- Hardcover
- Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group (Jun 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385491719
- ISBN-13: 978-0385491716
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,727,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
The Times, 14th July 2001
'This is a sad, fresh, amusing and surprising take on London, and on life.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Devastatingly entertaining fiction... teeming with ideas: memory and exile, language, desire and identity, and the search for order in the chaos of a metropolis. Very funny' Literary Review
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I really loved this book. Four travellers from every corner of the Arab world are thrown briefly together when their inbound jet to Heathrow hits a patch of turbulence. The novel charts their "pilgrims' progress" through turn of the 21st century London. From the first page you know you are in for a treat: here is a writer who loves her characters and wants you to love them too. She has that brilliant gift of making quite ordinary things and activities totally compelling. The comedy is beautifully handled (like Barbara Pym) and I laughed out loud at the scenes with Samir and his monkey and the "Princess" and her scams. For an English reader this book has opened up a side of London that I had never really "seen" before and for this I am very grateful. Next stop? Edgware Road and The Ranoush Cafe!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Salman Rushdie is not one of my favourite authors, nor do I find his commentary on society particularly helpful, so seeing his name on the cover of a book is more likely to turn me away from it than to attract me to it. However, in this case he is quoted describing one of the author's previous books, Beirut Blues, thus: 'Should be read by everyone who cares about the more enduring, and universal, truths of the heart.' Having read Only in London W2, I can see why Hanan Al-Shaykh might have earned this description.
This book trips along at a jogger's pace, neither too fast as to lose the atmosphere, nor too slow as to bore the reader. It unravels the lives of each individual, the strains they are under, the naivety of their thinking, regardless of their 'intelligence' or position in society, cutting back to the raw humanity in them. It illustrates the struggle between the need to survive in this world with the natural human urge to relate to others.
If you were looking for a travelogue for the Edgware Road (which is in London W2) then don't let yourself be too disappointed - it isn't but it more than makes up for this!
What it does is leave you with some very cleverly unwrapped truths about each of us as human beings, together with a fascinating exposee of the life of an expatriate in contemporary London. There are lots of books written about ex-pat life from the perspective of the individual FROM the ex-pat's home country - for example, for Brits to read about a Brit in France. But there are very few about a foreigner's experience of living in your own country. This isn't a book for Brits though. It is an excellent insight into the life of an Arab in the 'Western' world. I can't say whether the experiences are true for many Arabs, certainly the characters are too distinctive, but I was left with a powerful (and largely sympathetic) impression of just how tough it is for the vast majority of Arabs to live in our scoiety.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I made the mistake of suggesting this book to a book group, based on the strength of a Radio 4 review I had heard. I then came on this site and found similarly encouraging reviews. I have felt guilty ever since for almost bringing the group to an end with their first book!
I can only assume that the dazzling reviews that this book has received have been as a result of some desire by the reviewers to tap into what they conceive to be fashionable modern culture. The characterisation and prose do not otherwise deserve anywhere near this praise. Poetic at points, but muddled and dull at many others.
This was a character driven book, the plot taking a back seat and acting more as a vehicle through which the characters could reveal their feelings and personalities. It was a shame therefore that the characters varied from engaging and believable in the form of Amira, to aimless and annoying in Lamis and Nicholas.
I read it quite easily and enjoyed it in parts but feel that someone had to address the outrageous overstating of the merits of this book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Interesting elements for a good story, but a bit boring
A bit of a boring book, the story didn't develop enough to make it interesting. It's about three people from Arab countries who meet on a plane back to London, where they... Read more
Published on 8 July 2009 by JudithAnn
slices of life
Hanan Al-Shaykhs writing is effortless, and her characters deeply human, she seems to strike just the right balance and the book has suprising depth considering its size. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2003 by simon gurney
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