This was written 25 years ago, so its really early. eight months on ghazzah street ending1990 donruss baseball cards errors. Mantel's ability to recreate the setting of the Kingdom in that time left me breathless. Sorry if this review is something of a "spoiler", but the real meat of the book is in it's creepy gathering menace. She was apprehensive, yes. Nurse, are you? he inquired. But her tone wrapped up the conversation. Most shocking to her is the treatment of females who are are rendered invisible by more than just the ankle length veils they wear. It was the steward. And they look at your books. I think I was just there for too long. Well, did you do it? she said. So now when you were off to Jeddah, people said, Dont fall off any balconies, will you? It became monotonous. Seconds later he was speaking to Eric Parsons, at his hotel. Frances is not timid, and sometimes walks the streets alone, which causes every male driver to shout obscenities at her as he drives by. She did not just describe the physical aspects of the country, she was able to put me back in that time and place and make me remember the confusion, the low-grade fear, the suspicion, the boredom, the frustration, the intrigue all of it. It seemed such a small thing, obtaining a visa for one unimportant woman to join her unimportant husband, but she had once been assured, by a man called Jeff Pollard, who understood these things, that when corruption took root in a country it spread in no time at all from monarchs to tea boys, from ministers to filing clerks. She hears whispers, sounds of distress from the 'empty' flat above her head. It tells the story of an Englishwoman, Frances Shore, who moves to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to live with her husband, an engineer. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Show full title Written by Hilary Mantel Narrated by Sandra Duncan 3 / 5 ( 100 ratings ) About this audiobook When Frances Shore joins her engineer husband in Jeddah she is warned not to ask questions. When Frances Shore moves to Saudi Arabia, she settles in a nondescript sublet, sure that common sense and an open mind will serve her well with her Muslim neighbors. I thought if youd been a nurse we could have had dinner. I. Nothings what it says it is.. She turned away and bent over the tea chest again, cleanly stabbed by avarice, like a peach with a silver knife. But its SUCH an uncomfortable read. They treat him like some bit of a kid.. The UK building trade had slumped into what seemed chronic recession; they didnt know what they were going to do. You could never plan on being anywhere by a set time., And there was never any sugar. This novel, by the same author who recently won the Man Booker Prize, details the tension-filled life on a British woman who moves to Jeddah, Saudia Arabia with her husband. Read the Review. He could hear women laughing, and what was perhaps crockery being smashed. I shall try to like it. Oh, they said he could have them back, when the customs had had a careful look. No more to drink then? He prepared to abandon her, move away. Read Hilary's fantastic Wolf Hall, Bringing Up the Bodies, Beyond Black by Ms Mantel, but steer clear of Ghazzah Street unless you are a masochist. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. . The author, Hilary Mantel, lived there herself for five years, so the reader can place some trust in her description of life there. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. At what price to our treasured freedoms? How pleased I will be, to do it; and to be there, at last. At least hed be a familiar face. Listen, if anything goes wrong, if by some mischance hubbys not there, dont hang about, dont speak to anybody, get straight in our airline bus and come downtown with us to the Hyatt Regency. Ive got numbers to ring, in case anything goes wrong. Frances Shore used to be a cartographer, but in her new life maps have as little value as she does. Trouble with Fairfax, hes got no credibility. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. It's also a bit like a soap opera, in that some affairs are revealed in the course of the novel, with the inevitable ongoing discussions of why they occurred, what could happen in Saudi Arabia if they come to light, etc. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. 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The only reason I can see for this book's existence is an agenda to bash Saudi Arabia and reinforce Western stereotypes. As this occasion will pass, she thought; and in time, this flight. The heat is oppressive, and the air is full of blowing dust. And I had to re-read many sentences because they dont make any sense, and the style of sentence construction is irritating. He wore his shirt open, and around his neck on a chain a small block of gold incised with the legend CREDIT SUISSE. This novel, by the same author who recently won the Man Booker Prize, details the tension-filled life on a British woman who moves to Jeddah, Saudia Arabia with her husband. The dogs and cats were coming in to be fed, wandering to the back door to wait around, like the Victorian poor. