Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Read
Review: I, quite by accident, came upon this book, and enjoyed it from the very beginning. While, at first it was a bit difficult to follow, soon it became a wonderful and easy to read novel. I found the two love stories to be delightful to follow as well as the politics of the times, and the suprises the author served up made the storyline richer. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read about love or politics (sometimes, they turn out to be the same thing).
Rating: 
Summary: A fine romance.
Review: If you love books which transport you to another world (in this case, at least two different worlds in two different time periods), which give you fascinating insights into other cultures, which incorporate a good deal of history into an exciting and completely developed story line, and which introduce you to a main character so charming and intelligent that you hate to have her disappear at the end of the novel, you will be thoroughly captivated by Map of Love.Anna Winterbourne, an aristocratic young widow from England, travels to Egypt in the late 19th century during the height of British imperialism. She observes (and resents) the condescending behavior of her countrymen towards the Egyptians and is intelligently critical of British military "adventures" there and in other Arab states such as the Sudan, South Africa, and Palestine. As she comes to know the Egyptian people and falls in love with an Egyptian, the reader--along with Anna's granddaughter and great-granddaughter, who are reading the letters and diaries which reveal her story--learns much about the historical betrayals which have so complicated presentday relations between western and Arab countries. Like most romances, this one requires you to accept a very high level of coincidence, but that is more than offset by fine descriptive writing, fully drawn characters, and the placing of a great many very recent Middle Eastern events into their Arab contexts. It is not surprising that this very well written book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. What is surprising is that this Egyptian author is so successful in presenting events from an Arab point of view to a western audience--a view that is culturally honest without being polemical.
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Summary: A wonderful book about the modern egyptian experience
Review: Ahdaf Soueif's book is a wonderful reading experience. She is no doubt the voice of the egyptian generations born after Nasser's military group came to the power in 1952. She describes our lives, hopes, dreams in such a beautiful and elegant way. For anybody who is interested in the modern egyptian culture, this book is a must and it is so full of insights about our national identity crisis throughout this last one hundred years.
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Summary: the ultimate egyptien saga
Review: quite honestly,this is one of the best books that I ever came across.In her previous masterpiece IN THE EYE OF THE SUN,MS.soueif took her readers on an engrossing journey of nasserist egypt ,lost dreams,fallen idolsand the new harsh realities of the seventies all told through the eyes of a typical upper middleclass moslem woman struggling to find her identity in both her career and personal life.Now,with this great saga,she even takes us further as she examines the big question of egypt as a nation,past,present and future.In a carfully and beautifully drawn anology between turn of century egypt and our modern one,MS.soueif unearths the secreat and underlying that characterizes the egyptien existense.for the intantive reader,a discovery awaits at the end.In a way,nothing really changed. As an egyptien woman ,I felt almost instantly that the main problems and occupations facing sharif and laila el baroudi are still those facing modern egyptiens nowdays. so many dilemmas have not yet been resolved.truelly enlightning,though I am not pretty sure that non-egyptiens can fully understand the underlying meanings hidden withen this brilliant masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Use of Arabic was distracting.
Review: This was a good book in that it provides a detailed picture of the history and politics of Egypt within the last 100 years. Further, it was a wonderful love story between Anna and Sharif. I enjoyed the writer's use of letters and journal entries read in 1997 as a way of introducing their story in the past. However, there is a great deal of Arabic dotted throughout the text. Although the author provides a glossary in the back of the book, I found it incredibly distracting to have to keep flipping back to see what the characters were saying. So, although the story itself was pretty good, I couldn't get past the constant interruptions in my reading flow to see what the heck they were saying! For this reason, I could only give it three stars.
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent treatment of Egypt past, present, and future
Review: I read an advance copy, and there may be subsequent changes in the published version, but this book is definitely on my gift-giving list for Xmas 2000. In a lilting and effortless style, this page-turner by Soueif captures much that we need to know about the 20th century history of the Middle East -- while retelling the romantic tale of Valentino's 'The Sheik'. But it does SO much more than revisit the heyday of the 'naughty Orient': it explains, analyses, and criticizes a welter of stereotypes, and charts territory for better poliitcal and gender relations in all of the countries upon which it touches.
Rating:
Summary: The Map of Love to Egypt
Review: The novel is a genuine encyclopedia of Egypt - its history, its people, its culture, its politics. Two love stories, intertwined but divided by hundred years, are so masterly depicted in picturesque Egyptian milieu that a reader falls in love not with the heroes but with this great ancient land. From my point of view, the Anna/Sharif's love story is excellently told but a bit too sentimental, the Omar/Isabel's love affair is rather insipid, but author's love to her native country is simon-pure.
Rating:
Summary: An absorbing and interesting read
Review: This is a fascinating book - I have not enjoyed something so much for ages. I have learned much about turn-of-the-century Egypt and want to learn more. The story itself is deeply satisfying although the Omar/Isabel love affair is not as interesting as that between Anna and Sharif. Why the book did not win the Booker Prize I do not know. Heartily recommended...
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Summary: Heart wrenching AND intelligent...
Review: Having already read Aisha and In the Eye of the Sun, I was thrilled that Soueif had recently published another novel in time for my summer vacation! Anyone who loves reading about the Middle East will truly enjoy this book. It is utterly romantic but retains a logical, intelligent perspective; lots of political and sociocultural details are also interwoven. Thanks to Soueif's adept storytelling, the reader comes to value the characters as good friends (I cried for Anna!). Soueif's command of both English and Arabic is evident and beautiful, the incusion of Arabic phrases adds to the appeal of her writing style. As always, I was devastated to finish the book and leave the characters she crafted. I can't wait to see one of her books made into a film...
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Summary: A great book, but ...
Review: The Map of Love is very well written, with lots of insight on a critical period in the History of Egypt. Amal, the primary charachter in the book, is very warm and real. You can actually picture her in an appartment in Cairo working through the night on the manuscripts. Her "counterpart" from nearly a century earlier is equally real. The male charachters are not as well developed, Sheriff basha and Omar come across a bit too good, too perfect! The book deals very well with the confused nature of the modern egyptian society and its roots; part islamic, part Turkish, part Arabic, a bit of French with a unique Egyptian outcome. Refernce to some of Ahdaf Souif's earlier books' characheters is very clever. The scenes in Upper Egypt are particularly clever. The Palestinian Israeli part did not do much for me and the brother's politics came across contrieved, almost inserted in as an after thought to show the on going family struggle. Too many birds to hit with the one stone! Parts of the plot are somewhat shaky with a couple of "one in a million" type occurances taking place. A supernatural bit, while very minor, detracts from the book. Ahdaf Souief, as always, is truely a fantastic read, and this is one more book by her that is really difficult to put down. Use the very well prepared glossery at the end of the book everytime you come across an unfamilar word. It will help so much in your appreciation of the book. If you want a truelly Ahdaf Souief masterpiece read Eye of the Sun. If you don't have the mental and emotional energy for 800 pages then read Aisha and then Sandpiper.
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