Season of Migration to the North

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Simple life vs purpose of education - Rated
A man returns after having studied in England to his native village somewhere along the Nile in Sudan. There he meets another man, Sa'eed, who has a past very different to the life of a farmer he lives in the little village. The main story of the novel is this man's. But Sa'eed's story comes out in parts and in between there's a bit about the grandfather and his friends, the narrator himself, and the wife of Sa'eed.

It's interesting reading about village life in the Sudan half a century ago. And the author is ambitious in his attempt to describe characters, passion, and the purpose of life. Sa'eed plays well as someone with much talent and good looks, no past and very little heart. What does it take to shake authentic emotions into him and how does he cope with it.

I like the Joseph Conrad approach to the story and the setting as well. There is not something I think is bad about this novel but something is absent. It's a bit like a meal without the sauce connecting the components. Worth reading though.

less than the sum of its parts - Rated
ONe of the "1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die" (international edition), and also, according to the cover of the penguin book, voted the best Arab novel of all time.

Enormous ingenuity has gone into the plotting and story-telling (as, for instance, with something like The Great Gatsby or Citizen Kane). The worlds of the Sudan and of 1920s are summoned up with great skill. Much of the human interface between characters rings true. Many of the scenes are highly memorable. And there are almost too many ideas - is the central figure self-destructive, is he destroyed by colonialism, how does he have the impact he does on his widow, and why does he "take" to the narrator as he does? These are enjoyable questions to ponder.

But for me the sum of the parts was less than the value of the whole. Certainly a different reading experience, and recommendable. But not - for example - life-changing, earth-shattering or profoundly moving.

Awesome - Rated
This book is extremely interesting and the writer did a brilliant job work of presenting the conflicts in the protagonist's soul. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a better idea of why those who experience two worlds easily identify with one , especially the world that doe not look down on them. Disciples of Fortune, Dreams of my father, The Color of water ,Midaq Alley are other nice stories to read.