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I Think of You: Stories
by
Ahdaf Soueif, the bestselling author of The Map of Love, writes poignantly and beautifully about love, and about finding ones place in the world. Achingly lyrical, resonant and richly woven, and with a spark of defiance, these stories explore areas of tensionwhere women and men are ensnared by cultural and social mores and prescribed notions of love, where the place you
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Paperback, 192 pages
Published
March 13th 2007
by Anchor
(first published December 1996)
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This collection of loosely connected and interwoven short stories, many of which are presumably charting the life of a single narrator, showcases Soueif's elegiacal style, the sense of loss and love which pervades her stories, from the reminiscence of a young girl for her Cairo childhood, to experiencing the cusp of adolescence as a stranger in a cold and distant country, where she feels more at home with Emma Bovary than people her age, or to the more mature tales of adult love, whose pain and
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This is a collection of old stories from 1983 - 1994, published as a collection in 2007, after the success of the author's novel, The Map of Love. However, the stories were originally published before The Map of Love, when the author was younger. The stories are told from the point of view of the narrator. The themes tend to deal with people, primarily women, from different cultures living in foreign lands and and also fading love...women no longer in love with their husbands, separation and
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Actually, it is 3.5 , my rates differ as the following :
Knowing (3)
I liked the detailing of the Egyptian traditions .
1964 (3)
Returning (5)
My favorite one , the scene when Aisha found her wedding dress and forward touched me deeply
Mandy (4)
A detailed part from (in the eye of the sun) , it was interesting to see Seif in anther female eyes
Satan (5)
Anther detailed part from (in the eye of the sun) , good expression of the inability of coming back.
Chez Milou (3)
Melody (3)
I think of you (4)
Sandpiper ...more
Knowing (3)
I liked the detailing of the Egyptian traditions .
1964 (3)
Returning (5)
My favorite one , the scene when Aisha found her wedding dress and forward touched me deeply
Mandy (4)
A detailed part from (in the eye of the sun) , it was interesting to see Seif in anther female eyes
Satan (5)
Anther detailed part from (in the eye of the sun) , good expression of the inability of coming back.
Chez Milou (3)
Melody (3)
I think of you (4)
Sandpiper ...more
'I Think of You' is a compilation of selected stories from Soueif's "Aisha" and "Sandpiper". Having read 'The Map of Love' several times , I must admit that Soueif manages to retain her ability of intriguing the reader. This title is a very light read,one you can complete in one sitting, because thats what you'd want to do without even realizing.
Armed with one of the best writing techniques and rich cultural background(very reminiscent of Isabel Allende) Ahdaf Soueif has managed to (yet again) ...more
Armed with one of the best writing techniques and rich cultural background(very reminiscent of Isabel Allende) Ahdaf Soueif has managed to (yet again) ...more
She has a style that elicits powerful empathy for the characters involved: the pain of loss, longing of imagined love, solitude of being an outsider, etc.
Book of short stories in my quest to read more Ahdaf Soueif. Not bad. Especially enjoyed the two that gave different perspectives from the main plot of "In the Eye of the Sun."
Ahdaf Soueif's all stories in this collection are like bits of life. Short in words, but intense in emotions, layered in nostalgia of losses bygone pasts travelling back and forth to Cairo. Ayisha's life, her pleasures of childhood, losses with migration, love wich faded with time, over places and return to the old-but-stranger-now homeland etc are etched as continuous but separate stories like a pieces of a broken vessel sticked together, with the contours of each bit visible and felt yet
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A beautiful and exquisite exploration of the spaces between oneself and between oneself and others. Her characters fill up these spaces with longing for something or someone lost. There's a stunning sadness that laces all these stories. I wish I could tell them the things and people you've lost, they were like Elizabeth Bishop says in her poem, 'One Art', 'intent on being lost'. So grieve not so much. This is the texture of our lives.
An amazing collection of short stories which have introduced ...more
An amazing collection of short stories which have introduced ...more
"Talking of making love, I just went and looked at him as he lay sleeping. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps...turns on to his side and curls up like a baby. I've lain for hours staring at his back: the colour of light caramel candy. Sometimes I'd like to lick it but I don't know what he'd think of that. He is into...carezza: it involves him doing things to me very very slowly. Nothing weird or far-out; just stroking and things and me doing nothing at all. It's not a problem since I orgasm at
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The writer does not only criticize the Arab society for suppressing and marginalizing women, but also for nurishing stereotypical notions about the West as well, another malady which inhabits the East- Wes
communication
communication
Jul 22, 2012
Sarnou D
added it
Ahdaf Soueif's first fiction offering since The Map of Love, which was shortlisted for the 1999 Man Booker Prize, is actually a repackaging of nine stories originally published between 1983 and 1996.
