The Proof of the Honey [Paperback]

The nameless (and unreliable) narrator of The Proof of the Honey has studied the classical Arabic erotica of al-Suyuti and al-Nafzawi, as well the KAMA SUTRA and Western works by Casanova, Henry Miller, and Georges Bataille. She also at times claims to have taken numerous lovers of both genders. These then form the bases of her addictions to stories and beds.

Her eleven chapters are "gates" she leads us through in latter-day Scheherazade style. Instead of a thousand stories, she boasts as many sexual partners. She tells us tales of an ancient mercury bed (to assist physical union) and the legalities of the temporary Shiite "marriage of pleasure". She quotes Arab songs, verses, and folk wisdom (" 'There are two kinds of women --lettuce women and women of embers' "). In free-love fashion she declares, "Some people conjure spirits. I conjure bodies. I have no knowledge of my soul or the soul of others. I know only my body and theirs." And one body she repeatedly encounters as she passes through her gates is that of the Thinker, the man whose sexual prowess caused her public and secret lives to converge. However, the Thinker is an illusive entity, a concoction, on whom this woman desires to hang her feelings and her thoughts on sex in the Arab world at large...and her in own.

Syrian Salwa Al Neimi's novel (more correctly, novella) reportedly raised a sensation when it was published in Arabic. One can assume in Islamic culture it is a daring volume. One example: it's "Ninth Gate: Linguistics" dwells on a very course word for intercourse. The narrator's Arabic spell check program won't acknowledge the word, proving, she says, that it is "programmed for dissimulation." It has "castrated the language....castrated the computer....castrated me" she rants. Whether true freedom is dependent on the ability to spew the f-word at will is highly debatable, but it illustrates well that THE PROOF OF THE HONEY is intended as an Arab-circle provocation. It desires to poke the stick at the wasps' nest in a part of the world that remains relatively insular and circumspect about sexual matters. The author, through her narrator, propounds an extreme feminist view -- with curious spears of male chauvinism protruding in some passages. Using this short volume as a barometer, the sexual revolution that shook the Western world in the 1960's and '70's may be, for good or not, edging farther into the Muslim consciousness now.

The sensual cover suggests a novella of refined eroticism and lyricism. One cannot, upon finishing the book, be entirely satisfied, however, because the thin plot is really veneer for mini essays, the thoughts are often confused and partial, and, although sexual honey and seductive lower backs are embedded (pun intended) in certain passages, for the most part, one needn't fan oneself from embarrassment. Much original English-language erotic literature is arguably far more developed and arousing than this translation.

Despite its shortcomings as fiction, THE PROOF OF THE HONEY is a unique and intriguing historical and contemporary insight into Arab perspectives on sex (and this book may play a part in causing them to shift). (3.5 stars)

I wont go into the plot details since it is well described above. This is a sensuous book which explores a womans sexuality and discovery. It is not your typical novel with a plot and conversation. the style is more abstract and lyrical. its is evocative and bold. the writing is not crass or vulgar like some erotic fiction. i personally found this book meaningful because i come a sexually repressed nation especially for women. the love her writing and the book follows the tone of her personality and sexuality. I would read it. its a different experience.

This book of fiction is about sex, and that means it is erotica. It is not sexy.
SO what? It is a good read. It is a very thought provoking book and the back story is compelling.
The author: Salwa Al Neimi is a Syrian born ,scholar and poet, now living in Paris.
She, or at least her unnamed woman narrator is at once fiercely Arab and just as fiercely her own sexual being. She, the narrator is frank about her sexuality, her likes and her awakening both as a girl approaching womanhood and as a lover with her man, men<?> The Thinker.
For the western reader, the narrator makes clear the richness of sexual literature in the totality of Arab traditions as well as the confusion in the Muslim community of how to deal with this aspect of their culture. She will juxtapose direct quotes from the library of Arab sexual literature with the modern reality on that same topic. The comparisons usualy but not always are in favor of the older sources.
This is a tiny novella, 141 pages. The eleven chapters are titled Gates. Yet the story is rich, intelligent and, again, thought provoking. Most of us in the west have so little information about the Arab world and most of what is here is not in accord with many preconceived notions.

It is tempting to conclude that this book is autobiographic, but it does not matter if it is. Dr. Salawa Al Neimi has to know that publishing this book meant taking risks with the extremist religious elements in the the east and the west. To read her book is to recognize her courage. Also, to learn about a several heretofore secret worlds and to have a good read. This is a lot to package in one book. And yet here it is.