Lyrics Alley

by Leila Aboulela

This book is set primarily in Sudan, but also in Cairo in the 1950's.  It is the story of a business man and the conflicts and challenges in his family.  The man has an illiterate Sudanese family, with whom he has had two sons.  He has a second wife, from Egypt, with whom he has had a son and a daughter.  He spends most of his time with his second wife who is more modern and beautiful but when he becomes ill it is his first wife who comes to soothe and comfort him.

As the story commences there is turmoiil in Sudan as it tries to establish its independence from the influences of England and Egypt.  The man Mahoummed Bey is trying to extend his business and his connections.  He is disappointed by his oldest son who is an alcoholic and party animal.  He has pinned his hopes on his young son -- he wants to send him for a good education in England and have him take over the family business.  The young man would really like to be a poet but his family has dismissed this aspiration, so he is following his father's wishes. However, the young son is paralyzed in a swimming accident.

When the injured son is returned to Sudan, after medical treatment in England which was not successful, the tension in the family grows.  The man starts spending more time in his first wifes part of the family compound.  His second wife gets jealous and angry about this, and she is outraged when his first wife "kidnaps" her daughter and has a female circumcison performed on her.  She insists the man divorce his first wife, when he refuses she takes her children and returns to Egypt.

While this drama is going on there are a couple side stories, the paralyzed son had a girl friend he planned to marry, eventually the engagement is called off due to his incapacity.  He is devastated by this.  He wants to die, but eventually finds some relief in composing poetry again.  His poetry is picked up by a singer and he becomes famouns, even a cult figure.  The father is at first mortified that his son is gaining fame in this way but later comes to accept it and realize that it is a good outlet for the son.

Another story is about a tutor who had been tutoring children in the family.  He and his family and old father are living in a tiny apartment, he hopes to get a newer, bigger home in one of Mohammed Bey's new modern buildings.  He is forced to accept a relative as a guest, while the person is looking for work.  He eventually gets him a job as a nurse for the invalid.  The relative ends up stealing the gold jewellery of the first wife of the Bey family and the tutor is arrested because the stolen items are found in his home.   Evenutally the guilty party is caught and the man is exonerated but it takes a long time until he can show his face in the Bey family home.  He had been working as a volunteer tutor/mentor for the invalid since his accident, enccouraging him with his writing.

The fiancee of the invalid has had her own challenges, she wants to progress in school and have a career but she has poor eyesight.  Some family members get her glasses but she has to hide them from her father.  When her father sees her wearing them he is furious with her and makes her stay home for awhile instead of going to school.  Initially she is distraught at the engagement being called off, she keeps hoping her fiance will improve but he doesn't.  However, eventually she does realize that being married to him would not give her the modern life she wants so she marries a friend of his.  She didn't strike me as the kind of person who would want to devote herself to caring for an invalid. The invalid eventually comes to realize that her decision is for the best for her. 

The second wife tries to get her husband to meet her demands but he does not give in, eventually she comes to recall some of the good things about life in Sudan and she returns.

It is interesting to read stories about places I am not familiar with. The description of life in Sudan and Egypt, the political climate, the social conventions were very interesting to learn about.  I think that the way she portrayed the various characters kept you interested.  I was relieved that the stories all seemed to resolve themselves in a positive way.  Most stories today seem to end badly.  It was refreshing to see people learn from their experiences and make positive choices (except for the alchoholic brother -- he didn't seem to change).  The story reflected the tension between tradition and progress too.

However, with all the turmoil in Sudan one wonders how this family would have coped with all the national conflict in the future.  I don't know if it would have affected the main cities.