Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney

Book Review: Down the Nile

Awkward Crossing

Review by Amal Sedky Winter
(and then by Sheryl Ga Feldman)

Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff
Rosemary Mahoney
Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group
New York, 2007
273pp

Rosemary Mahoney is not a timid travel writer. This 38-year-old woman took off on a skiff for a Nile journey from Aswan to Qena in the early 2000s, during which, followed by an Egyptian guide, she rowed alone.

Her descriptions of nature are straightforward and arresting. “The river was completely flat—no ripples, no eddies—and looked as heavy and gray as mercury: it seemed miraculous that the water wasn’t boiling and steaming in the heat.” The book is worth reading for its physical depictions alone.

But there is another, more complex, refrain in Mahoney’s writing: that of encountering the people whose ways are different form hers--something that, by her own admission, she does not always do gracefully.

Speaking as someone who has been on both sides of the divide, I can empathize although not always sympathize with the problem. Nevertheless, until just before the end of the book, I found myself annoyed by the degree to which this woman felt entitled to do whatever she wanted while remaining abysmally ignorant of how much she was disturbing the people she encountered.

Read the book to the end, though. In all other aspects, it's a great trip.

September, 2009

Second Opinion
Sheryl Ga Feldman
Inspired by Amal's review above and those of the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, I decided to read this book for myself. I certainly agree that its well- written, rewarding me with lasting images of the Nile. I did gobble up the bits from the journals of Gustave Flaubert, Florence NIghtingale and other Nile travellers. But I take issue with the other reviewers on a couple of counts.

First, no one highlighted my favorite image, that of the linen from death shrouds curling up out of the soil, second, all (except Amal) emphasized the dismal elements of life in Egypte xperience and overlooked the sweeter ones......And finally, not even Amal came to terms with the structure of the book which portrayed male Egyptians as sexually aggressive and frightening.

I would have expected something more sophisticated from a travel writer. Except in the very most out of the way places, the encounter of rich travellers (relatively speaking) and very poor people is corrupteed; when the contact is regular, as it is in tourist cities like Luxor, the symptoms escalate, as it did when Mahoney tried to buy a boat.

Sexual and gender politics may even be worse, when travellers, male or female, have the easy power of buying sex or even companionship from desperate people. There's a reason that men in Luxor hustle foreign women; some of them happily pay up and poor people have families to support.

Unfortunately Ms. Mahoney makes these distorted relationships a theme of her book, as if they were unique to Egypt. It isn't until the end when she finds herself ready to use ar knife against a man who needs a few pound (he wouldnt take more) to feed his children that she recognizes her blindness.

The trouble is that the reader is all the while absorbing the ugly portraits: the seemingly endless string of men who hassle her with sexual innuendos, the man who tries to sell her a rotted boat; the woman who has the "sagging eyes of a hound," and even children who "straggle in and out of the open doors of mud-and-straw houses."

I was happy for Ms. Mahoney's ultimate insight. But given all the world's talk about understanding the other and embracing diversity, I would have preferred that she quoted as much from Egyptian writers, say Naguib Mahfouz, as she did Flaubert and NIghtingale, as well as more nuanced in her understanding of her encounters with men.

But we are all learning. And Ms. Mahoney is an exellent writer. Now that she has this discovery under her belt, I'm looking forward to her next book.


	Book Review: Down the Nile *Awkward Crossing* Review by Amal Sedky Winter (and then by Sheryl Ga Feldman) *Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff* Rosemary Mahoney Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group New York, 2007 273pp Rosemary Mahoney is not a timid travel writer. This 38-year-old woman took off on a skiff for a Nile journey from Aswan to Qena in the early 2000s, during which, followed by an Egyptian guide, she rowed alone. Her descriptions of nature are straightforward and arresting. “The river was completely flat—no ripples, no eddies—and looked as heavy and gray as mercury: it seemed miraculous that the water wasn’t boiling and steaming in the heat.” The book is worth reading for its physical depictions alone. But there is another, more complex, refrain in Mahoney’s writing: that of encountering the people whose ways are different form hers--something that, by her own admission, she does not always do gracefully. Speaking as someone who has been on both sides of the divide, I can empathize although not always sympathize with the problem. Nevertheless, until just before the end of the book, I found myself annoyed by the degree to which this woman felt entitled to do whatever she wanted while remaining abysmally ignorant of how much she was disturbing the people she encountered. Read the book to the end, though. In all other aspects, it's a great trip. September, 2009 Second Opinion Sheryl Ga Feldman Inspired by Amal's review above and those of the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, I decided to read this book for myself. I certainly agree that its well- written, rewarding me with lasting images of the Nile. I did gobble up the bits from the journals of Gustave Flaubert, Florence NIghtingale and other Nile travellers. But I take issue with the other reviewers on a couple of counts. First, no one highlighted my favorite image, that of the linen from death shrouds curling up out of the soil, second, all (except Amal) emphasized the dismal elements of life in Egypte xperience and overlooked the sweeter ones......And finally, not even Amal came to terms with the structure of the book which portrayed male Egyptians as sexually aggressive and frightening. I would have expected something more sophisticated from a travel writer. Except in the very most out of the way places, the encounter of rich travellers (relatively speaking) and very poor people is corrupteed; when the contact is regular, as it is in tourist cities like Luxor, the symptoms escalate, as it did when Mahoney tried to buy a boat. Sexual and gender politics may even be worse, when travellers, male or female, have the easy power of buying sex or even companionship from desperate people. There's a reason that men in Luxor hustle foreign women; some of them happily pay up and poor people have families to support. Unfortunately Ms. Mahoney makes these distorted relationships a theme of her book, as if they were unique to Egypt. It isn't until the end when she finds herself ready to use ar knife against a man who needs a few pound (he wouldnt take more) to feed his children that she recognizes her blindness. The trouble is that the reader is all the while absorbing the ugly portraits: the seemingly endless string of men who hassle her with sexual innuendos, the man who tries to sell her a rotted boat; the woman who has the "sagging eyes of a hound," and even children who "straggle in and out of the open doors of mud-and-straw houses." I was happy for Ms. Mahoney's ultimate insight. But given all the world's talk about understanding the other and embracing diversity, I would have preferred that she quoted as much from Egyptian writers, say Naguib Mahfouz, as she did Flaubert and NIghtingale, as well as more nuanced in her understanding of her encounters with men. But we are all learning. And Ms. Mahoney is an exellent writer. Now that she has this discovery under her belt, I'm looking forward to her next book. See also: New York Times Revie Christian Science Monitor Comment on This Review Choose a book. Write a Review