First by the way :)! When I started reading the book, I found it very boring. However, as the story progressed, Midaq Alley became more enjoyable and interesting. The names were a problem because they were hard to remember and to differ between each character. I think this has occurred because the names seemed unusual to me, for I do not live in Egypt or speak Arabic. For example, the names Husniya and Jaada are not names which have an English origin or are common in my community. In addition, some of the names mentioned were very close to each other, which might have also caused some confusion. For example, two different characters which had similar names were Ibrahim Farhat and Ibrahim Faraj. Other than those two problems, I didn't have any other challenges when I read this book.
Great job, Stuart, brave of you to be the first...I too found the names to be a challenge...in retrospect I think I should have written them down on a page of paper and then referred to them as I was reading, I think that would have helped...Also it was sometimes difficult to imagine where they were and a map of the place might have helped...
I also had problems with names, although the character list Mrs. Hanley gave us was a great help in the first few chapters and after that I was able to figure out who was who by their relations with other characters and their actions. I also had problems interpreting some of the events that were taking place. I think it was because of the setting I was imagining and the time period this story took place in I didn't think the events that were happing would happen ( sorry if that is a little bit confusing, I didn't want to accidentally give away a part of the book to someone if they haven't already read it).
I was also confused initially by the guy who felt the need to spell out words in English, then I realized the dialect would have been in Arabic, not English and he was trying to show off his knowledge of the English language.
All in all this is a very good book, much better than Sophie's World or Maya Angelou's Essays. -Britt Pye
Firstly I have to agree with Stuart, Mrs. Hanley, and Brittany Pye about the names of the characters being one of the biggest challenges during the beginning of the book due to their foreign names and the amount of character introduced during the first chapter of the novel. I was happy that Mrs. Hanley gave us the list of characters; it really helped me kept all the names straight.
Another challenge I had was trying to understand the events and the number of different things that were going on in the first couple chapters of the novel. I had trouble trying to keep it all straight in my head due to all the different settings and scenes together with the different characters from the novel within the first chapter.
But in the end Midaq Alley is a really good book and very interesting once you get past the first few chapters.
First off, I'd like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and it wasn't as terrible as some former reads... Secondly, this post is sub-par since blogspot deleted my first one. Thirdly, I'm glad we can blog again, as it was definitely my favourite Pre IB English assignment!
To begin, I too found the names to be confusing, as did Stu, Mrs. Hanley and BPye. I agree with Stu that the resemblance of names caused some problems (think Kirsha, Mrs.Kirsha and Hussain Kirsha), as did the introduction of multiple characters in individual chapters. Because of this, I found it difficult to match names with situations, let alone keep them chronologically straight in my noggin'.
Secondly, the vocabulary in the novel was not as challenging as I had first expected it to be. This may be due to the fact that this is merely an English translation of a work originally scribed in Arabic, therefore, the author did not dabble on inserting a plethora of flowery vocabulary in order to lengthen the story or create extra details. Because of this, the story moved at a much quicker pace than is usually allowed by an English written piece of literature. Although I enjoyed the lack of flowery, descriptive language, which I can find can be rather dull and redundant, the quick pace of the novel happened to lend to my confusion. In fact, I found it difficult to keep track of characters when there are only a few introduced in a mile long novel, let alone tens of characters in a shorter read moving at 110 kilometres an hour!
Advice to any future readers: Mark the introduction of new characters by using a sticky note and recording the name of the character. This may also be helpful for any major events in the novel!
At the end of the day, a decent read - much better than what I had expected. Excellent for 7 hour plane rides or before bed time!
Honestly, I don't think I had many problems while reading Midaq Alley. I quickly became accustomed to the names as I started reading the novel, much with the help of the page Mrs. Hanley gave us before we started the novel. At first, I found it difficult to "get into" the book, although after a couple chapters I was completely immersed in the story.
One thing I had difficulty understanding was visualising the setting of the story. I barely know what the Egypt of today looks like, let alone Egypt of the 1940's. As Mrs. Hanley has mentioned in her above post, it would perhaps heighten our understanding of the novel if a map of Midaq Alley and surrounding areas was included in the novel. Throughout the story my understanding of the areas surrounding and including Midaq Alley increased, although it never grew to the point where I could draw a map or explain how the streets mentioned connected.
Also, I found some of the social behaviour of the characters confusing. For example, when Abbas and Hamida had met on Azhar Street and then both took different ways back to Midaq Alley. It seems as the two weren’t allowed to be seen walking back together, for reasons left unexplained in the novel. There were a couple other scenes such as that where I did not understand the reasons behind the characters’ behaviour. Did the characters act in such ways because of the time period it was set in, or just because their characteristics?
When I started reading Midaq Alley, I was, like all of you, also confused by the name similarities of the characters, for example between Umm Hamida and Hamida, because they had the same names with the addition of ‘Umm’. However, after reading the descriptions of each character it was easier to distinguish between them. I agree with what Brittany Pye, Jen and Mrs. Hanley said about how using the character reference sheet Mrs. Hanley gave us helped a lot. One other problem I encountered while reading Midaq Alley was the context of the religious beliefs in terms of the drugs they used or “hashish”. I have limited knowledge of Egypt, but I knew that it is mostly Muslim and Christian. I figured that the characters were probably Muslim, but all of the drug references confused me because I thought Muslims were against doing drugs and alcohol. When I researched the use of cannabis in Islam, I read it is not forbidden in the Quran, but some religious scholars are against its use because it is an ‘intoxicant’. Alcohol, however, is forbidden. I eventually figured out that they are Muslim, but they smoke cannabis anyway. In closing, I think the book is quite interesting thus far, even though I had to stop reading at chapter 11 to do my chapter data sheets. - Anna
So, a fun story to start off: I was talking with my friend Jennie on facebook about 10 minutes ago, when she blurted out: "FRIEND! ROMAN! COUNTRYMAN! LEND ME YOUR EARS!" This of course made me think of grade 10 english, which reminded me of Captain Hanley, which in turn reminded me to write this response.
Anymoo, enough story time – on to the task at hand. To weigh in on this whole curffule everyone’s been getting into over the names, I must say I had no issues with them. But then again, I usually make no effort to pronounce unfamiliar names when I encounter them in my literary excursions and instead plunge forth, simply filing the name away as a string of letters.
I did, however, find much difficulty in predicting the outcome of the novel and determining what information was important. The novel’s quite unique third person limited narration that jumped back and forth between various characters combined with its multiple plotlines that were only loosely related made the events a tad difficult to follow. I never had any clue how the novel would turn out or what events were the central focus. In fact, I still don’t. It appears that the narration actually centered around the alley itself and as for the ending, well, WHAT IN THE NAME OF LUCIFIER WAS THAT??
Finally, I’d just like to say that I hope y’all did/do fantastic on your exam(s)!! Well, except you, Sean, you silly certificate student.
While I am not currently very far into the novel, I must say that I agree with a few people's comments about my progress thus far. I agree with Stuart and Jen in that keeping track of the names of the characters proved to be a challenge at the beginning of the novel, but I found that once more information about each of the characters was revealed, it was easier to keep track of who was who. As well, I agree with Emma in that it is difficult to visualise the Alley and surrounding areas, which makes it difficult to understand some of the events taking place in the story as many of them are pertaining to the location of the characters.
All in all, I found the novel a bit hard to get into, as I do with most translated works. While I do agree with Holly in that the lack of flowery language does make the novel easier to read, I do find that the diction in some sections of the novel are much to dry and dull, and that I find myself re-reading pages as I become too bored with what is going on and stop paying attention.
Okay, I'm seriously going to kill someone in about two seconds, because I was finished of my comment and it was quite long, and then I clicked "Preview" and it was like OH HEY, I JUST DELETED YOUR COMMENT.
However, moving on. I have finished Midaq Alley, and I must agree with Wigg's comment about the ending - what the f-bomb was that?
The only challenge I can really say I encountered while reading Midaq Alley is what Emma and Sarah mentioned about visualising the settings. The back of the book says "Long after one finishes reading, the smell of fresh bread lingers, as does the image of the men gathering at the cafe for their nightly ritual." This description lead me to believe that the novel would be full of all sorts of imagery, but instead I was often puzzled, trying to picture the alley in my head.
The issue was not so much with individual locations in the novel. For example, I could easily visualise Umm Hamida's house and Uncle Kamil's shop. My challenge was in imagining how all the places in the alley fit together as a whole. I sometimes had to stop reading to try to figure out where everything was in reference to everything else.
Aside from that, I didn't really have any other difficulties. Characters' names weren't confusing to me, despite many being similar. Although the ending totally threw me, overall I thoroughly enjoyed Midaq Alley.
Hey everyone, I as well, had trouble with the names. So many of the names are similar to all kinds of other words such as Hussain and Hussainy, Hamida, Uncle Kamil, and Kirsha. I started my own reference sheet in addition to the sheet provided by Mrs Hanley. It was a place to record details important to me, and to place information where I knew I would remember it. Another aspect of the novel I rather enjoyed was the fact that it's a translation. Twisted phrases and unusual words make it an interesting challenge to read and to think about how different cultures speak.
Good Morning people… Just a hint for people to help you avoid losing what you write on the blog. Type up your response in a word processor first and then all you have to do is copy and paste it into the comment area. I do this all the time, whenever I am writing something substantial say a response in an email…that way you can come back to it if you want and you can also check your spelling and grammar…just sayin’
A new question will be posted tonight, just a reminder to all those that have not posted...you only have today left to post for the past week.
Although I probably sound like a broken record, after reading all of these comments, I found it very hard to keep up with all the names as well. I now wish I had made a reference sheet, like many of you suggested. Very early on in the novel, I began to mix up characters. This made for a very confusing read at first, as I would get very confused when I believed that Uncle Kamil was doing something typical of Kirsha. Conversations between Umm Hamida and Hamida were just too much for me to handle. I was constantly getting the two mixed up and, as I read on, they became one person in my mind.
As Kara, Sarah and Emma stated, visualizing the alley was definitely a difficulty. As a visual person, I desperately re-read sections of the book, trying to get a correct visualization many times. I found that, although the alley did not change, my visualization of it changed with each chapter. This definitely took away from the quality of the book for me. However, the vivid images of the characters made up for this in my mind. I was able to construct a detailed mental image of each of the characters, thanks to the incredibly descriptive imagery used.
Again, like Sarah stated, I often found myself backtracking and re-reading pages of the book that I had idly scanned. I believe that this was a result of the, at times, dry dialect and my frustration with visualizing the alley.
Other than these small difficulties, my experience with the novel, to this point, has been very pleasant. A great read!
Hi Mrs. Hanley ! I found the blog, finally. The main problem I found while reading the novel was not understanding the way the characters interacted with eachother and their personal values. I found the way that the women beat their husbands or vice versa quite disturbing. Also, the polygamy bothered me, and so did the pedophilia. The challenge for me in reading this book was trying to comprehend the extremely different lifestyles of the characters living in Midaq Alley, however it was the personal values that most deterred me from this book; almost all of the characters seem selfish, self-centered or just volatile.
Hey hey, I'm a tad late for this response. Very sorry, won't happen again Captain.
I agree with what many already said, the names of the characters were rather difficult when I first began reading. However, as the story progressed and more information was revealed about the characters it became less challenging. In addition, I found certain aspects of the setting confusing as more street names were being mentioned. Are all the streets apart of Midaq Alley or totally separate???? Maybe I'm just being foolish and not paying close enough attention.... Apart from the setting and characters, everything else was smooth sailing. Thus far, I really enjoy the novel. On a side note, très happy that le blog est back in action. I'm so happy about it that I even got a new picture of an alpaca for my account!
Although Holly makes an excellent point, I agree more with Brittany Pye. The characters names were confusing because there were so many of them and the names were all foreign. Another challenge that I faced when reading the Midaq Alley was the amount of description that the reader, me, had to trudge through before finding the point of the whole scene. This was frustrating because I didn’t want to read those parts, but I knew they were important. Two challenges, 1) characters were confusing and 2) the description.
I understand that this is late, but...I was the first but it didn't work, so here are my lovely thoughts now.
First by the way :)! When I started reading the book, I found it very boring. However, as the story progressed, Midaq Alley became more enjoyable and interesting. The names were a problem because they were hard to remember and to differ between each character. I think this has occurred because the names seemed unusual to me, for I do not live in Egypt or speak Arabic. For example, the names Husniya and Jaada are not names which have an English origin or are common in my community. In addition, some of the names mentioned were very close to each other, which might have also caused some confusion. For example, two different characters which had similar names were Ibrahim Farhat and Ibrahim Faraj. Other than those two problems, I didn't have any other challenges when I read this book.
ReplyDelete- Stuart Thompson
Great job, Stuart, brave of you to be the first...I too found the names to be a challenge...in retrospect I think I should have written them down on a page of paper and then referred to them as I was reading, I think that would have helped...Also it was sometimes difficult to imagine where they were and a map of the place might have helped...
ReplyDeleteI also had problems with names, although the character list Mrs. Hanley gave us was a great help in the first few chapters and after that I was able to figure out who was who by their relations with other characters and their actions. I also had problems interpreting some of the events that were taking place. I think it was because of the setting I was imagining and the time period this story took place in I didn't think the events that were happing would happen ( sorry if that is a little bit confusing, I didn't want to accidentally give away a part of the book to someone if they haven't already read it).
ReplyDeleteI was also confused initially by the guy who felt the need to spell out words in English, then I realized the dialect would have been in Arabic, not English and he was trying to show off his knowledge of the English language.
All in all this is a very good book, much better than Sophie's World or Maya Angelou's Essays.
-Britt Pye
Firstly I have to agree with Stuart, Mrs. Hanley, and Brittany Pye about the names of the characters being one of the biggest challenges during the beginning of the book due to their foreign names and the amount of character introduced during the first chapter of the novel. I was happy that Mrs. Hanley gave us the list of characters; it really helped me kept all the names straight.
ReplyDeleteAnother challenge I had was trying to understand the events and the number of different things that were going on in the first couple chapters of the novel. I had trouble trying to keep it all straight in my head due to all the different settings and scenes together with the different characters from the novel within the first chapter.
But in the end Midaq Alley is a really good book and very interesting once you get past the first few chapters.
First off, I'd like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and it wasn't as terrible as some former reads... Secondly, this post is sub-par since blogspot deleted my first one. Thirdly, I'm glad we can blog again, as it was definitely my favourite Pre IB English assignment!
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I too found the names to be confusing, as did Stu, Mrs. Hanley and BPye. I agree with Stu that the resemblance of names caused some problems (think Kirsha, Mrs.Kirsha and Hussain Kirsha), as did the introduction of multiple characters in individual chapters. Because of this, I found it difficult to match names with situations, let alone keep them chronologically straight in my noggin'.
Secondly, the vocabulary in the novel was not as challenging as I had first expected it to be. This may be due to the fact that this is merely an English translation of a work originally scribed in Arabic, therefore, the author did not dabble on inserting a plethora of flowery vocabulary in order to lengthen the story or create extra details. Because of this, the story moved at a much quicker pace than is usually allowed by an English written piece of literature. Although I enjoyed the lack of flowery, descriptive language, which I can find can be rather dull and redundant, the quick pace of the novel happened to lend to my confusion. In fact, I found it difficult to keep track of characters when there are only a few introduced in a mile long novel, let alone tens of characters in a shorter read moving at 110 kilometres an hour!
Advice to any future readers: Mark the introduction of new characters by using a sticky note and recording the name of the character. This may also be helpful for any major events in the novel!
At the end of the day, a decent read - much better than what I had expected. Excellent for 7 hour plane rides or before bed time!
-Holly
Honestly, I don't think I had many problems while reading Midaq Alley. I quickly became accustomed to the names as I started reading the novel, much with the help of the page Mrs. Hanley gave us before we started the novel. At first, I found it difficult to "get into" the book, although after a couple chapters I was completely immersed in the story.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I had difficulty understanding was visualising the setting of the story. I barely know what the Egypt of today looks like, let alone Egypt of the 1940's. As Mrs. Hanley has mentioned in her above post, it would perhaps heighten our understanding of the novel if a map of Midaq Alley and surrounding areas was included in the novel. Throughout the story my understanding of the areas surrounding and including Midaq Alley increased, although it never grew to the point where I could draw a map or explain how the streets mentioned connected.
Also, I found some of the social behaviour of the characters confusing. For example, when Abbas and Hamida had met on Azhar Street and then both took different ways back to Midaq Alley. It seems as the two weren’t allowed to be seen walking back together, for reasons left unexplained in the novel. There were a couple other scenes such as that where I did not understand the reasons behind the characters’ behaviour. Did the characters act in such ways because of the time period it was set in, or just because their characteristics?
- Emma.
When I started reading Midaq Alley, I was, like all of you, also confused by the name similarities of the characters, for example between Umm Hamida and Hamida, because they had the same names with the addition of ‘Umm’. However, after reading the descriptions of each character it was easier to distinguish between them. I agree with what Brittany Pye, Jen and Mrs. Hanley said about how using the character reference sheet Mrs. Hanley gave us helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteOne other problem I encountered while reading Midaq Alley was the context of the religious beliefs in terms of the drugs they used or “hashish”. I have limited knowledge of Egypt, but I knew that it is mostly Muslim and Christian. I figured that the characters were probably Muslim, but all of the drug references confused me because I thought Muslims were against doing drugs and alcohol. When I researched the use of cannabis in Islam, I read it is not forbidden in the Quran, but some religious scholars are against its use because it is an ‘intoxicant’. Alcohol, however, is forbidden. I eventually figured out that they are Muslim, but they smoke cannabis anyway.
In closing, I think the book is quite interesting thus far, even though I had to stop reading at chapter 11 to do my chapter data sheets.
- Anna
So, a fun story to start off:
ReplyDeleteI was talking with my friend Jennie on facebook about 10 minutes ago, when she blurted out:
"FRIEND!
ROMAN!
COUNTRYMAN!
LEND ME YOUR EARS!"
This of course made me think of grade 10 english, which reminded me of Captain Hanley, which in turn reminded me to write this response.
Anymoo, enough story time – on to the task at hand. To weigh in on this whole curffule everyone’s been getting into over the names, I must say I had no issues with them. But then again, I usually make no effort to pronounce unfamiliar names when I encounter them in my literary excursions and instead plunge forth, simply filing the name away as a string of letters.
I did, however, find much difficulty in predicting the outcome of the novel and determining what information was important. The novel’s quite unique third person limited narration that jumped back and forth between various characters combined with its multiple plotlines that were only loosely related made the events a tad difficult to follow. I never had any clue how the novel would turn out or what events were the central focus. In fact, I still don’t. It appears that the narration actually centered around the alley itself and as for the ending, well, WHAT IN THE NAME OF LUCIFIER WAS THAT??
Finally, I’d just like to say that I hope y’all did/do fantastic on your exam(s)!!
Well, except you, Sean, you silly certificate student.
Hello there!
ReplyDeleteWhile I am not currently very far into the novel, I must say that I agree with a few people's comments about my progress thus far.
I agree with Stuart and Jen in that keeping track of the names of the characters proved to be a challenge at the beginning of the novel, but I found that once more information about each of the characters was revealed, it was easier to keep track of who was who.
As well, I agree with Emma in that it is difficult to visualise the Alley and surrounding areas, which makes it difficult to understand some of the events taking place in the story as many of them are pertaining to the location of the characters.
All in all, I found the novel a bit hard to get into, as I do with most translated works. While I do agree with Holly in that the lack of flowery language does make the novel easier to read, I do find that the diction in some sections of the novel are much to dry and dull, and that I find myself re-reading pages as I become too bored with what is going on and stop paying attention.
- Sarah Cooke
Okay, I'm seriously going to kill someone in about two seconds, because I was finished of my comment and it was quite long, and then I clicked "Preview" and it was like OH HEY, I JUST DELETED YOUR COMMENT.
ReplyDeleteHowever, moving on. I have finished Midaq Alley, and I must agree with Wigg's comment about the ending - what the f-bomb was that?
The only challenge I can really say I encountered while reading Midaq Alley is what Emma and Sarah mentioned about visualising the settings. The back of the book says "Long after one finishes reading, the smell of fresh bread lingers, as does the image of the men gathering at the cafe for their nightly ritual." This description lead me to believe that the novel would be full of all sorts of imagery, but instead I was often puzzled, trying to picture the alley in my head.