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (1988) a serendipitous find at the library is in the same vein, with the added frisson of having been written in the aftermath of Mantel's own unhappy sojourn in . Theyll take the wheels off your hire-car as soon as look at you. The regime is corrupt and harsh, the expatriates are hard-drinking money-grubbers, and her Muslim neighbours are secretive, watchful. Frances closed her eyes again. There had been the odd, expensive silence. Based on Mantel's own experiences in Saudi Arabia,[1] the novel explores different peoples' struggles with the contrast in cultures, including those of people of different Islamic cultures, and misunderstandings between the Saudis and Westerners, as well as between women and men. The steward relented. Those seated on the left-hand side of the aircraft will see below you the lights of Jeddah Kindly fasten kindly extinguish (And to the right, blackness, tilting, and a glow of red, the slow fires that seem to ring cities at night.) Sit by the pool, play the fruit machines, bugger all else to do. He paused, the tirade halted by a scruple of politeness. The author herself lived in Jeddah for four years under not dissimilar circumstances and so the extremely unappealing depiction of the city, its inhabi. Audiobook 10 hours Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Show full title Written by Hilary Mantel Narrated by Sandra Duncan 3 / 5 ( 103 ratings ) I want to.. Two to get you started? Hand hovering over the trolley, he seemed to approve her choice; as if what lay ahead were something to brace yourself for, not to celebrate. Across the aisle grown men were getting drunk on Cointreau. EIGHT MONTHS ON GHAZZAH STREET By Hilary Mantel. In the kitchen their housemaid, Elizabeth, was washing glassespointless really as they would soon be crated upand they could hear the separate clink that each one made as she put it down on the drain board. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street Hilary Mantel 3.65 2,621 ratings340 reviews Frances Shore is a cartographer by trade, a maker of maps, but when her husband's work takes her to Saudi Arabia she finds herself unable to map the Kingdom's areas of internal darkness. Even when youve been coming in and out for years, you never know what theyre going to be looking for. The fear and suspicion of foul play experienced by the protagonist would have had me running for the airport as fast as I could go. It had this drawing on the cover, a woman, you know. He gestured in the air, describing half circles. All this she knew from her reading, because after the romantic travelers tales came Jeddah: A Businessmans Guide. The fear, the heresy, the crazy rummers, I felt them and in the process getting a fantastic exposure to the Saudi expat life in 1985. Out with the bulldozer. HM's books are notable for their 'dirtiness' - that is, there's no glossing over or glamourising anything. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. Please try again. Youre not a person anymore. Doggedly, courteously, as if their conversation had never occurred, he reached for a glass from his trolley: Would you like champagne?, Soon, the crackle from the PA system: Ladies and gentlemen, we are now beginning our descent to King Abdul Aziz International Airport. Also upstairs is a strangely active "empty" apartment which offers the mystery of the story. And it's well written, I guess. She jerked out of her doze; shed not realized, at first, that he was speaking to her. Gazelles are hunted from the backs of pickup trucks. And women arent allowed to drive? EIGHT MONTHS ON GHAZZAH STREET "Would you like champagne?" This was the beginning; an hour or so out from Heathrow. I didn't, but once I started reading the book, I thought "Holy Smokes! It concerns a British couple in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The prose is well written and evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of a fundamentalist Muslim country like Saudi Arabia. She picked up the half cup of coffee: black, and almost cold now. As ever; highly recommended. Or hold it back. The conclusion to The Wolf Hall Trilogy, The Mirror & the Light, was published in 2020. This was the beginning; an hour or so out from Heathrow. Good story, good ending,interesting characters. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. It seemed that when oil was discovered in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia had no infrastructure, but that it had one now: roads, schools, hospitals, factories, mines, market gardens and chicken farms, airports and squash courts, telephones and filling stations, cold stores and police stations, take-away food shops, and the ten-pin bowling facilities at the Albilad Hotel. This she knew from her reading, because after the romantic travelers tales came Jeddah: a Guide! 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