Middle East/North African Lit discussion

I am delighted to open this dicussion of Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge by Ezzedine C. Fishere. I've had it (the Arabic text عناق عند جسر بروكلين) on my shelf for years, and I'm looking forward to finally reading it! I've just started it: so far it's a sensitive look at a Columbia U. professor coming to the end of his days. He's looking back, taking stock, and making some changes. The characters and relationships span the U.S. and Egypt. Here's to summer reading!

When I read this book I rearranged my life so I could spend as much time as possible reading it. Overall what I liked about the book was the different way each character in their own way tried to live their own life and relate to others.

Y'all! I was just in Lagos, Nigeria this past week helping facilitate a workshop on literary criticism and this book was so passionately discussed that I commissioned one young writer (they were all university students) to write a "Dear Ezzedine Choukri Fishere" letter for ArabLit. :-)

Like Nan, she also rearranged her life to read it, but she was furious about the ending.

Wonderful! More reading material 🙂

Is there a spoiler thread yet.? I have some thoughts about the ending but don’t want to spoiler it for those who haven’t read it yet.

Nan wrote: "Is there a spoiler thread yet.? I have some thoughts about the ending but don’t want to spoiler it for those who haven’t read it yet."

Ahhh I would love to hear your thoughts about the ending, we should start a spoiler thread.

Ok how does it start

Nan wrote: "Ok how does it start"

Did I do this properly? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Reviews I found helpful

Interview With Ezzedine Choukri, TheArab Revolution Is A Cultural Revolution, Quantara, 21.02.13.

Embrace On Brooklyn Bridge Asks What Does It Mean To Be An Arab American, M Lynx Qualey, The National, 1 June, 2017.

Sally Gomaa Reviews Embrace On Brooklyn Bridge by Ezzedene Choukri Fishere, Arabicliteraturetoday (official website) no date for review. Search by the title.

I realize Nan already knows this, but for others, I also had a Q&A with Ezzedine:
https://arablit.org/2017/06/05/embrac...

and one with the translator, John Peate:
https://arablit.org/2017/06/06/transl...

Thanks for the additional links. I don’t think I did read them. Now I will.

Hi All, I'm back! - Sorry for being away! - I just finished reading this novel. The links are very helpful. As always, great resources, Marcia :)

I can totally understand why the ending would be shocking/disappointing/horrific. Thanks, Marcia, for opening the spoilers thread for THAT conversation!

Here are the notes I wrote while reading the book:

This is the story of a man, at the end of his life, throwing a party for his various friends and relatives. Moving from Egypt to the United States in middle age, he specialized in history of the Arab World and taught at Columbia U. One by one, we meet him and his guests, and learn more about their lives. [Actually, that character and his story is mostly just the first of the book's eight interlocking stories. The characters are linked together throughout the book, but each chapter is virtually a stand-alone story.]

This is a book about the twists and turns of life, and how the choices of individuals affect others. The choices are tied to themes of the novel: marriage (kinds of love, cross-cultural marriages), children (and parent-child relationships), work (for passion/purpose/income), and phases of life. It is a close look at the interconnected lives of a set of guests.

A final note on the Arabic: The language is excellent for learners of Arabic. I would recommend this novel highly from a linguistic perspective (for teachers, students, learners). It includes many useful expressions, and is written in a current/contemporary, clear, fresh voice. It also includes both spoken and written varieties of Arabic, which makes it feel authentic and realistic.

I’m glad I read this book and I passed it on to my former English professor who also liked it. In fact he talked about it on his weekly radio book broadcast from a city in the Midwest of the US.

Ooh, Nan, is there a recording of the broadcast or did he write anything about it? I ask because I know someone from Minneapolis just picked up this book, and might find someone else's ideas interesting. Thanks!

Yes. It’s a Saturday morning broadcast on WVIK radio station. The program is called Scribble. Google WVIK Scribble for info on the show and hosts as well as a link to the weekly program. It’s archived so you can see other programs.

Most of the show is interviews with local writers, poets, playwrights, librarians, translators, magazines, musing on the nature of writing. Most of those interviewed live in the Quint Cities ( 5 cities on the Illinois Iowa boarder).

The hosts have a lifetime worth of experience reading and encouraging others to read and write.

The best part of this show is interviews with local people talking about books and writing. This show is part of a very active writing scene in that area.
Don Wooten one of the hosts, among other things founded the Genesis Guild which has put on Greek Plays and Shakespeare plays in the past four decades.

The end of the show is for book recommendations. Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge was recommended. I spoke to Dr, Tweet (yes his real name) and he doesn’t remember exactly which episode. It was sometime this past winter or spring. I don’t either. But if you scroll through the links, you may find it.

If you don’t and would like to talk more about it, try contacting Tweet through the radio station WVIK. I’ll bet he responds.

Happy Reading