The issue was not so much with individual locations in the novel. For example, I could easily visualise Umm Hamida's house and Uncle Kamil's shop. My challenge was in imagining how all the places in the alley fit together as a whole. I sometimes had to stop reading to try to figure out where everything was in reference to everything else.
Aside from that, I didn't really have any other difficulties. Characters' names weren't confusing to me, despite many being similar. Although the ending totally threw me, overall I thoroughly enjoyed Midaq Alley.
Thank you, Cap'n Hanley, for an excellent read.
Hey everyone,
ReplyDeleteI as well, had trouble with the names. So many of the names are similar to all kinds of other words such as Hussain and Hussainy, Hamida, Uncle Kamil, and Kirsha. I started my own reference sheet in addition to the sheet provided by Mrs Hanley. It was a place to record details important to me, and to place information where I knew I would remember it.
Another aspect of the novel I rather enjoyed was the fact that it's a translation. Twisted phrases and unusual words make it an interesting challenge to read and to think about how different cultures speak.
Good Morning people…
ReplyDeleteJust a hint for people to help you avoid losing what you write on the blog. Type up your response in a word processor first and then all you have to do is copy and paste it into the comment area. I do this all the time, whenever I am writing something substantial say a response in an email…that way you can come back to it if you want and you can also check your spelling and grammar…just sayin’
A new question will be posted tonight, just a reminder to all those that have not posted...you only have today left to post for the past week.
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I probably sound like a broken record, after reading all of these comments, I found it very hard to keep up with all the names as well. I now wish I had made a reference sheet, like many of you suggested. Very early on in the novel, I began to mix up characters. This made for a very confusing read at first, as I would get very confused when I believed that Uncle Kamil was doing something typical of Kirsha. Conversations between Umm Hamida and Hamida were just too much for me to handle. I was constantly getting the two mixed up and, as I read on, they became one person in my mind.
As Kara, Sarah and Emma stated, visualizing the alley was definitely a difficulty. As a visual person, I desperately re-read sections of the book, trying to get a correct visualization many times. I found that, although the alley did not change, my visualization of it changed with each chapter. This definitely took away from the quality of the book for me. However, the vivid images of the characters made up for this in my mind. I was able to construct a detailed mental image of each of the characters, thanks to the incredibly descriptive imagery used.
Again, like Sarah stated, I often found myself backtracking and re-reading pages of the book that I had idly scanned. I believe that this was a result of the, at times, dry dialect and my frustration with visualizing the alley.
Other than these small difficulties, my experience with the novel, to this point, has been very pleasant. A great read!
Hi Mrs. Hanley !
ReplyDeleteI found the blog, finally.
The main problem I found while reading the novel was not understanding the way the characters interacted with eachother and their personal values. I found the way that the women beat their husbands or vice versa quite disturbing. Also, the polygamy bothered me, and so did the pedophilia. The challenge for me in reading this book was trying to comprehend the extremely different lifestyles of the characters living in Midaq Alley, however it was the personal values that most deterred me from this book; almost all of the characters seem selfish, self-centered or just volatile.
Hey hey, I'm a tad late for this response. Very sorry, won't happen again Captain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what many already said, the names of the characters were rather difficult when I first began reading. However, as the story progressed and more information was revealed about the characters it became less challenging.
In addition, I found certain aspects of the setting confusing as more street names were being mentioned. Are all the streets apart of Midaq Alley or totally separate???? Maybe I'm just being foolish and not paying close enough attention....
Apart from the setting and characters, everything else was smooth sailing. Thus far, I really enjoy the novel.
On a side note, très happy that le blog est back in action. I'm so happy about it that I even got a new picture of an alpaca for my account!
From one Catherine to another,
-CATHERINE MUNRO
Although Holly makes an excellent point, I agree more with Brittany Pye. The characters names were confusing because there were so many of them and the names were all foreign. Another challenge that I faced when reading the Midaq Alley was the amount of description that the reader, me, had to trudge through before finding the point of the whole scene. This was frustrating because I didn’t want to read those parts, but I knew they were important. Two challenges, 1) characters were confusing and 2) the description.
ReplyDeleteI understand that this is late, but...I was the first but it didn't work, so here are my lovely thoughts now.