Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih

Ok, ok, this is cheating a bit, because it wasn´t originally written in English (and will probably be discarded in terms of the course for that reason), but I was desperate for other Sudanese authors (apart from Leila Aboulela).

The more I read, the more I feel that all of these books deserve a second reading (at least), but that some of them positively demand it. This is one of those. I liked the very beginning, then there was a section in the middle that I found very dull and plodding, and then things got a bit more interesting towards the end. Is that just me, or is it really like that? I feel like only a second reading will tell.

Anyway, I think the book is mainly about two men who both grew up in the Sudan, then went to England as young men, then returned. I disliked bits of it for the same reason I disliked "Heart of Darkness" - nobody gets to tell such long, involved stories in such closely-remembered, artfully recounted detail. The descriptions of village life are interesting, but most of the characters didn't really feel fleshed out enough to me, especially the ones who are hugely important to the story (the narrator himself, Saeed and Hosna.) The narrator gives very little away about himself, the novel is mostly about his obsession(?) with the other man.

So, I think it´s a no for the course, but I think I should read it again for its own sake. Later.