"Seven Veils of Seth" by Ibrahim Al-Koni
I once stumbled upon a site (Scribd.com) offering wide selection of e-books for a monthly fee. I signed up half-way, didn't feel like completing when they asked for my pay-pal to get to use my first month free. Since I had entered my email address I've been getting promotional emails once a month - each time they feature a selection of three new books, and being the book addict I am I always took a glance. Last month this one was in the list, described as "a modern Arabic novel from Libya". There was also another title which piqued my interest, so I eventually signed up properly. That other title turned out to be unavailable in my region (I hate that there has to be regional discrimination in the internet), but Seven Veils of Seth was all ready to be read. I had hoped to be able to at least download it in some form, but it was meant to be read from the browser (if a PC is the equipment of choice).
I'm not completely sure what to make of it, but I sure did enjoy it. I wanted to have a peek into an alien world, and I feel like I just had one.
The novel takes place in an Tuareg oasis (in the Sahara). It is packed with allusions to things I'm really not that familiar with (I only learned about Seth from the review at Scribd.com). The main question discussed again and again in all the dialogues is the ancient law of Tuareg people and the (superiority of) nomadic lifestyle versus sedentary leisure at an oasis. There is a touch of supernatural and mysterious, although not very straightforwardly, as the things one sees when in a state of mind for a murder during a night-time, are not necessarily to be taken literally. The herbs Isan uses are suspiciously potent, though. And the mechanism of his "talismans" is not discussed.
The truths of past are revealed little by little during the course of present events and final revelations can compete with the cream of soap operas even. We also learn something about the nature of camels during the course of this book.
A really nice touch is the erotic scene right at the beginning of the book. Description of female beauty is in the style of the Song of Solomon and this leaves a kind of odd erotic tension lingering in the mind of the reader, as you keep wondering whether there is more and if there is, how would it be presented, until the second half of the book.
It seems natural to take this tale as a fairy or folk tale or a myth ... in any case as something old and exotic. Especially from the female point of view - if this was here and now, it would be quite horrifying.
But it is a good thing to have an entire book mulling over a question that has never been a real priority in my own culture or mind - to stay still or keep travelling. Sure, the mysterious stranger, the traveller is a known theme in any culture or literature, but it's usually built around the lone travellers longing and inability to settle down, which breaks hearts and so in. It's not often that the traveller gets to be the righteous one chastising the village folk for growing fat in one place and driving them out to the roads with him.
I'm not completely sure what to make of it, but I sure did enjoy it. I wanted to have a peek into an alien world, and I feel like I just had one.
The novel takes place in an Tuareg oasis (in the Sahara). It is packed with allusions to things I'm really not that familiar with (I only learned about Seth from the review at Scribd.com). The main question discussed again and again in all the dialogues is the ancient law of Tuareg people and the (superiority of) nomadic lifestyle versus sedentary leisure at an oasis. There is a touch of supernatural and mysterious, although not very straightforwardly, as the things one sees when in a state of mind for a murder during a night-time, are not necessarily to be taken literally. The herbs Isan uses are suspiciously potent, though. And the mechanism of his "talismans" is not discussed.
The truths of past are revealed little by little during the course of present events and final revelations can compete with the cream of soap operas even. We also learn something about the nature of camels during the course of this book.
A really nice touch is the erotic scene right at the beginning of the book. Description of female beauty is in the style of the Song of Solomon and this leaves a kind of odd erotic tension lingering in the mind of the reader, as you keep wondering whether there is more and if there is, how would it be presented, until the second half of the book.
It seems natural to take this tale as a fairy or folk tale or a myth ... in any case as something old and exotic. Especially from the female point of view - if this was here and now, it would be quite horrifying.
But it is a good thing to have an entire book mulling over a question that has never been a real priority in my own culture or mind - to stay still or keep travelling. Sure, the mysterious stranger, the traveller is a known theme in any culture or literature, but it's usually built around the lone travellers longing and inability to settle down, which breaks hearts and so in. It's not often that the traveller gets to be the righteous one chastising the village folk for growing fat in one place and driving them out to the roads with him.