Rating: 
Summary: Well-crafted, instructive novel
Review: Ahdaf Soueif charms her (mostly Western?) readers with this romantic tale of a Victorian English Lady abroad who falls in love with an Egyptian Pasha fighting to free his country from its colonial masters. While you're being swept away by the thrill of forbidden love -- which has its sequel in the novel as the couple's great-grandchildren (American and Egyptian) rediscover their common roots -- you'll also learn a thing or two about the history of the modern Middle East.The story moves back and forth in time from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the late 1990s. It is told in fragments, mostly diary entries and letters from the past assembled by the present-day narrator, whose own tale and imaginings about the past are interspersed throughout. The use of at least three different fonts helps the reader keep track of the constantly changing narrator. There is also a handy glossary of Arabic words and phrases at the back of the book. In many ways, The Map of Love is less a historical novel than it is a history lesson dressed up as fiction. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Soueif's moderate Arab perspective on how things are and how they got that way -- including the neverending Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- will be truly educational for many readers. Unfortunately, Soueif's fiction suffers from the ailment that plagues so much contemporary writing: it feels contrived. A reviewer's blurb on the back cover of my edition compares her to Allende and Marquez. I haven't read Allende so I can't vouch for that comparison one way or the other, but to compare Soueif to Marquez is to do a great disservice to the author of Love in the Time of Cholera. The Map of Love is serious entertainment, but it's not great literature, a Booker nomination notwithstanding. The Map of Love is a romantic and intelligent read -- and a reminder that although we might forget the past, the past does not forget us.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult but well worth the effort
Review: Having absolutely no background with Egyptian names or customs, I found this book very difficult to get into. Thankfully, the glossary at the back and the family tree in the front helped - otherwise, I would have given up. But so worth the effort!!! This is a beautiful story that is so well written I had trouble putting it down once I "caught the flow" of the story. I only wish the glossary had been more complete. For someone from the middle west instead of the Middle East, there were still many questions about some of the terms. ( I actually got the World Book out and had to read some background on Egyptian history). This is an excellent story for someone willing to take the time and make the effort to understand some of the many conflicts in our world today.
Rating:
Summary: Sensitive and timely
Review: An amazingly tender and encapturing story that you can't put down. The book deals with the challenges of culture meeting culture, and it is evident that time hasn't softened the impact of people's differences. An excellent insight into the sensitive mingling of East and West. Thought-provoking, entrancing, compelling. I would highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: my review
Review: This is the first time I have read a book from this author, but I was interested in the story because many years ago I visited Egypt and have always been in love with its history. The book is very alive and interesting to the very end, altough I think there are a little too many details on the political situation of the time. What I found very clever is the combination of the story of Egypt in two different eras that we learn through one person reading her great-grandmother's journal. I have to say it kept me reading to find out what happened. One thing that has made me appreciate this book even more is the importance of keeping a diary.... our heirs will always be interested in reading how our live was.....!
Rating:
Summary: A Richly Textured Literary Tapestry
Review: "The Map of Love" is a richly textured literary tapestry that intertwines the romantic stories of two different couples, separated by a century, with the politics, history and culture of Egypt and the West. It is, first and foremost, the epistolary narrative of Anne Winterbourne, an English widow who moves to Egypt, falls in love with, and ultimately marries, the Egyptian lawyer and political activist Sharif Pasha al-Baroudi in 1901. It is also the story of Isabel Parkman, the great granddaughter of Anne and Sharif, a thirty-five-year old American divorcee who, like her great grandmother before her, falls in love in 1997 with Omar, a brilliant, self-centered and much older Egyptian conductor and political activist for the Palestinian cause. The stories of these two romances are largely told by Omar's sister, Amal, herself a woman who has had her own failed marriage and two grown children who she no longer sees. Given a trunk full of Anne Winterbourne's letters by Isabel, who finds them when her dying mother enters the hospital, Amal soon becomes obsessed with writing the story of Anne Winterbourne, in the process also becoming the confidant of the Isabel and her passionate obsession for Omar. "The Map of Love" weaves an intricate and powerful narrative, spanning time, geography and culture, providing a remarkable picture of Egyptian history and politics as it confronts the British colonialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and its legacy nearly a century later. If the book has a shortcoming, it is in the relative weakness of the story of Isabel and Omar, a romance that never quite grips the reader. It is a shortcoming which is perhaps more apparent because the epistolary tale, the tale of the life of Anne Winterbourne and Sharif Pasha, is brilliantly wrought, a romantic narrative with true feeling and verisimilitude. "The Map of Love" should be read slowly and savored, preferably on a warm beach near the sea on a long summer's vacation.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: I absolutely loved this book. The love stories of Anna and Sharif, as well as Isabel and Omar, were wonderfully expressed. I especially enjoyed the parallels between colonial Egypt in 1900 and the problems of the region today. I couldn't put this book down; it's one I plan on reading over and over!
Rating:
Summary: beautiful, intricate, and breathtaking
Review: This is quite a read. There are many elements that blend together to make this book as wonderful as it is. I do not think that the book is complicated, although it is a book that requires close reading (for those who prefer a quick light read this is not a good choice). Romance, gender politics, and history construct a background for this tale. The book is a family saga and it speaks volumes about human nature and the fight to end British colonialism in Egypt. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: Those who have reviewed the book so far mention the difficuly in keeping the different characters/voices straight. This is true, but the wealth of history in the book, and the beautiful love story, make it well worth reading. I felt very sympathetic with the characters of Anna and Amal (her grandniece). Isabel, the American girl, is not as well drawn, and I was disappointed to not learn more about her lover's career as a symphony conductor. Definitely, the events of 1901 - 1911 are strongest. There were fascinating nuggets of information, for instance learning that the name Isabel comes from Isis, the Egyptian goddess. I got a better understanding of the roots of the Palestinian conflict, the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt under British occupation. The writing style is lovely, and the last page of the book is a satisfying conclusion which neatly wraps up the events of both 1901 and 1997.
Rating:
Summary: Ahdaf does it again!
Review: A perfect book that DOES manage to blend the political
with the personal. I was hooked on reading it... a must-read for anybody
who wants to understand people's feelings towards
Zionism and the West's infringement upon the Arab World.
Rating: 
Summary: couldn't get through it
Review: What a confusing style. It's impossible to follow the switches between the diary and the person reading it to know who is "speaking" and when...to even begin to understand what the story is all about. I was supposed to read this for my book club and couldn't finish it.
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