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mrlsdevos's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation
frank_desanna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
kxiong5's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this book resists definition in such an incredible way. took notes in my journal so won't rehash this here, but the conversation with Heart of Darkness is palpable (and this book knows just as well as HoD how to use language as a violent colonial tool & adds the layers of recognition on how the use of colonial logics / living under the colonizer's rules explodes the possibility of identity / continued existence (think Franz Fanon and Invisible Man in that kind of violent misrecognition and motion) & yet ALSO does not let the men of the novel off the hook for how their 'emasculation' under coloniality directly links to the violent pursuit of / conquest of women & also has the most convincing Kurtz-figure & expands the Marlowe figure in the interplay between Mustafa Saeed and the unnamed narrator...and also isn't didactic or one-dimensional with any of its characters "representing" any concepts & all having such clearly social existences (even the stranger Mustafa -- who is so characterized by mobility and antisociality, is also an intensely social being?) and it's just such a startling and intricate novel and makes palpable the way in which violence (linguistic, colonial, self-directed, etc.) can reduce all life to a plane of incomprehensibility and yet *still* we find ways to plod on and try to live with this inability to act...or are we able to make that choice at all??? (and the ending encapsulates that so well). so many more thoughts (actually once I get my own copy and am no longer sticking shit in my library copy I might just reread it in a week, which is the first time in ages I've been so drawn to a book that I actively do not want to move on from it) + so much to study with how Tayeb Salih uses motion throughout the novel and often has such poetic passages shore up a fundamental and growing sense of emptiness // contrast the narrator's emptiness with the richness of the lives of the people around him...jdkafhkjdhf this was just off the charts. I think I need to sit with this forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
somturtle's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation
rachela_7's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape
amavi's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I don't really know how to rate this book.
I fully agree that it is written beautifully. Unfortunately it didn't leave much of an impact on me. This short novel is packed with important topics.
I'm sort of dumfounded on what to think about it. But since finishing it I find myself thinking about it a lot-maybe that is the impact. Right now it feels like an itch I can't scratch.
In the introduction (which I didn't read), the book: The Heart of Darkness was mentioned- I want to read that as well, then read the introduction, do research and give a final review
I fully agree that it is written beautifully. Unfortunately it didn't leave much of an impact on me. This short novel is packed with important topics.
I'm sort of dumfounded on what to think about it. But since finishing it I find myself thinking about it a lot-maybe that is the impact. Right now it feels like an itch I can't scratch.
In the introduction (which I didn't read), the book: The Heart of Darkness was mentioned- I want to read that as well, then read the introduction, do research and give a final review
I no longer saw or was conscious of anything but this catastrophe, in the shape of a woman, that fate had decreed for me. She was my destiny and in her lay my destruction, yet for me the whole world was not worth a mustard seed in comparison. I was the invader who had come from the South, and this was the icy battlefield from which I would not make a safe return.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Colonisation
samothraces's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Religious bigotry
cvergobbi's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Murder
2treads's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
"You know how life is run here,...Women belong to men, and a man's a man even if he is decrepit." -Mahjoub
Our narrator returns home to find at the centre of his village, a stranger, to whom his community seem to have the utmost deference for, so much so that he himself attempts to uncover the source of this man's magnetism.
After learning of the disturbing history that Mustafa holds, our narrator begins to delve into whatever he can find out about this man.
I appreciated how the atmosphere and interaction of the villagers, especially the elders, as it as so natural and uninhibited as well as vivid with imagery and connection to the land.
It is in the hunt for knowledge of others that one comes to understand oneself and the changes that are imminent and unavoidable.
With Season of Migration to the North Salih explores the intersections of faith, empire, emigration, return and metamorphosis. For surely there is change to be found in the juxtaposed experiences at home and in a foreign land.
Especially with the portrayal of women within the narrative: the 'freedom' and fragility of women in England with respect to their bodies and choices of furthering their education, what I saw as the fetishization of a Black man versus the status. of the muslim woman: whose life is dictated by the men in her family.
The views that are held and used to demean and persecute differences; the blooming of desires, both dark and light; the mission of redemption for past horrific impassioned deeds; the solace found in community and family.
Salih has written what I feel is a novel that is very much masculine and steeped in patriarchal worldview and culture especially when it comes to gender roles as per religion, the inveterate perceptions of colonialism and racism.
It also highlights the dualities within every community: the culture clash of old vs new, the adaptation of Western farming technology vs the use of old cultivation methods, the educational evolution vs the lived and learned ideology, and the changing views towards the roles played by women.
Our narrator returns home to find at the centre of his village, a stranger, to whom his community seem to have the utmost deference for, so much so that he himself attempts to uncover the source of this man's magnetism.
After learning of the disturbing history that Mustafa holds, our narrator begins to delve into whatever he can find out about this man.
I appreciated how the atmosphere and interaction of the villagers, especially the elders, as it as so natural and uninhibited as well as vivid with imagery and connection to the land.
It is in the hunt for knowledge of others that one comes to understand oneself and the changes that are imminent and unavoidable.
With Season of Migration to the North Salih explores the intersections of faith, empire, emigration, return and metamorphosis. For surely there is change to be found in the juxtaposed experiences at home and in a foreign land.
Especially with the portrayal of women within the narrative: the 'freedom' and fragility of women in England with respect to their bodies and choices of furthering their education, what I saw as the fetishization of a Black man versus the status. of the muslim woman: whose life is dictated by the men in her family.
The views that are held and used to demean and persecute differences; the blooming of desires, both dark and light; the mission of redemption for past horrific impassioned deeds; the solace found in community and family.
Salih has written what I feel is a novel that is very much masculine and steeped in patriarchal worldview and culture especially when it comes to gender roles as per religion, the inveterate perceptions of colonialism and racism.
It also highlights the dualities within every community: the culture clash of old vs new, the adaptation of Western farming technology vs the use of old cultivation methods, the educational evolution vs the lived and learned ideology, and the changing views towards the roles played by women.
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence