Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney (2007)
Read: January - February 2012
We picked this book up new (not common for us!) but from a discount bookstore (of course!) I was attracted to it for two reasons; being about travelling in Egypt and also being about rowing. I didn't have high hopes for it though, as we bought it at the same time as the Cleopatra's Needle / Cycling book which I thought was a bit naff. Finding that this book had a 'reader's guide' of questions for your book group to consider didn't really help either!
But I was pleasently surprised and found that I enjoyed this book and read it in about two weeks. While Rosemary was very confident at first about the prospect of being able to find a boat that she could buy, she soon realised that this was a difficult task - and another difficult task to convince people that she could/would row it! It was a really nice character study to read about her befriending the receptionist at the hotel she was first staying at - and finding out more about her life and the life of a women in Upper Egypt. Rosemary had a clear understanding of what a white woman walking around by herself in Egypt could expect and took all of this with grace. She became fustrated at times, but didn't let attitudes get to her, which was reassuring.
Her realism and positivity paid off when she met Amr who was 'not like the other guys' as he wasn't fazed by a western woman asking him about his boat. He let her try his boat out and asked a reasonable price and by letting her into his home as well, the book contains further insight into life in Upper Egypt.
Rosemary starts her journey with help from Amr and once she has got over the hurdle of getting started, she is abel to finally get on with her journey as she imagined it; being alone on the Nile. This journey wasn't about proving physical fitness, or about going somewhere specific, it was just about having the chance to really see part of Egypt.
The issue that I felt wasn't addressed in the book was whether Rosemary realised that it may have been a slightly selfish act to try and buy a boat from someone. Yes, in the end she did just leave her boat on the bank for someone to find, but for the fisherman who's boat she bought I don't know if she considered that this boat was his livelihood. OK she was giving him a fair amount of money for it, but he would then have the trouble potentially of finding another boat. I see that she wanted to be authentic - rather than just have a boat made for her.
Her night-time incident in her second rowing trip did highlight the fact that anyone on their own could be vulnerable, but as the events evolve it's clear that she has been very lucky. Without this incident though and you might question whether she was right to be cautious - I think it is always right to be cautious in situations unknown!
Read: January - February 2012
We picked this book up new (not common for us!) but from a discount bookstore (of course!) I was attracted to it for two reasons; being about travelling in Egypt and also being about rowing. I didn't have high hopes for it though, as we bought it at the same time as the Cleopatra's Needle / Cycling book which I thought was a bit naff. Finding that this book had a 'reader's guide' of questions for your book group to consider didn't really help either!
But I was pleasently surprised and found that I enjoyed this book and read it in about two weeks. While Rosemary was very confident at first about the prospect of being able to find a boat that she could buy, she soon realised that this was a difficult task - and another difficult task to convince people that she could/would row it! It was a really nice character study to read about her befriending the receptionist at the hotel she was first staying at - and finding out more about her life and the life of a women in Upper Egypt. Rosemary had a clear understanding of what a white woman walking around by herself in Egypt could expect and took all of this with grace. She became fustrated at times, but didn't let attitudes get to her, which was reassuring.
Her realism and positivity paid off when she met Amr who was 'not like the other guys' as he wasn't fazed by a western woman asking him about his boat. He let her try his boat out and asked a reasonable price and by letting her into his home as well, the book contains further insight into life in Upper Egypt.
Rosemary starts her journey with help from Amr and once she has got over the hurdle of getting started, she is abel to finally get on with her journey as she imagined it; being alone on the Nile. This journey wasn't about proving physical fitness, or about going somewhere specific, it was just about having the chance to really see part of Egypt.
The issue that I felt wasn't addressed in the book was whether Rosemary realised that it may have been a slightly selfish act to try and buy a boat from someone. Yes, in the end she did just leave her boat on the bank for someone to find, but for the fisherman who's boat she bought I don't know if she considered that this boat was his livelihood. OK she was giving him a fair amount of money for it, but he would then have the trouble potentially of finding another boat. I see that she wanted to be authentic - rather than just have a boat made for her.
Her night-time incident in her second rowing trip did highlight the fact that anyone on their own could be vulnerable, but as the events evolve it's clear that she has been very lucky. Without this incident though and you might question whether she was right to be cautious - I think it is always right to be cautious in situations unknown!
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