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

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By the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

'One scarcely dares breathe while reading it for fear of breaking the enchantment' The Times

'Gurnah is a master storyteller' Financial Times

On a late November afternoon Saleh Omar arrives at Gatwick Airport from Zanzibar, a far away island in the Indian Ocean. With him he has a small bag in which lies his most precious possession - a mahogany box containing incense. He used to own a furniture shop, have a house and be a husband and father. Now he is an asylum seeker from paradise; silence his only protection.

Meanwhile Latif Mahmud, someone intimately connected with Saleh's past, lives quietly alone in his London flat. When Saleh and Latif meet in an English seaside town, a story is unravelled. It is a story of love and betrayal, seduction and possession, and of a people desperately trying to find stability amidst the maelstrom of their times.

Review

Rarely in a lifetime can you open a book and find that reading it encapsulates the enchanting qualities of a love affair ... one scarcely dares breathe while reading it for fear of breaking the enchantment ― The Times

Book Description

A staggering novel of displacement and loss from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021

From the Back Cover

Staggering novel of displacement and loss from the critically acclaimed author

About the Author

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021. He is the author of ten novels: Memory of Departure, Pilgrims Way, Dottie, Paradise (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award), Admiring Silence, By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award), Desertion (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize) The Last Gift, Gravel Heart, and Afterlives, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Fiction 2021 and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. He was Professor of English at the University of Kent, and was a Man Booker Prize judge in 2016. He lives in Canterbury.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I am a refugee, an asylum-seeker. these are not simple words, even if habit of hearing them makes them seem so. I arrived at Gatwick Airport in the late afternoon of 23 November last year. It is a familiar minor climax in our stories, leaving what we know and arriving in strange places, carrying little bits of jumbled luggage and suppressing secret and garbled ambitions. For some, as for me, it was the first journey by air, and the first arrival in a place so monumental as an airport, though I have travelled by sea and by land, and in my imagination. I walked slowly through what felt like coldly lit and silent empty tunnnels, though noew on reflection I know I walked past rows of seats and large glass windows, and signs and instructions. Tunnels, the streaming darkness outside lashing with fine rain and the light inside drawing me in. 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!
which we had known since childhood terrors. I wlaked slowly, surprised at every anxious turn that an instruction awaited to tell me where to go. I walked slowly so that I would not miss a turning or misread a sign, so that I would not attract attention too early by getting into a flutter of confusion. They took me away at the passport desk. 'Passport', the man said, after I had been staning in front of him for a moment too long, waiting to be found out, to be arrested. His face looked stern, even though the blankness oin his eyes was intended to give nothing away. I had been told not to say anything, to pretend I could not speak any English. I was not sure why, but I know I would do as I was told because the advice had a crafty ring to it, the kind of resourceful ruse the powerless would know. They will ask you your name and your father's name, and what good you had done in your life: say nothing. When he said Passport a second time, I handed it over, winicing in anticipation of abuse and threats. I was used to officials who glared and spluttered at you for the smallest mishap who toyed with you and humiliated you for the sheer pleasure of wielding their hallowed authority. 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. But he looked up from leafing through my joke document with a look of suppressed joy in his eyes, like a fisherman who has just felt a tug on the line. No entry visa. Then he picked up his phone and spoke into if for a moment. Smiling openly now, he asked me to wait on one side.

Review:

4.3 out of 5

86.15% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet another masterpiece by Gurnah!

W.D. · 2 May 2010

As in my previous review for Gurnah's literary works I am a bit biased because he does originate from my country! (I thought I would put that in as a disclaimer of my inherent bias)In this masterpiece Gurnah establishes himself as an amazing storyteller and exquisite author of narrative. There is no dull moment in the book and the stories intertwining are one of his classic characteristics. 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. When he does meet a person from his previous life; it seems that both individuals fill in the gaps for each other to piece together the stories of their lives.Gurnah's small town rhetoric is peppered with the effects colonialism has had and how the succession of power and independence failed miserably! Possibly alluding to the perils facing Africa in the modern world today?An excellent piece of writing and a quick read (I read it over three days - mind you I do have a long commute to work!).

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent writing. Interesting storylines. Vividly drawn characters. Easy reading.

H.B. · 17 June 2023

Having read AfterLives by the same author, I'm now reading his other books. It's the story of two families in colonial and post-colonial East Africa, misunderstandings and betrayals and a gradual reconciliation after we've followed the very different journeys of two of the characters from Zanzibar to England. Rather than recap and analyse the story, I'd just add that it's beautifully told, very easy reading and worth all the accolades that have been heaped upon it.

