Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff
by Rosemary Mahoney
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rosemary MahoneyEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2007-07-11
ISBN: 031610745X
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff
Book Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book because I enjoyed another book, Whoredom in Kimmage, by the same author. This one, though very different, is every bit as excellent. I have done business in several developing countries, including Egypt, and I found Mahoney extremely well informed. Her descriptions are surprisingly on the mark for a person who only spent a total of three months in the country. The book is full of history, detail, and fascinating information about the Egyptians and their culture. The writing is beautiful. It's also very colorful and funny. But for me, the most moving part of the book is the story that lies at its heart: the tender and mutually respectful friendship the author finds with a Nubian man who accepted her desire to row on the river and helped her realize it. The story is just beautiful. Mahoney's affection and interest for him--and his for her-- is a model for the way we all should treat people from other cultures.
Mahoney makes no pretensions to being an Egypt expert, just a curious traveller. She also doesn't pretend to have had a "grand" adventure. She makes it clear that the part of the Nile she wanted to row was just a fraction of that river. She prepared carefully for her trip and followed it through with guts, persistence, and patience. The book is obviously not about rowing but about all the things that happened on her way to fulfilling a dream and the lessons she learned, which is what it makes it so human and interesting. She finds Egypt beautiful, complex, and compelling and describes it in a vivid and intelligent style.
Mahoney went all over Egypt alone, striking up conversations with strangers, visiting their houses with curiosity, openness, and an attitude of acceptance that is rare. She was sensitive and thoughtful and talked with nearly every person she met, many of whom were men who followed her down the street drilling her with intimate questions, telling her that all foreign women are prostitutes, and making lewd comments. This a common occurrence in Luxor and Aswan. But Mahoney is very perceptive, even-handed, and forgiving about it. Just read this passage about a felucca captain who tricked and mocked her:
"Hussein . . . had tricked me, I knew, as much in bitterness as in fun. More than one felucca captain in Egypt resented the foreigners they served. It was understandable: they earned a marginal living facilitating the leisure of privileged individuals who came to bask in the exotic scenery and mysterious history of Aswan; people who stayed in five-star hotels that the languishing locals in their dusty flip-flops were not allowed to enter; people, pale and plump, who had enough money to bask in a false superiority yet haggled ferociously over pennies with their malnourished hosts . . . the condescension Hussein showed me was likely an echo of the condescension he received."
I could quote many passages like this one.
I read a lot of travel literature. The best travel books are always comprehensive, colorful, and balanced. I'm sure you won't find a more intelligent, informative, self-aware, or sympathetic travel narrative about Egypt than this one.
Summary of Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff
Rosemary Mahoney was determined to take a solo trip down the Egyptian Nile in a small boat, even though civil unrest and vexing local traditions conspired to create obstacles every step of the way. Starting off in the south, she gained the unlikely sympathy and respect of a Muslim sailor, who provided her with both a seven-foot skiff and a window into the culturally and materially impoverished lives of rural Egyptians. Egyptian women don't row on the Nile, and tourists aren't allowed to for safety's sake. Mahoney endures extreme heat during the day, and a terror of crocodiles while alone in her boat at night. Whether she's confronting deeply held beliefs about non-Muslim women, finding connections to past chroniclers of the Nile, or coming to the dramaticm realization that fear can engender unwarranted violence, Rosemary Mahoney's informed curiosity about the world, her glorious prose, and her wit never fail to captivate.Travel Books
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