A review by giantarms
Aegypt by John Crowley
4.0
When I said I wanted to read a book about Egypt, but a kind of a shadowy, moody, atmospheric Egypt of temples and mystery, I thought I wanted a bit of elegant historical fiction. I tried finding some (you may recall that awful Agatha Christie novel), but most of it seemed to be either young adult fiction or tawdry romance. But I didn't want a story about a plucky young heroine finding luck and love in a desert or whatever. So, out of desperation, I took up this novel with the obvious title that had been sitting on my reading list for some time.
It was exactly the book I wanted.
The reason the book set in Egypt that I wanted to read does not exist, is because, of course, that that Egypt never existed. People didn't moon about necropoli wondering which turning of the Nile would be best to poison the high priest by. They were just people. Maybe a little unhealthily obsessed with embalming, but hey! Can we, in 21st Century America, claim to be any different?
And so, the peculiar spelling of the title is not accidental or quaint. It is the name of a fantastic country we in the west have come to associate with hidden wisdom and lost gods. One which had a great deal of scholarship about it for centuries, but that never actually existed. It was just the fanciful imaginings of racists with a poor understanding of etymology. Or . . . was it?
The most fitting part of this book is that Aegypt wasn't even supposed to be the name of the book. The author wanted to call it The Solitudes. I certainly would not have thought to read it when I did had they gone with that!
In any event, that author is the same who wrote Little, Big, which is one of my favorites. This book seems to take a similar theme of some kind of tale being told, but approaches it from a different angle. The characters in Little, Big more or less know there's weirdness afoot and put a lot of energy into ignoring that. The one or two characters who don't are driven half mad by this unspoken knowledge. In Aegypt, it's not actually certain there is weirdness afoot, except that Pierce comes to feel in his bones that there is. When you come to the end of the novel, you still aren't sure.
But there are three more in this series! That's why as much as I enjoyed the people living in the Faraways, I don't know that I will ever find this series as soothing as I do Little, Big. That was one longish book, told in manageable chunks, and tied up neatly in the end. The first time I read it, I read it on and off for more than a year. I have yet to read it straight through. I've got a bookmark in it even now! So, who's to say when I'll have this quartet finished. I'm giving it a go, to be sure. Just don't hold your breath, okay?
It was exactly the book I wanted.
The reason the book set in Egypt that I wanted to read does not exist, is because, of course, that that Egypt never existed. People didn't moon about necropoli wondering which turning of the Nile would be best to poison the high priest by. They were just people. Maybe a little unhealthily obsessed with embalming, but hey! Can we, in 21st Century America, claim to be any different?
And so, the peculiar spelling of the title is not accidental or quaint. It is the name of a fantastic country we in the west have come to associate with hidden wisdom and lost gods. One which had a great deal of scholarship about it for centuries, but that never actually existed. It was just the fanciful imaginings of racists with a poor understanding of etymology. Or . . . was it?
The most fitting part of this book is that Aegypt wasn't even supposed to be the name of the book. The author wanted to call it The Solitudes. I certainly would not have thought to read it when I did had they gone with that!
In any event, that author is the same who wrote Little, Big, which is one of my favorites. This book seems to take a similar theme of some kind of tale being told, but approaches it from a different angle. The characters in Little, Big more or less know there's weirdness afoot and put a lot of energy into ignoring that. The one or two characters who don't are driven half mad by this unspoken knowledge. In Aegypt, it's not actually certain there is weirdness afoot, except that Pierce comes to feel in his bones that there is. When you come to the end of the novel, you still aren't sure.
But there are three more in this series! That's why as much as I enjoyed the people living in the Faraways, I don't know that I will ever find this series as soothing as I do Little, Big. That was one longish book, told in manageable chunks, and tied up neatly in the end. The first time I read it, I read it on and off for more than a year. I have yet to read it straight through. I've got a bookmark in it even now! So, who's to say when I'll have this quartet finished. I'm giving it a go, to be sure. Just don't hold your breath, okay?