Lyrics Alley (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2011), by award-winning author Leila Aboulela, is a touching novel that explores the richness and challenges of life for the Abuzeid family. Loosely based on the life of her uncle, Hassan Awad Aoulela, the novel is both a family drama and an intriguing glimpse into life in Sudan and Egypt during a pivotal period of Sudanese history.
Lyrics Alley Summary
The Abuzeid family are leaders within the community of Umdurman, Sudan. Family patriarch Mahmoud Abuzeid is a successful trader and businessman, well respected and committed to dealing well with others and bringing the best of modern practices to his beloved Sudan.
The father of four children, two sons to his first wife Waheeba and a much younger boy and girl to his second wife Nabilah, Mahmoud’s own household represents the many conflicts, contrasts and compromises present within Sudanese society in general as modern technology and practices are influencing the more traditional way of life.
When Waheeba’s son Nur, the heir apparent to the family business and the character representing Hassan Awad Aboulela, suffers a near fatal accident that leaves him paralysed, family tensions reach a breaking point. The challenge to adapt to this new situation, to let go of long held expectations and to create a new vision for the future, offers readers a fascinating glimpse into the human condition in general as well as Sudanese society and culture in particular.
Written with great heart and sensitivity, Lyrics Alley is a story that reflects contrasts within a family and within a culture, presented in the framework of a truly absorbing family drama. The characters are complex and interesting and readers will be entranced by the sensory imagery of city life in Sudan and Egypt in the mid-twentieth century.
A Story of Contrasts, Connections and Personal Challenges
Many of the central characters in Lyrics Alley face significant personal challenges throughout the novel. Mahmoud must adapt to the injury to his successor Nur as well as seeking to balance his love of his heritage, represented by his Sudanese wife Waheeba, and his desire to be progressive and modern, represented by his Cairo-born wife Nabilah. Tensions between these two women reflect tensions between the past and the future at such a critical point in Sudanese history.
Nur must overcome his unexpected handicap, finding a new way to bring purpose and meaning into his life when the future he always imagined is denied. Nur’s cousin Soraya, who has always believed that she would become Nur’s wife, must also reassess her future in light of Nur’s injuries.
The Abuzeid family is a complex group of personalities and through them readers are given insights to a variety of viewpoints on Sudanese life at the time including the roles of both men and women, the functioning of the family home, education, business, social commitments, etiquette and relationships. There are several circles of connection between family members, reflecting different viewpoints, spheres of influence and general relationships.
Additional characters offer further depth to the family story, particularly family tutor Ustaz Badr. Other elements of Sudanese and Egyptian life are also introduced to the story through Nur’s friends, Mahmoud Abuzeid’s business associates and extended family members.
Award Winning Author Leila Aboulela
Born in Cairo and raised in Khartoum, Leila Aboulela is the author of three novels and a collection of short stories. She received the first Caine Prize for African Writing. Her previous novels, The Translator and Minaret were both long-listed for the Orange Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award. The Translator was included on The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year.
Aboulela’s work has been translated into twelve languages and BBC Radio has adapted her work extensively. Works adapted for radio include a number of plays, such as The Mystic Life and The Lion of Chechnya, and a five-part radio serialisation of The Translator.
Leila Aboulela’s website offers extensive background information on her works, including details about the life of her uncle Hassah Awad Aboulela.
Life in 1950s Sudan
Lyrics Alley is a fascinating novel, offering both an absorbing family drama and a insights into a culture and society unfamiliar to many western readers. The characters are complex and intriguing. Despite a family structure that many would find unusual, the emotions and preoccupations of the central characters are all to familiar as they battle with jealously, grief, domestic dramas, frustrations and parenting challenges as well as sharing moments of joy and celebration.
For lovers of poetry, Lyrics Alley also offers a fascinating glimpse into the shaping of a creative talent, as the challenges faced by Nur Abuzeid contribute to his eventual acknowledgement of his abilities as a poet and lyricist. Nur’s near fatal accident and the changes it brings to both his life and the lives of his family members also offers an interesting study of the impact of such events on both families and individuals.
Lyrics Alley is a story offering readers a multi-faceted reading experience with the entertainment of following a family drama as well as an opportunity for more thoughtful analysis of a variety of themes concerning the human spirit and insight into Sudanese society in the 1950s. Lyrics Alley is an engaging and interesting story, well told and filled with characters and events that will hold the reader's attention until the final pages.
Review copy details:
Lyrics Alley (ISBN: 978-0-297-86009-9, 308 pages)
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