Set primarily in Egypt and the United Kingdom, each of the stories features a female character. Throughout the collection Soueif focuses on the interior life of her protagonists and the ordering of the stories lends some sense of a progressively maturing voice. The collection, however, does seem a ...more
Set primarily in Egypt and the United Kingdom, each of the stories features a female character. Throughout the collection Soueif focuses on the interior life of her protagonists and the ordering of the stories lends some sense of a progressively maturing voice. The collection, however, does seem a ...more
The three stars on this book is not a measurement of the quality of the stories therein but rather a symbol of my own prejudice towards short stories in general. It is unfair to label the prose of Ahdaf Souief as "average" since the flourishing, descriptive language here is quite beautiful at times. I struggle with short stories since I always want to know more about what happened to get a character to here and what comes next, I thought putting three stars would be better than putting none as I
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I looked out to sea and, now I realize, I was trying to work out my coordinates. I thought a lot about the water and the sand as I sat there watching them meet and flirt and touch. I tried to understand that I was on the edge, the very edge of Africa; that the vastness ahead was nothing compared to what lay behind me. But even though Id been there and seen for myself its never-ending dusty green interior, its mountains, the big sky, my mind could not grasp a world that was not present to my
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Nothing is more irritating than reading a book that you can't easily follow. There should have been a warning: read books by Ahdaf Soueif before reading this so it makes sense.
Soueif's writing style is graceful as usual, but the short stories are rather bits of background stories of her other books. Didn't like it.
Soueif's writing style is graceful as usual, but the short stories are rather bits of background stories of her other books. Didn't like it.
Ahdaf Soueif doesn't disappoint. There is social commentary, politics, the Egyptian dialect translated into English, varied points of view, including that of a child. What I loved the most is the mini sequels of In the Eye of the Sun.
A collection of short stories like handwoven pieces of lace. Melancholic and nostalgic, moments frozen in time, about clashing cultures and ways of thinking and about how love sometimes transforms, burning and dying out like candles.
Grabbed this out of the borrowing bin where I work - ended up really enjoying each of the stories - reminds me a lot of Yasmin Crowther's The Saffron Kitchen. I would recommend for women looking for a simple read of characters with complicated lives.
I've come to the conclusion that I will never finish this. I usually make myself finish even if I am bored out of my mind. Now that I am a mother I have better things to do than force myself to finish a book just because I started it.
I much prefer her writing in Map of Love.
the book contains 9 short sad stories...
I didn't like it alot...each story is missing the end...I didn't get it..because of my responsibilities I took a long time to finish it..
I didn't like it alot...each story is missing the end...I didn't get it..because of my responsibilities I took a long time to finish it..
ok. map of love was better. some of these stories are significantly stronger than others. after awhile they begin to all sound the same.
13-Dec-09 A pleasant, sensual sojourn of hopes and desires, and what life leaves you with...
Sep 01, 2007
Sincap
is currently reading it
I'm trying to translate this book into Turkish..After finishing reading,it'll be possible to say something about this book..The only thing that I can say is it is tasty..
This one didnt impress me the way "The map of love" did. Some of the selected stories are quite iconic though.
Maybe It deserves one star or maybe not!
The stories kinda okay,
(MELODY- SANDPIPER) The most I liked in this book
(1964 - RETURNING) The most boring ones.
The stories kinda okay,
(MELODY- SANDPIPER) The most I liked in this book
(1964 - RETURNING) The most boring ones.
Beautiful short stories that have you wanting more.
B Some of the stories featured characters from "In the Eye"; some decent. She is just whatever, and I won't be reading any more of her books.
While searching for a good read I stumbled upon I Think of You by Adhaf Souetf, picking a book with a series of short love stories. After reading multiple romantic novels, this one was not similar to others I had read beforehand. These were love stories in one book and what makes them stand out is the intriguing writing with tension and emotions. While reading the novel you may notice that in one sitting you are halfway through the book without even noticing. Furthermore, the novel is beautiful
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Jun 14, 2019
Massanutten Regional Library
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
reviewed-by-patrons,
short-stories
Bill, Central patron, June 2019, 3 stars:
Short stories by an (Asian) Indian woman.
Short stories by an (Asian) Indian woman.
The disappointment of reading this after The Map of Love appears to be common. Some lovely prose, and moving back and forth in time and location, but ultimately not very satisfying.
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Ahdaf Soueif (Arabic: أهداف سويف) is an Egyptian short story writer, novelist and political and cultural commentator. She was educated in Egypt and England - studied for a PhD in linguistics at the University of Lancaster.
Her novel The Map of Love (1999) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and subsequently translated into 21 languages. Soueif writes primarily in English, but her ...more
Her novel The Map of Love (1999) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and subsequently translated into 21 languages. Soueif writes primarily in English, but her ...more
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“That narrow stretch of sand knows nothing in the world better than it does the white waves that whip it , caress it , collapse on to it . The white foam knows nothing better than those sands which wait for it , rise to it and suck it in .but what do the waves know of the massed, hot, still sands of the desert just twenty , no , ten feet beyond the scalloped edge ? And what does the beach knows of depths, the cold, the currents just there, where-do you see it? - Where the water turns a deeper blue.”
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