maybe I was expecting too much from this book, knowing it won the Nobel prize. but I just couldn't connect with it.. at first I thought the translation was awkward or that Arabic just naturally sounds clumsy in English. but the dialogue itself seemed stilted and the characters were pretty one dimensional (not to mention unlikeable). I can appreciate that it tells a story of Egyptian nationalism but there are stories that can convey a turning point in a nation's history with heart, beautiful writing and character development ('a fine balance' comes to mind). I'm just sorry this book took me so long to finish since it left me rather jaded about even starting anything new.

I will say that it's an illuminating portrait of how repressive daily life was (and perhaps still is, in some cases) for women in Egypt and other parts of the Muslim world.