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1 Hawthorne Literature- A to Z

The Translator

by Leila Aboulela

The Translator Cover

ISBN13: 9780802170262
ISBN10: 0802170269
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

American readers were introduced to the award-winning Sudanese author Leila Aboulela with Minaret, a delicate tale of a privileged young African Muslim woman adjusting to her new life as a maid in London. Now, for the first time in North America, we step back to her extraordinarily assured debut about a widowed Muslim mother living in Aberdeen who falls in love with a Scottish secular academic. Sammar is a Sudanese widow working as an Arabic translator at a Scottish university. Since the sudden death of her husband, her young son has gone to live with family in Khartoum, leaving Sammar alone in cold, gray Aberdeen, grieving and isolated. But when she begins to translate for Rae, a Scottish Islamic scholar, the two develop a deep friendship that awakens in Sammar all the longing for life she has repressed. As Rae and Sammar fall in love, she knows they will have to address his lack of faith in all that Sammar holds sacred. An exquisitely crafted meditation on love, both human and divine, The Translator is ultimately the story of one woman’s courage to stay true to her beliefs, herself, and her newfound love.

Review:

"Sammar, a young Sudanese widow, is working as a translator in a Scottish university when love blossoms between herself and her Scottish supervisor, Rae Isles, a scholar of the Middle East and of Third World politics. A religious Muslim who covers her hair, Sammar has left her young son in Khartoum to be raised by her aunt and quells her loneliness by throwing herself into her job translating terrorist documents for kindly divorc Rae. The two signal their growing love for one another with sympathy (and chastity). On the eve of her trip to Khartoum to see her son and bring him back with her, she confronts Rae, desperate to know if he will accept Islam — since a relationship to her is impossible without marriage, and that marriage is impossible without his conversion. His hesitation reveals the cultural gulf between them, and Sammar is pierced to the quick. Though The Translator is Aboulela's second novel to be released in the U.S., it is the Sudanese-British author's first, published in the U.K. in 1999. (Her third, Minaret, appeared here last year.) With authentic detail and insight into both cultures, Aboulela painstakingly constructs a truly transformative denouement." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

In this subtle investigation into the meaning of exile and home, doubt and faith, loss and love, a young Muslim exile falls in love with a worldly non-Muslim.

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
enscaife, May 1, 2008 (view all comments by enscaife)
In being a translator by occupation, it is interesting how (by religious faith and other reasons) much of a hard time Sammar has in translating her own emotions and feelings as well as those of other characters. While living in Scotland, she is confronted with many differences in prayer, relationships, and even the lack of respect students show to thier elders.

She must get her prayer mat out only in private; in Sudan this is done publicly. It is impossible for her to have a serious relationship with Rae because he is not a Muslim. While staying at the university with a PhD student, she sees great disrespect towards Rae and is shocked.

There are many times before she and Rae get close that she wants to talk to him about Islam. He has done much studying in this department, and she knows he knows the truth about it. She wants him to become Muslim, but she keeps quiet at first even though she should be able to translate her own feelings in a way to communicate with him.

Also, when her aunt confronts her with rude accusations, it is difficult for a reader to watch Sammar take the heat so calmly.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780802170262
Author:
Aboulela, Leila
Publisher:
Grove/Atlantic
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Scotland
Subject:
Short Stories (Anthologies)
Subject:
Widows
Subject:
Love stories
Publication Date:
October 2006
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
203
Dimensions:
828x554x52 54

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