Readers Group Diary September

A Readers Group from West London discuss Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love

Ours is a readers group started about 2 1/2 years ago by an American living in West London, and is supported by another American whose daughter, an avid reader, is a member of 2 readers groups and provided much useful advice. The two Americans collected the rest of the group and we are now ten strong, divided half and half between West Londoners and those from 'outside'. It must be admitted that we are all ladies of a certain age, but amongst us , either still working , or fairly recently retired, are a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a publisher and a politician. We also have an ex probation officer and other members with in-depth knowledge of the prison service and the diplomatic service. One of our members lived abroad for many years as the wife of a distinguished foreign correspondent, another is an ex ballet dancer. Our names are Pat, Jane(two of them) Colette, Jean, Sue, Diana, Penelope Grania and Moira.

We meet every 6 weeks or so but this can stretch to 2 months. We usually meet in the morning (is this because those who have husbands are unhappy about abandoning them in the evenings?) and the meetings last around two hours. (Occasionally there is a move to have an evening meeting, and to include men. This hasn't happened yet, it will take a strong organising force to get it going!) We rotate among each other's houses and we take turns in presenting 3 or 4 books to choose from for the next meeting. We usually do this at the start, and because we are anxious to get on with the discussion of the book we've all just read it doesn't usually take too long, maybe we sometimes choose too quickly?

This month we've all read The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif which had been one of Penelope's choices (the others were Trollope's The American Senator, and Mandela: The Authorized Biography by Anthony Sampson).

Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love is a massive family saga, a story that draws its readers into two moments in the complex, troubled history of modern Egypt. The story begins in 1997 in New York. There Isabel Parkman discovers an old trunk full of documents, some in English, some in Arabic, in her dying mother's apartment. Incapable of deciphering all this material by herself, she turns to Omar al-Ghamrawi, a man with whom she is falling in love. And Omar directs her in turn to his sister Amal in Cairo. Together the two women begin to uncover the stories embedded in the journal of Lady Anna Winterbourne, who travelled to Egypt in 1900 and fell in love with Sharif Pasha al-Barudi, an Egyptian nationalist. To their surprise, they stumble across some unsuspected connections between their own families. Less surprising, perhaps, is the persistence of the very same issues that dogged their ancestors: colonialism, Egyptian nationalism, and the clash of cultures throughout the Middle East- many characters presenting these arguments.

The conclusion of the 19th century love story is a sad one, that of the 20th century ambiguous. Penelope presented the book to begin with and gave her views (this is the way we always proceed). She liked it, obviously the chooser usually likes her choices. The strong romantic streak in the book appealed to her. 'Every woman's dream', she said, referring to the central love story which begins with sheikh Sharif carrying off the English Anna (disguised as a man) into the desert.

'Hmm', some of the hard-bitten others murmured, unconvinced, and then the book was generally trashed. 'Too long!'we chorused . 'Why did the editor allow it?' (No answer to this.) 'Purple prose', said the publisher. ' I only read half, not worth pursuing' this from Colette, a highly literate, literary person. 'I liked the characters,' said Jane, trying to be positive, 'except for Isobel.' 'She was neurotic' said the psychiatrist (all in agreement here). 'Never knew who was talking' (Sue) 'Just a vehicle for a confusing overview of Egyptian history' (the publisher again - she never shuts up).

At this point Penelope produced photocopies for everyone of a most scholarly historical précis which she had researched and written; very impressive. However, most of us retained varying degrees of negativity towards the book. With Jane trying hard again and saying sweetly that she liked the book and had enjoyed it, the meeting finished . In the past we had worried that if we expressed dislike for a book the chooser would be offended. Now we were being more mature (after all, we are grown up) - and Penelope took it very well.

And we were all already looking forward to our choice for next time, at least it's shorter.

Some of the other books we've read are:

The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamund Lehmann
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsover
Inside by John Hoskisson
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Behind the Scenes at the British Museum by Kate Atkinson
Benjamin by Chico Buarque
Le Testament Francais by Andre Makine
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester