Arabic Short Stories [2]

Flower Crazy
The part that stood out to me the most in this story is how she would go to the city or the richer part of town. Her being poor, maybe it made her feel like she was rich, even if it only was for a second. I could relate to this because as a kid my family was very poor and we lived in a trailer park right across from a beautiful neighborhood called "Highland Hills" and I would ride my bike there just to feel like I lived there, even though eventually I had to go back to my poor life at home. This story had a lot of strange characters and I found it hard to know who people were referring to. And what's with the vomiting? I like how the poet is such a womanizer. Made for an interesting read.

The Drumming Sands
The one quote that really hits in this story is “It promises you everything, it promises you water and when you look for the water all you find in front of you is a mirage- mirages and mirages, a sea of mirages. They dance in front of you and stick their tongue out at you in mockery, leading you on without purpose.” Life is often like this. You expect so much because you are told to expect it. Even as Americans we are told that the American dream is right there for us to grab and all we have to do is just be a functional member of society and it will all come to us. Our government uses these same "mirages" to trick us into thinking everything is fine, but in all actuality the water in our deserts are too few and far between.

Cairo is a Small City
I think Salma and her mom set ol' boy up. I assume they both knew he was convicted for murder and led him to their beautiful town just so he could die. Like sirens on the rocky shores sweetly singing you to shipwreck. Most beautiful things, I have found, often lead you to uglier things. Kind of like getting your head cut off for a murder perhaps you didn't do. Which leads to the question: Was he guilty of this crime, or innocent? It sucks that all he was thinking about was wooing that Salma girl, or maybe he could have been about his wits.

The Persian Carpet
This story I didn't really enjoy reading. Kind of slow, and not very interesting in my opinion. We had a story kind of like this before where someone lied and said a servant stole something but they didn't. Can't remember the title of that one, but I'll check after I post this. I think the Mother should have just told the truth then the little girl wouldn't have been hurt, and the servant's name wouldn't have been tarnished. It's clear that the mother in this story is a very selfish person who only thinks of her new boyfriend and not her old family. I give this story a thumb down.