For context, I’m Egyptian.
The story itself is… Alright… But the way Egypt and the Sahara are represented just doesn’t make sense to me. I guess to the western audience it’s supposed to be exotic and stuff, but to me, it is not only mundane, but most of it is also untrue.
Faiyum is not a random Oasis in the middle of the desert where a bunch of Tribes live in tents, it is one of the country’s oldest urban centers, and served as it’s capital for a while, under Persian rule.
That basically ruins the middle part of the story for me because I just find myself cringing at a hyper exotic version of a real place i live very close to.
a part of the story revolves around a point where the main character can not leave Faiyum because the desert is dangerous at that time, problem is, Faiyum is not in the desert. You can walk straight to the nile without going through any desert.
I know this is stupid but the portrayal is so off it just hurts to read. I can’t relate to or imagine a story that is set in a wrong version of where I live.
/endrant
by Firescareduser
1 Comment
I hear you, reading descriptions of life/places in my country (New Zealand) when it’s been written about by other people is always weird and jars me out of the story.