some of Ahdaf Souif's earlier books' characheters is very clever.

The scenes in Upper Egypt are particularly clever. The Palestinian Israeli part did not do much for me and the brother's politics came across contrieved, almost inserted in as an after thought to show the on going family struggle. Too many birds to hit with the one stone!

Parts of the plot are somewhat shaky with a couple of "one in a million" type occurances taking place. A supernatural bit, while very minor, detracts from the book.

Ahdaf Souief, as always, is truely a fantastic read, and this is one more book by her that is really difficult to put down.

Use the very well prepared glossery at the end of the book everytime you come across an unfamilar word. It will help so much in your appreciation of the book.

If you want a truelly Ahdaf Souief masterpiece read Eye of the Sun. If you don't have the mental and emotional energy for 800 pages then read Aisha and then Sandpiper.