Season of Migration to the North in Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Jun 14, 2014 Arukiyomi rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books

This little novel packs a huge punch even today, 50 years after it was published in a Sudan that was in no way ready hammer blow of this magnitude to its conservative Islamic values. Currently regarded as one of the finest novels Arabic, it still continues to be banned in many Islamic nations, including the one I brought it to after being given it for Christmas.

Many of the reviews on 欧宝娱乐 which give low ratings to the novel have two things in common: they are written in Arabic and they are This little novel packs a huge punch even today, 50 years after it was published in a Sudan that was in no way ready hammer blow of this magnitude to its conservative Islamic values. Currently regarded as one of the finest novels Arabic, it still continues to be banned in many Islamic nations, including the one I brought it to after being given it for Christmas.

Many of the reviews on 欧宝娱乐 which give low ratings to the novel have two things in common: they are written in Arabic and they are outraged by the sexual references. Listen oh ye governments of nations where this is banned: This is no American Psycho; references to sex there are, but this is far less graphic than the sex that the vast majority of your citizens view with impunity from their VPNs each day as they get around your puny Internet filtering.

The narrator never discloses his name. He returns to his native Sudanese village after several years abroad gaining a PhD and finds that there is a resident who was not there when he left.
The enigmatic Mustafa Sa鈥檈ed has married a local woman and fathered two sons. The narrator cannot figure him out and finds him a threat although this seems unwarranted. But they have much in common. The novel consists mostly of the two men sharing memories of times in Europe that they have both experienced. Mustafa鈥檚 experience consists mostly in seducing any woman he can find.

Identities are not at all clear in this book. This led me to wonder whether the narrator was actually Mustafa Sa鈥檈ed. The two characters share so much in common that, as long as you don鈥檛 maintain that the novel鈥檚 timeline of events is linear (and one should never do this with any African-inspired writing) this is entirely possible. In fact, the novel makes more sense to me if this is the case. And then, to me, Salih was ever so subtly satirising the hypocrisy of Sudan. At once in bed with western nations as it fought to bring itself out of the shadow of colonialism, it also tried to maintain a stern and disapproving facade underpinned by tradition and Islamic morality.

The novel is very loosely structured, particularly at the end, and this allows for multiple interpretations of events, characters and the narrative as a whole. It鈥檚 a very deep book that succeeds on a number of important levels, and it is a great example of the power of the novel as an art form. ...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Deanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-2008, around-the-world-in-80-books

Really enjoyed this, a book with a great story, a mystery which is eventually revealed. A chance to delve into another culture, and although the book is over 40 years old it doesn't read like that. ...more

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