Ahdaf Soueif's book on the revolution so far has, comfortingly, been given a lousy review by Samer el Youssef in the Arab Israeli Book Review. I have left the following comment, and it is "awaiting moderation". But since I don't expect it to be approved, here it is:
I wonder if the reviewer has read even a chapter of this book? Soueif makes it clear, repeatedly, that the book is intended as an act of intervention in an ongoing revolution, that it is false to think of the 18 days as a complete narrative and that we are engaged in an ongoing struggle.
Secondly, anyone that is familiar with Soueif's work, or, indeed, has read the book, will know that she has been writing fiercely critical articles of the Mubarak regime for the last decade. For anyone that wants to check them out, they are all compiled both on her website and the Guardian's.
Finally - though it's hardly worth mentioning in such a summarily incoherent article - the reviewer accuses Soueif of "posing" as a revolutionary, aligns her with people "who don't know a word of Arabic" - and then goes on to say she was seen "manning the barricades at Tahrir Square". Which one is it? Does the reviewer even know?
The fog of confusion hangs thick over this article. But that should hardly be a surprise given the website that hosts it.
