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The Locust and the Bird
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
`Al-Shaykh is an important Arab voice which must be heard now' --Giles Coren, The Times
Review
'It is an extraordinarily brave act for a writer to undertake to inhabit, fully and sympathetically, the life her mother lived before she was born, particularly when her mother was no jewel of wifely virtue' JM Coetzee 'A fearless, pioneering writer' Independent 'An important Arab voice which must be heard now' Giles Coren, The Times >'The Locust and the Bird puts to rest, with much gentleness and ease, every stereotype about the Arab world and its women to which we have long grown attached in its nakedly truthful and wonderfully authentic rendition of the life of the ordinary and yet remarkable Kamila, this memoir digs deep into themes of oppression, marginalization, poverty, love and survival as Kamila herself lived them: With humour, wit with extraordinary imaginativeness and barefaced fallibility.' An Nahar Newspaper, Beirut
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I first heard about this book on Radio 4 Woman's Hour. It is a fascinating account of one woman's life, loves, hardships and detailed memories, written as if in the first person by an estranged daughter. She writes with a tinge of guilt but also with infinite respect and love. It is both moving and disconcerting and provides a critical insight into the struggles and contradictions faced by Muslim women.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I caught the last episode of this book on Woman's Hour, Radio 4 and so decided to buy the book.
Well I wasn't disappointed. The book is set in Lebanon in the 40's and 50's and is about Kamila, an illiterate young girl tricked into marriage with her dead sisters husband, a much older, religious and humble man, but this is not before she has already fallen in love with Mohammed, a young student. She could have accepted her life but instead fights the many obstacles in her path and is indeed a strong, fearless woman but feckless and dishonest too. From this alliance she bears two daughters, the youngest, Hanan, the author of this book.
She eventually meets Mohammed again and there starts the beginning of a long love affair until eventually a divorce is arranged. However, marriage to Mohammed is not the dream she had thought it would be and that in turn brings disappointment.
What I particularly liked about this book was that with a clearer understanding of why her mother had to leave her at such a young age/and that there are always two sides to a story, the relationship between mother and daughter improved.
Yes, this is certainly a book I would keep and at the present time it is on loan to one of my own daughters!!
Well I wasn't disappointed. The book is set in Lebanon in the 40's and 50's and is about Kamila, an illiterate young girl tricked into marriage with her dead sisters husband, a much older, religious and humble man, but this is not before she has already fallen in love with Mohammed, a young student. She could have accepted her life but instead fights the many obstacles in her path and is indeed a strong, fearless woman but feckless and dishonest too. From this alliance she bears two daughters, the youngest, Hanan, the author of this book.
She eventually meets Mohammed again and there starts the beginning of a long love affair until eventually a divorce is arranged. However, marriage to Mohammed is not the dream she had thought it would be and that in turn brings disappointment.
What I particularly liked about this book was that with a clearer understanding of why her mother had to leave her at such a young age/and that there are always two sides to a story, the relationship between mother and daughter improved.
Yes, this is certainly a book I would keep and at the present time it is on loan to one of my own daughters!!
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I absolutely loved this book.... A funny, sad, emotional story about the life of a Lebanese woman in the 1940s-1950s. Something we don't usually read about. What a life Kamila led, I really became gripped by her tale, she was so strong, fighting all the obstacles in her path. But what was most touching was the way the author got to know her mother properly whilst writing this book, understanding her and understanding why her mother had to leave when she was young.
I didn't flinch from the emotion in this book. It made it 'real' and ever more interesting to read a 'real' story about the strength and resilience of women in this part of the world.
A definite KEEPER!
I didn't flinch from the emotion in this book. It made it 'real' and ever more interesting to read a 'real' story about the strength and resilience of women in this part of the world.
A definite KEEPER!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3 and a half stars
What touched me most about this book was the fact that in telling this story to her novelist / journalist daughter, Kamila Al Shaykh managed to explain the reasons why she had felt... Read more
Published 11 months ago by DubaiReader
A queasy feeling...
...was my dominant emotion as I read this novel. I had read Hanan Al-Shaykh's Femmes de sable et de myrrhe and Le cimetiere des reves and consider both of them excellent reads, and... Read more
Published 15 months ago by John P. Jones III
fantastic
I really enjoyed this book, and its not what I expected at all. I ended up smiling to myself at points. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Yazoo
So-so biography of Lebanese novelist's mother
This story of a Lebanese woman, Kamila, written by her novelist daughter should have been more engaging than I found it to be. Read more
Published 22 months ago by maryleopard
Beautiful
There can't a bigger statement of daughterly love and forgiveness than penning down the tale of the mother who abandoned you as a child to run off with her lover. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Dee Reads
Disappointing
Found this book in a charity shop on the day of publication which suggests that somebody who had a review copy didn't think it was a 'keeper'. Nor do I ... Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by booksetc
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