Rowan Somerville
Auteur van The End of Sleep: A Novel
Over de Auteur
Fotografie: Tiggy Kennedy
Werken van Rowan Somerville
Tagged
Algemene kennis
Leden
Besprekingen
Prijzen
Statistieken
- Werken
- 3
- Leden
- 53
- Populariteit
- #303,173
- Waardering
- 3.3
- Besprekingen
- 2
- ISBNs
- 17
- Talen
- 1
- Favoriet
- 1
The book turned out exactly as I had envisioned. Our hero is an ex-journalist (he's just been sacked) named Fin still stationed in Cairo. The entire novel follows Fin around one day of his life, stages of the day marked out by the five calls to prayer.
Fin's friend Farouk provides the impetus for the story, of which there are two elements. One is the mistaken identity tangle that leads both into quite a spot of danger, and the other is the folktale told by Farouk that entices Fin's journalistic nose with the hint of a rich story.
And so we follow Fin around, gaining little bits of info and a lot of accurate and achingly funny vignettes on Cairo herself. Surely this is one of the most fascinating cities on earth. Chaotic, often appearing charmless and mired in layers of who knows how many centuries of history, you nevertheless understand why Fin is still hanging around here. In the shadows of the Pyramids is where the novel ends, and I confess I was left wanting a sequel.
Admittedly the folktale part of the story did not quite keep me as engaged as the other bits. But I still loved my day with Fin. I will procure a copy for my home library too, a sure sign of being enamored. Plus, for some reason the author looks exactly like Fin, and this delighted me further. Please Fin, I mean Rowan, write one more for me!… (meer)