Soueif offers both an extraordinary eyewitness document and a sense of the historical import of the revolution.
A deeply personal, engaged tribute by the far-flung Egyptian novelist and journalist as she returned to witness the revolution in her hometown.
When the conflicts broke out in Egypt at the end of January 2011, Cairo-born Soueif (Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground, 2005, etc.), having made her home largely in London since her marriage to the London critic and author Ian Hamilton (d. 2001), quickly returned to join the protests in Tahrir Square, as did her sons and many of her relatives. Tahrir is the Cairenes’ “Holy Grail,” Soueif writes, the locus for demonstrations against the government since 1972, when the author took part in protests against Anwar Sadat’s oppressive regime. It has taken the next generation, her children’s, to prevail, and Soueif declares gallantly: “We follow them and pledge what’s left of our lives to their effort.” Early on, the author offers an in-the-moment account of the crucial first days of street action, often messy, confused and involving violent clashes with the police, though undertaken by friends, family and strangers alike with heartwarming camaraderie. Then she moves to October 2011 to show how the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces hijacked the revolution without keeping President Hosni Mubarak’s decapitated regime from “growing a new head.” Soueif then moves back in time to the period of February 1-12. While being jostled in crowds, blinded by tear gas, harassed by the paramilitary thug militias, the dreaded baltagis, the author passionately evokes the spirit of the beloved city where she was born, through neighborhoods and buildings long-suffering and dear to her—e.g., pleading with police to cease torturing prisoners in the iconic Egyptian Museum.
Soueif offers both an extraordinary eyewitness document and a sense of the historical import of the revolution.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-307-90810-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
An impassioned, non-manipulative memorial, timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of 9/11.
Fontana tugs at the heartstrings in this engrossing, inspiring 9/11 memoir.
The author married firefighter Dave Fontana on September 11, 1993, and they were supposed to spend their eighth wedding anniversary toddling hand-in-hand through the Whitney Museum. But Dave never made it home that day; he died at Ground Zero. Marian mourned, gave countless interviews to reporters, planned Dave’s wake, wrote his eulogy and conferred with other widows. Gradually, she became a skilled political organizer, founding the 9-11 Widows’ and Victims’ Families Association. She used her newfound media cachet to educate people about the lousy wages firefighters are paid and to weigh in on the debates surrounding compensation to victims’ families. She met with mayors and senators, and she now serves on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s Family Advisory Committee. Fontana is a good writer, with an ear for phrasing and a focus on small, poignant details: We see her plucking strands of salt-and-pepper hair from Dave’s hairbrush, because she needs a sample of his DNA and brushing her teeth with his toothbrush, “secretly pretend[ing] I was being kissed.”
An impassioned, non-manipulative memorial, timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of 9/11.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7432-4624-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
A warm, surprisingly entertaining glimpse of fundamentalism through a child's eyes.
Memories of a childhood spent in a Christian classroom in 1970s Florida.
The author's parents weren't the world's most devout couple, but when it came time to send their girls to school, they settled on the Keswick Christian School rather than the local public school, which was in a notoriously dodgy neighborhood. Thus was Rosen (Preaching Eugenics, 2004, etc.) introduced to the intensely Bible-centric world of Christian education. In some ways, Bible stories were instantly understandable; the ten plagues (frogs, lice, flies, etc.), for example, were almost all experienced in some way or other in her hometown of St. Petersburg. In kindergarten, class time was devoted to memorizing Bible verses; by second grade, the students were ready for a “Walk Thru the Bible” seminar, in which every major biblical event was recited. The author, though affectionate towards her alma mater, is also clearly amused by a certain earnest wackiness that suffused the school, exemplified by an “odd mix of Bible lesson and performance art.” The same attitude, tinged with a bit of sorrow or confusion, is extended to Rosen's mother. The author's parents divorced early in her childhood, Rosen and her sister both staying with their father (and, eventually, a loving stepmother), while their mother began making the rounds of a series of different jobs and churches, favoring those that focused on faith healing and speaking in tongues—practices frowned upon by the more conservative Keswick school community. Rosen remained at Keswick through eighth grade, but when the school banned students from patronizing the 7-11 because it sold pornography, Rosen’s parents began to realize how widely their philosophy differed from that of Keswick; the author's fundamentalist education ended after middle school.
A warm, surprisingly entertaining glimpse of fundamentalism through a child's eyes.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58648-258-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2005
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