katie_king's review
2.0
Book designers as book editors? Not a good idea. Nicely packaged, but it's a mash up of anything-they-could-find on the subject of Cairo. Some interesting stories from Egyptian writers interspersed with some pretty horrendous stuff from the "white man's burden" school of writing. The lead off with Rudyard Kipling should have been a clue, and the letters from T.E. Lawrence were just pedestrian notes home, and gave nothing of the atmosphere or Cairo.
What raised it for me above the one-star level was the chance to be introduced to new writers, since I know nothing of Arabic writing.
What raised it for me above the one-star level was the chance to be introduced to new writers, since I know nothing of Arabic writing.
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