By the Sea: By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021

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So I expected the immigration hamal behind his little podium to register something, to snarl or shake his head, to look up slowly and stare at me with the blaze of assurance with which the fortunate regard the supplicant. The novel is also narrated, in part, by Latif Mahmud, the son of the real Rajab Shaaban Mahmud—a man who turns out to be a scoundrel.

The Colonel is also seen, at the beginning of Max's stay, to have a crush on Miss Vavasour; Max suspects Miss Vavasour had entertained the Colonel's slight infatuation prior to Max's own arrival. Due to recriminations over an inherited property, Saleh was eventually dispossessed of his house, arrested and imprisoned in various camps.This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy into as many hands as I could. The insightful, wise, unique and poignant woman we know and love as Lucy Barton is back in the fourth installment of the Amgash series. Rajab Shaaban--the name on his passport--does not explain to the British immigration authorities why he needs asylum, expecting only to be accepted, as the government of Zanzibar has been officially designated "as dangerous to its own citizens". Just to be clear, I’m vaxxed, I wore my mask, and I followed quarantine and distancing protocols, and I too find myself annoyed at people who wear their mask under their nose. In this story, Lucy who is quite recently widowed from her second husband’s death… is ushered away from New York to Maine by her first husband.

I am a refugee," he tells the reader, "an asylum-seeker; these are not simple words, even if habit of hearing them makes them seem so. Her history of asthma renders her vulnerable, as the coronavirus that has already ravaged Europe is making its way into the United States. His daughter scolds him at the hospital, assumingly being told he nearly killed himself, and tells him to come home with her. In March 2020 Lucy Barton's ex-husband William pleads with her to leave New York and escape to a coastal house he has rented in Maine. And as with Ishmael, a voluntary marine refugee, exile has given Gurnah a perspective on the 'balance between things' that is astonishing, superb.

It collates an assortment of photographic images to represent an interpretation of the wars in south-east in the ’60s and 70s. A lapsed connection kindles anew as she forges a fresh life for herself, rendered in Strout’s graceful, deceptively light prose.

He later explained, "Whether The Sea is a successful work of art is not for me to say, but a work of art is what I set out to make. You want to read on to see why Saleh has sought asylum when his life (from what we are told) has been full of enteprise and comfort. The only regret about this post-exotic legend is that it should end at all—there are other protagonists in this book whose flight we'd have liked to follow, whether they're blown by those tropical winds to the gray cities of England or other places by the sea.

Latif Mahmud also travels to Europe, but by a more legitimate route—obtaining a student visa to East Germany and travelling by a circuitous route from there to the UK. When I looked straight ahead there was nothing on the horizon past those two small islands, that is how far out the ocean went. What we know constantly reels us in to our ignorance, makes us see the world as if we were still squatting in that shallow tepid pool!

Btw, spoiler alert, it was a man, the author simply used this device as an opportunity to lecture her readers). Looking back now it seems idyllic, though I'm sure ninety-five percent of the experience was absolute, grinding boredom". It is hard to appreciate the stories and lives being unravelled when the narrators themselves seem unlikeable and distrustful.We also see relationships change and develop between all the characters, some relationships are created and even lost. My devouring of this story was completed last night and I’ve been thinking a lot about Lucy Barton ever since.