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, meandering story of remembrance

A. · 11 December 2018

By the Sea is beautiful, a meandering story of remembrance that takes you from Zanzibar to London, through Malaya and Persia, a story of business, love, and revenge.Wandering through Saleh Omar's memories and Latif Mahmud's accusations, Abdulrazak Gurnah reminds you again and again that what you perceive as a child may not always be true. Related tenuously by marriage, the two men's lives have been intertwined by a series of slights and betrayal, each branch of the family grasping for the property and wealth of the deceased as their own family's prosperity rises and falls over time. Behind the scene, pulling the strings, is Hussein, who both entrances and tricks, then disappears home to Persia to let things fall out as they may.Yet it's not Hussein himself who brings about their downfall. It's their pride and greed, hidden behind a veneer of religion and holiness, supported by a belief in their own perception of right.At times, the story seems to drift too far into the past, and you end up on distant shores wondering why Abdulrazak has left you there, but down each branching river, you end up by the same shore, realising that each diverging stream had an effect that ultimately led to Saleh's persecution and need for asylum. And it's by the sea in London, where Saleh tries to build a new life--or at least to let what's left of his life end peacefully--that he has to face the painful past and finally lay it to rest.

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but a little longwinded

C.R. · 27 March 2023

An interesting, if somewhat longwinded story, at times rambling. A glossary for the many references to Arabic words would have been useful too. I’m not sure who, if anyone I would recommend this book to, but having said that, on the whole I did feel that I benefited from persevering with it to the end.

5.0 out of 5 stars It’s obvious why he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Superb novel. Extraordinary writer.

C. · 29 December 2021

This novel is utterly absorbing from start to finish. The deep humanity of the writer is astonishing. The characterisation of the characters is immensely detailed and credible. The story lines come together in an exceptionally accomplished manner.

5.0 out of 5 stars A story for our times

T.M. · 26 December 2021

Elegantly written intertwined story of two individuals caught up in a revolution in an unnamed East African country, time in the GDR and their eventual meeting up in England - one a penniless asylum seeker and the other an academic.

3.0 out of 5 stars Why did this win a prize?

M.M.F. · 25 November 2022

I was expecting more- more about being a refugee. It’s a convoluted account of two individuals but gets a bit difficult to follow.

5.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting thread developing the theme of home, ...

E.P. · 10 June 2016

A very interesting thread developing the theme of home, displacement and the landscape of memory through a plurality of voices that substitute the classic all-knowing narrator in order to gain a more complex understanding of history and reality.

wishing gurnah stories would never end.

C. · 18 May 2024

The characters become so real to me , it seems unnatural to stop knowing what comes next. i may not be able to sleep not knowing what they had for supper. The ugliness of colonial intrusion into Africa makes me skin hurt while reading Gurnah and it's even more stark interspersed with the gentle poking fun at the various Europeans and their absurd notions of what should happen when they arrive in new countries and impose themselves on the people who live there. Painful stories, beautiful writing, as always.

C’è una bella storia e un bel finale.

R.E. · 14 March 2023

Linguaggio ricco, bella storia, di grande attualità, stupefacente il fatto che non sia scritto in lingua madre dell’autore. Ne ho subito letto un altro dello stesso autore

Mooi verhaal met exotische achtergrond zonder exotisch te worden

K.S. · 19 September 2022

Dramatisch, meeslepend, en zoals elke Gurnah de moeite meer dan waard. Je vindt er hier en daar iets van VS Naipaul in terug.

lubro no recomendable

J.K.B. · 10 January 2022

No me ha gustado este libro. Es repetitivo (copia la estructura de otro libro del mismo autor), da una sensación de dejä vu. Luego, los dos personajes protagonistas de la novela, cada uno con su historia vital que es básicamente la misma, pero vista desde una perspectiva opuesta, son demasiado “idénticos” como personas; no presentan un perfil psicológico suficientemente contrastante para ser diferentes. Hablan prácticamente de la misma manera, con el mismo tipo de voz, y es difícil saber quién de los dos está hablando en un momento dado. Eso causa irritación (muy peligroso para el novelista que desea que el lector se pierda en el relato), y al final, genera algo de indiferencia en el lector. En tercer lugar, el libro es demasiado extenso y se convierte a menudo en un reportaje documentario, bien sobre el país africano (no identificado) de origen y los crímenes de sus sucesivos gobiernos, o el país, con pasado colonialista adonde ambos han emigrado y donde ambos son residentes, al parecer con carácter definitivo. Como el autor no aporta datos comprobables, de carácter “objetivo” de los hechos relatados/denunciados, las páginas, dedicadas a este menester (que son demasiadas, y se relatan en un tono demasiado relajado/neutral/ algunas veces irónico, que no encaja en el carácter de ninguno de los dos protagonistas), son totalmente innecesarias desde el punto de vista artístico (no aportan nada a la trama), y quedan como páginas de relleno para hacer el libro más voluminoso. No es un libro muy bueno, honestamente, y no puede medirse de ningún modo con por ejemplo Gravel Heart del mismo autor, que es un libro excelente. Lamento decirlo.

bestens

m. · 6 August 2018

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

Name: By the Sea: By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021
Brand: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
SKU: K0747557853
Price: 7.15 BHD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.2 (13 reviews)

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