My husband, our two young sons and I lived in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 1991, almost the same time-frame as Hillary Mantel lived in Jeddah on the western side. Hilary Mantel. I wouldnt have missed it., I expect youll find your Saudi lifestyle very different., He was hovering, waiting to tell her some horror stories. Sorry if this review is something of a "spoiler", but the real meat of the book is in it's creepy gathering menace. And I would suggest that the same can be applied to Arabs expats settled in UK. There was a problem loading your book clubs. This book is pure dynamite. Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. Air-conditioning is universal. I hope you havent got anything in your suitcase that you shouldnt have?, I havent got a bottle of whiskey or a shoulder of pork. Shunning the expatriate housing compound, the Shores move into a grim four-flat building on Ghazzah Street. 8,49 Tlcharger Tlcharger. No more to drink then? He prepared to abandon her, move away. He made a leap of faith: it will be all right, I know it will. I really think we ought, Andrew said. Could the man be right, she wondered, had someone been bribed on her behalf? . Sharp, clear-sighted and rather chilling observations on how the pressure to conform (at all costs) within a totalitarian, misogynist and racist society like Saudi Arabia does affect the psyche. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street book. She had fed her dog, and then cooked eggs for them, and asked him what he wanted out of life. Chap said he hadnt noticed., That seems unlikely, she said. Learn more. Andrew's letters had been short, practical. This story of British expats in Saudi Arabia is meant to give the reader a glimpse of daily life for foreigners in the kingdom, but by now it may be a bit out of date (some things have changed, however small). Turadup are offering free housing, a car allowance, paid utilities, yearly leave ticket, school feesthough of course, That would be plain greedy, she said, having children so that you could get their school fees paid., Pollard did say He looked at her in slight anxiety. The regime is corrupt and harsh, the expatriates are hard-drinking money-grubbers, and her Muslim neighbours are secretive, watchful. I would not be surprised if Mantel was paid to write this, because there is literally no story here, just non-stop nauseating Saudi-bashing. The author herself lived in Jeddah for four years under not dissimilar circumstances and so the extremely unappealing depiction of the city, its inhabitants, both locals and expats, and Saudi society is, fair or not, based on intimate acquaintance. I was so looking forward to reading this book, not least because I spent a year living and working in Jeddah in the early 1980s and although I enjoyed the book, I found the principal character, Frances Shore, insufferable. But Parsons isnt like that., Yes, youd know the one. The biggest problem with this novel is that we slog thru the dialogue and activities of marginally interesting c. Disappointing from such a talented writer,albeit penned much earlier in her career. Turadup had got a toehold in Zambia before the bottom dropped out of copper, putting up expatriate housing in Kabwe, the mining town that had once been known as Broken Hill; then when Zambia went down the drain they moved south a bit, putting in an unsuccessful tender for work on the new international airport at Gaborone; then picking up work around that city, piping water and building a clinic for a shanty town that had become permanent, They operated over the South African border too, putting up a much-needed casino in a bantustan. As her days empty of certainty and purpose, her life becomes a blank -- waiting to be filled by violence and disaster. When you awaken, wipe your nap-drool from the book and go exchange it posthaste for one with an identifiable plot. It was almost dark now; the air was cooling, the sun dipping behind the hill. Paperback, 9780312422899, 031242289X Yes, it was definitely a spooky story, and it was no surprise that Mantel's characters were so repulsed by the environment that they were driven to flee its hidden dangers. Welcome back. They told her to bring flat sandals, British postage stamps, a bottle of Bovril. It was very trying when they took your wheels off. The Saudis see no need for their foreign servants to be aware or involved. It's also a bit like a soap opera, in that some affairs are revealed in the course of the novel, with the inevitable ongoing discussions of why they occurred, what could happen in Saudi Arabia if they come to light, etc. Drinks were free of course, but on the Saudi run this standard airline ploy had the status of charity work. Oh, look, am I to pack these? She held out a candlestick, one of a pair from a local pottery, rough, heavy, unglazed. A dozen people had raised the question, in her two-month stay in England. The only reason I can see for this book's existence is an agenda to bash Saudi Arabia and reinforce Western stereotypes. Mantel's ability to recreate the setting of the Kingdom in that time left me breathless. He swayed toward her with the pot. It certainly wasn't a great advert for Jeddah! To see our price, add these items to your cart. Giving Up the Ghost : A Memoir (John MacRae Books), Mantel Pieces: The New Book from The Sunday Times Best Selling Author of the Wolf Hall Trilogy. The regime is corrupt and harsh, the expatriates are hard-drinking money-grubbers, and her Muslim neighbours are secretive, watchful. She must, he said, see for herself. She closed her eyes. Fantastic book. Hillary has very successfully managed to expose the many frictions between Islam and the West in this unique and captivating novel. Narrated by: Sandra Duncan. She turned over the stewards comment in her mind, because she was not one to let flippancies go unexamined; it paid to examine them, as there was so little, she always thought, in what people said when they were trying to be serious. But having forced myself to finish the dullest, most sorry excuse of a book I have ever read, I am shocked that it is penned by a celebrated author. Published back in the 1980s, this is a wonderfully nuanced look at life in Saudi Arabia. While there, just by trying to live a normal life, she experiences little things in her day which make her uneasy about the people, the city, the country around her. Even when youve been coming in and out for years, you never know what theyre going to be looking for. I couldn't resist and stole this from my friend Beth's bookshelf and am so glad I did! They were cowboys, headhunters, entrepreneurs; anywhere they hung their hat was their domicile, for fiscal purposes. Its a hole, Botswana. And I had to re-read many sentences because they dont make any sense, and the style of sentence construction is irritating. You could never plan on being anywhere by a set time., And there was never any sugar. September 1984 . Please.. And their talk had left an image in her mindwhich she did not like but could not now eradicatethe image of the broken body, still in its mortuary drawer. I can hardly believe Im finished in Africa, he said. The story is modeled after "Turn of the Screw" by Henry James and, as such, leads to a suspenseful ending. More brandy? the steward inquired. , Item Weight There had been the odd, expensive silence. When the Shores were leaving Africa there had been a lot of people like Jeff around, doing their recruiting in golf-club bars. Mantel's ability to recreate the setting of the Kingdom in that time left me breathless. This novel, by the same author who recently won the Man Booker Prize, details the tension-filled life on a British woman who moves to Jeddah, Saudia Arabia with her husband. Of course, if you fly Saudia, theyre always late as well., Too often. But in the dim, airless flat, Frances spends lonely days writing in her diary, hearing the sounds of sobs through the pipes from the floor above, and seeing the flitting shadows of men on the stairwell. Eight hazy, ominous, listless months, these. 1 title per month from Audible's entire catalog of best sellers, and new releases. Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. My friend wasnt amused, the steward said. We have the perceptive eye and ear of the narrator to give us all the detail we need to create a mental picture of the events. So much smoked salmon is consumed on aircraft that it is a wonder there is any left to eat at ground level. She had been round and about southern Africa for five years, in regions where, by and large, the possibilities of corruption had not been fully explored. At home, at her widowed mothers house in York, she had been reading books about her destination. Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2014. No alcohol! people say, as if youd die without it. All you need out of it is your day-to-day living expenses and you can bank the rest where you like, in any currency you like. Andrew thought that, once, someone might have offered him a bribe; but through the other partys ineptitude and poor English, and Andrews naivete, the occasion had passed without profit. Ok, so I'll be honest up front - I absolutely love Hilary Mantel and it's her books I love. I thought some of the plot was a bit far-fetched, but the story is so well written, I felt every hot, dusty baking day of this woman's life in The Kingdom. Unable to add item to List. , Publisher Whats his line of country?, Hes a civil engineer. Christmas and Easter, the wives fly out., They cant stick it. When he arrived home late that afternoon, Frances was on the porch packing a tea chest, wrapping up their dinner service in pieces of theMafeking Mail. . HM's books are notable for their 'dirtiness' - that is, there's no glossing over or glamourising anything. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. Audiobook 10 hours Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Show full title Written by Hilary Mantel Narrated by Sandra Duncan 3 / 5 ( 103 ratings ) This is a really excellent book, predominantly about culture, and cultures. A great read - dark, claustrophobic and immersive. When she moved her legs, newsprint rustled, a paperback slid from her lap onto the seat. Refresh and try again. He says its not that easy, but theyve been in Saudi for a while and they know how things are done., We all know how things are done, the steward said; he rubbed finger and thumb together, rustling an imaginary wad of notes. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2018. Fancy a new palace? She dozed. I had adored the other Hilary Mantel books that I read, so I wanted to try her earlier stuff. "A Borrowed Life: A Novel" by Kerry Anne King for $8.99, A bold, searingly honest and uncompromising novel. , twice won the Booker Prize, for her best-selling novel. , Paperback There is a mystery, a shadowy bit of skulduggery that gathers force toward the end, but the impact of the book is not in this artifice but in the portrayal of life in Saudi Arabia based on the author's own experience of living there. It happened that at the time when Andrew Shore was ready to move on, Turadups Saudi Arabian manager, a man called Eric Parsons, was in Johannesburg trawling for expertise. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street A Novel. The plot is slight:woman follows her husband to his new job in Saudi Arabia and encounters extreme sexual segregation in the society, feels frustrated,parnaoid and out of control and stumbles upon a murky, suppressed sludgefund of secrets, and perhaps a violent mystery within her own apartment complex. In point of fact, I dont think weve anywhere else to go. She picked up a broad felt marker and daubed their name on the side of the tea chest. Much less easy to make a single positive prediction even for the coming week; much less easy to say what, in a months time, you will have become. Bowing to Mecca, and so forth., As long as it takes to inconvenience you totally, the man said. