Review
(HE DID IT AGAIN!!!) Upon finishing the book's last sentence, staring at the open pages with watery eyes, I pressed my palms tightly against my heart. I think this is how one feels when she's utterly overcome by the beauty, humor, complexity, resilience, mystery, and love of humanity, albeit reading a history and culture alien to her own.
Hessler may be the most riveting storyteller alive today, and I am so grateful to be touched by his voice. Can one put human faces on historic events that swear off those exact faces? Can one sow the seeds of care and inquisitiveness just through writing? Can one be analytical yet lyrical, humorous but solemn, critical yet compassionate, and gentle but powerful at the same time while spilling their personal style all over the pages? Yes, Hessler is a vibrant example of all of the above. (I often joke with my friends about how one of the reasons I work hard is so I could meet Hessler one day –– becoming friends with him, even :P !)
If I may describe his writing style even more poetically: his prose reads like someone running a diagnostic finger softly down the spine of humanity, which is aching.
Every chapter left a deep impression on my heart. Picking my favorite "big idea" is hard, but here's my attempt: If there's a lack of a basic desire to escape the familiar, it's unlikely that anything will change in a significant way.
Below are some of my favorite excerpts:
Page 47 on archaeology and the fragility of witness
"The bolt had hit an exposed piece of bedrock, which caused the electricity to flare out in all directions across the sand. The moment of the strike was perfectly preserved: everywhere the lightning ran, it fused the sand into delicate tubes of glass, creating a crystal web atop the desert. When the archaeologists tried to lift this artifact of the sky, it shattered into dust."
Page 299 on separate spheres' impact on economic development
"Once, when he (Lin, a Chinese merchant) was driving me through Asyut in his beat-up Nissan, I asked casually what he considered to be the biggest problem in Egypt, the forcefulness of his response surprised me.
'Inequality between men and women,' he said immediately. 'Here the women just stay home and sleep. If they want to develop, the first they need to do is solve this problem. That's what China did after the revolution.'"
Page 344 on Chinese merchants' view of societal transformations
"From their perspective, the fundamental issue had nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood, or the army, or the president –– it was family. Husbands and wives, parents and children, elders and youths: in Egypt, those relationships hadn't been changed at all by the Arab Spring, and until that happened, there was no point in talking about a revolution."
Page 413 on connections
"... But maybe that was the meaning of the spiderwebs. They connected it all: the revolutions and the refugees, the untimely events and the unlikely languages. They were webs around the building, and webs around the island; they continued the length of the great river and beyond. The webs ran everywhere from this place they called um al-duniya, the mother of the world."
Hessler may be the most riveting storyteller alive today, and I am so grateful to be touched by his voice. Can one put human faces on historic events that swear off those exact faces? Can one sow the seeds of care and inquisitiveness just through writing? Can one be analytical yet lyrical, humorous but solemn, critical yet compassionate, and gentle but powerful at the same time while spilling their personal style all over the pages? Yes, Hessler is a vibrant example of all of the above. (I often joke with my friends about how one of the reasons I work hard is so I could meet Hessler one day –– becoming friends with him, even :P !)
If I may describe his writing style even more poetically: his prose reads like someone running a diagnostic finger softly down the spine of humanity, which is aching.
Every chapter left a deep impression on my heart. Picking my favorite "big idea" is hard, but here's my attempt: If there's a lack of a basic desire to escape the familiar, it's unlikely that anything will change in a significant way.
Below are some of my favorite excerpts:
Page 47 on archaeology and the fragility of witness
"The bolt had hit an exposed piece of bedrock, which caused the electricity to flare out in all directions across the sand. The moment of the strike was perfectly preserved: everywhere the lightning ran, it fused the sand into delicate tubes of glass, creating a crystal web atop the desert. When the archaeologists tried to lift this artifact of the sky, it shattered into dust."
Page 299 on separate spheres' impact on economic development
"Once, when he (Lin, a Chinese merchant) was driving me through Asyut in his beat-up Nissan, I asked casually what he considered to be the biggest problem in Egypt, the forcefulness of his response surprised me.
'Inequality between men and women,' he said immediately. 'Here the women just stay home and sleep. If they want to develop, the first they need to do is solve this problem. That's what China did after the revolution.'"
Page 344 on Chinese merchants' view of societal transformations
"From their perspective, the fundamental issue had nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood, or the army, or the president –– it was family. Husbands and wives, parents and children, elders and youths: in Egypt, those relationships hadn't been changed at all by the Arab Spring, and until that happened, there was no point in talking about a revolution."
Page 413 on connections
"... But maybe that was the meaning of the spiderwebs. They connected it all: the revolutions and the refugees, the untimely events and the unlikely languages. They were webs around the building, and webs around the island; they continued the length of the great river and beyond. The webs ran everywhere from this place they called um al-duniya, the mother of the world."