Aunt Safiyya...and somewhat related tangents

About half way through the first chapter of "Aunt Safiyya and the Monastary," I found myself somewhat irritated that yet another book had been assigned that was as dull as the writings of J.R Tolkien.  It consisted of  1/4 plot, and 3/4 scenery.  No offense to Mr. Tolkien (I actually learned to enjoy most of his novels after figuring out I should have started with the Hobbit, which was much better, instead of Lord of the Rings and the appreciation may not have taken so long), but I am much less enthralled with the descriptions of trees than I am to those of characters and their relationships.  Whether in middle earth, egypt, or Mars, the character development in the story far out weights its setting (whichever it might be), and the first chapter of Aunt Safiyya almost put me to sleep with its descriptions of hills and houses.  Luckily for me, Bahaa' Taher (like Tolkien) apparently knows just how to throw a reader off.  

The second chapters depiction of the lives of the characters and their interactions had me guessing as to what was going to happen next.  I don't want to write a summery of the book because you should read it (no, really...it's required), but something that fascinated me about it, was the priorities of the characters and how often they shifted.  The three that I picked out (that repeated again and again and again) were family, religion, and pride.  Almost all interactions between the characters and events relate to one of these themes, and when all three come in conflict, each character seems to prioritize a different one.  

I do not have a lot to say about the culture I picked up during reading this, or any cultural differences I noticed, because as I said before, setting wasn't all to important to me.  This stories setting could have been plucked out of Egypt and put onto Mars, Texas, Moscow or lets say an average high school in...well anywhere really.  Humans interacted with other humans, natural human psychology occurred and human reactions ensued.  Yeah I'd like to think that pretty much sums it up.  If you would like further clarification feel free to ask.

Random other thoughts from discussions

1.  Acknowledging differences between things (inanimate or not), does not equate to condemning them (one or the other).

2.  I have two cousins, and that is as far as I know of my extended family.  Were I to have a distant cousin who became an orphan I wouldn't know, nor do I think they would know of me.  I say this because this part of the story is really beautiful to me...and then it kinda goes down hill from there.

Cheers!