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price. Given that this is the novel she was inspired to write, it was far from a pleasant sojourn. Nurse, are you? he inquired. Not the stuff that appears on the BBC as a drama on a Sunday evening but actually reading the books. Mantel draws on her own experience of living in Jeddah for 4 years and uses a magnifying glass here, while showing how especially being an ex pat and not speaking the language one can end up feeling being enclosed in a glass fish bowl with an ever diminishing oxygen supply. Set in Saudi Arabia during the boom created by soaring oil prices in the 1980s, this sinuously crafted tale by Hawthorndon Award winner Mantel (for An Experiment in Love) uses the outsider status. It was true that you could go as far as Johannesburg now without steeling yourself for the journey over dirt roads; it ought to have been an advantage, but in fact it made life too easy. But from what he had heard it was a part of the world in which womens decisions did not operate. Bunch of tarts sitting in the dust outside selling woolly hats. But since the early 1970s the Middle East had been what they called their major theater of operations. Its called the golden handcuffs., But what would happen I mean, what would be so awful if they did meet up? Why, it would be like the West, Samira said. Ive been to Lusaka, done a couple of stopovers. Enjoy it, gentlemen, the steward said. Hilary Mantel has done far better with her excellent trilogy about Thomas Cromwell than in this novel. Hes a shareholder. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. EIGHT MONTHS ON GHAZZAH STREET "Would you like champagne?" This was the beginning; an hour or so out from Heathrow. Pollard says hes a millionaire. So, this summer we turned to some of the top book Frances Shore is a cartographer by trade, a maker of maps, but when her husband's work takes her to Saudi Arabia she finds herself unable to map the Kingdom's areas of internal darkness. All this she knew from her reading, because after the romantic travelers tales came. Two to get you started? Hand hovering over the trolley, he seemed to approve her choice; as if what lay ahead were something to brace yourself for, not to celebrate. On the other hand it is a tense mystery. Rubens or anything? Andrew stood in the dusty thoroughfare known as the Mall, gazing into the window of the President Hotels gift shop: crocodile handbags, skin rugs, complete bushmen kits with arrows and ostrich shells, direct from the small factory in Palapye which had recently started turning them out. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. It took me some time to read this horrifying novel by Hilary Mantel, not because it isn't well-written or compelling, but because often it's simply so painful to read. the book starts tackling some of the most important issues of debate for our modern times: religion and how fundamentalism works, the place of woman in society, relations between the West and the East, foreign policies and the Gulf States.the list goes on. The reader will find no more sure footing than the characters. Despite her skepticism, her better knowledge, their contrived images lingered in her mind: black tents at sunset, the call of the muezzin in clear desert air, the tang of cardamom, the burnish of sharp-snouted coffeepots, the heat of the sand. All the expatriates make beer and wine in their bathtub because liquor is a big no-no. That aside, her account of life in Jeddah, at that time, is spot on. AU $157.95 + AU $43.72 postage . Click here for the lowest price! It happened that at the time when Andrew Shore was ready to move on, Turadups Saudi Arabian manager, a man called Eric Parsons, was in Johannesburg trawling for expertise. They wont carry you., She thought of that cheese, that people say French taxi drivers wont let in their cabs. Jeff Pollard was a sometime employee of Turadup, William and Schaper, a firm known throughout the construction business as Throwem Up, Billem and Scarper. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. Im going to join my husband. She filled in the details again, aware that she was more polite in the air than she was on the ground: the six years in Africa, and now Turadup, and the new Ministry building; aware too that as soon as she had said husband, the slight interest he had taken in her had faded completely. They build a hospital and then decide to put a road through it. The black tents of the Bedu have been replaced by aluminium shacks. She straightened up and kissed his cheek. He wore his shirt open, and around his neck on a chain a small block of gold incised with the legend CREDIT SUISSE. I thought we would, but its not worked out. It turned out to be a superb, insidiously creepy read, the kind of story that gets under the skin and has you throwing glances over your shoulder to make sure no one's watching you. But bored, she begins to speculate about her neighbours and the empty flat above her. You work?, Oh well, youre redundant. Seconds later he was speaking to Eric Parsons, at his hotel. EIGHT MONTHS ON GHAZZAH STREET By Hilary Mantel. It must be your first trip. A really interesting read and, as is so often the case, based on Mantel's experience - apparently she did the same. Out with the bulldozer. They were a direct connection on the string of dorps that ran across the Transvaal and over the frontier; the day would come soon when they would feel like a suburb. However, the length of the book (albeit short) served as a drag on the plot. Who knew that the author of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies had lived in Saudi Arabia? Lets celebrate.. She and her husband choose not to live on one of the western compounds and to live instead in an apartment building populated by a Pakistani couple next door and an Iranian one upstairs, the women of each household become friends. The steward relented. It tells the story of an Englishwoman, Frances Shore, who moves to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to live with her husband, an engineer. 3.5 stars. 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