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Waiting in the Future for the Past to Come
Exceptional for being written in English by a Tunisian, this novel employs poignant visual images to create a vivid sense of place and atmosphere which takes us to another world, giving us an insight into a culture and its people. With powerful simplicity it reflects the dramatic shifts of cultural values in post-colonial Tunisia. Korba, a small coastal town, is the setting for the many stories woven together. The narrative moves freely between reality and imagination, mourning and celebration, rejection and compassion, painting an unexpectadly sharp picture on a broad canvas of emotion.
Amina escapes from childhood confinement to live between family in Korba and the university in the capital. Her paternal uncle Ali, who is left in charge of her mother and sisters after their father's death, goes out of his way to gaurd the family honor. Amina's mother knits over her memories, Yasmina finally marries amid days of celebration, and simple-minded Hnouza stand by the bridge every day ad looks on. From stories within stories, related with tears of sadness and laughter, a supreme hope and faith reverberates...
Amina escapes from childhood confinement to live between family in Korba and the university in the capital. Her paternal uncle Ali, who is left in charge of her mother and sisters after their father's death, goes out of his way to gaurd the family honor. Amina's mother knits over her memories, Yasmina finally marries amid days of celebration, and simple-minded Hnouza stand by the bridge every day ad looks on. From stories within stories, related with tears of sadness and laughter, a supreme hope and faith reverberates...
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 25, 2022
This was a four-star read for me.
It is a story about a mother-daughter relationship. Daughter Amina is searching for her own meaning in life. She is torn between the path that is pre-drawn by family history (told in parts by her mother and in parts experienced by Amina herself) and what she herself feels could be more suitable for her (i.e. leave the country and her family).
There is a strong focus on the world of girls and women in Tunesia in the 1950s/1960s. One aspect is the impact of the restriction of young girls to the house and the isolation that goes along with it which made the restrictions we had due to Covid-19 look ridiculous...
I have the author's second novel The Blue Manuscript on my TBR. Though the rating here on goodreads is not that high I will definitely give it a try as the plot sounds promising!
It is a story about a mother-daughter relationship. Daughter Amina is searching for her own meaning in life. She is torn between the path that is pre-drawn by family history (told in parts by her mother and in parts experienced by Amina herself) and what she herself feels could be more suitable for her (i.e. leave the country and her family).
There is a strong focus on the world of girls and women in Tunesia in the 1950s/1960s. One aspect is the impact of the restriction of young girls to the house and the isolation that goes along with it which made the restrictions we had due to Covid-19 look ridiculous...
I have the author's second novel The Blue Manuscript on my TBR. Though the rating here on goodreads is not that high I will definitely give it a try as the plot sounds promising!
May 22, 2015
done
Khemir’s novel reflects the cultural reality of Korba which is shown in the world of Korba’s women. The women in the novel appears to have strong relationships with each other. Indeed, they help each other in social events such as weddings and family celebrations. At the beginning of the novel we know that Amina’s mother was helped by Deda and Aisha for the preparations for celebrating Amina’s arrival and accomplishment (p. 16). Deda seems to be a loyal friend to the family's women for she was around with Amina’s grandmother and mother (p. 31). Deda appears later in the novel in Yasmina’s wedding where she supervises the women in cleaning the house for the celebration (p. 175). In addition, Salha and Deda helped Amina’s mother in cleaning the oil well for storing the olive oil (p. 90). Furthermore, we see the strong relationship between Ommezine and Deda when the latter took Ommezine to see her husband before they get married. It was not expected to be done by women but because they are good friends Deda was pleased to do that favor for Ommezine (p.108-109). To explain more about women’s world, women in Korba used to sing while working which is a sign of harmony and understanding between themselves as when Ommezine and her daughter Aisha were working (p. 120). Women were also famous of telling stories to the younger girls; Aunt Houria told Amina and her sisters a story of the man whose marriage of two sisters failed but ended up marrying the third sister (p. 94-104). One of the traditions of Korba's women is the weekly visits to the hammam and going to it as one of the wedding rituals that the bride has to go through (p. 114, p. 189). Another wedding ritual that the bride experiences is a beautification process. First of all, a bannana; who is a woman, whose job is to take care of the bride and beautify her, has to be brought at least a month and a half before the wedding. In Khemir's novel, thev banana is called Lilla Fatima who prepared “beauty recipes” and applied them on Yasmina’s body and face (p. 171). Also, Lilla Fatima had to remove all of Yasmina’s body hair so that she would look more beautiful in her wedding night than ever in her life (p. 182). The last ritual of the wedding traditions of Korba’s women is that the bride wears old clothes in the first days of the celebration so that when she wears a new dress on her wedding night, she would look in her best (p. 173).
Khemir’s novel reflects the cultural reality of Korba which is shown in the world of Korba’s women. The women in the novel appears to have strong relationships with each other. Indeed, they help each other in social events such as weddings and family celebrations. At the beginning of the novel we know that Amina’s mother was helped by Deda and Aisha for the preparations for celebrating Amina’s arrival and accomplishment (p. 16). Deda seems to be a loyal friend to the family's women for she was around with Amina’s grandmother and mother (p. 31). Deda appears later in the novel in Yasmina’s wedding where she supervises the women in cleaning the house for the celebration (p. 175). In addition, Salha and Deda helped Amina’s mother in cleaning the oil well for storing the olive oil (p. 90). Furthermore, we see the strong relationship between Ommezine and Deda when the latter took Ommezine to see her husband before they get married. It was not expected to be done by women but because they are good friends Deda was pleased to do that favor for Ommezine (p.108-109). To explain more about women’s world, women in Korba used to sing while working which is a sign of harmony and understanding between themselves as when Ommezine and her daughter Aisha were working (p. 120). Women were also famous of telling stories to the younger girls; Aunt Houria told Amina and her sisters a story of the man whose marriage of two sisters failed but ended up marrying the third sister (p. 94-104). One of the traditions of Korba's women is the weekly visits to the hammam and going to it as one of the wedding rituals that the bride has to go through (p. 114, p. 189). Another wedding ritual that the bride experiences is a beautification process. First of all, a bannana; who is a woman, whose job is to take care of the bride and beautify her, has to be brought at least a month and a half before the wedding. In Khemir's novel, thev banana is called Lilla Fatima who prepared “beauty recipes” and applied them on Yasmina’s body and face (p. 171). Also, Lilla Fatima had to remove all of Yasmina’s body hair so that she would look more beautiful in her wedding night than ever in her life (p. 182). The last ritual of the wedding traditions of Korba’s women is that the bride wears old clothes in the first days of the celebration so that when she wears a new dress on her wedding night, she would look in her best (p. 173).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews