I have decided to take a stab at reading all the Booker Prize winners that I haven't yet read, so started with this, the first one. This book was a slow burn. I had trouble getting into it, and the confusion of the man who was allegedly telling his story in this book. Townrow is a scoundrel, but even he's can't remember what he did. There had to be a reason for him to be in Egypt in 1956. I like how the actual historical events are woven into this story, and I like the confusion of never knowing where Townrow is coming from. The book is brilliantly written, and the total import of the story didn't hit me until the end. It was then I realized what a scoundrel Townrow was. I am sure that this book is the work of a master manipulator, and a fine example of an unreliable narrator. I am really glad I read this early work, and am looking forward to more surprises in the lengthy list of Booker Prize winners. ( )

Terrible. I didn't really understand it but I think the auther was trying to show how a madman thinks. ( )

A former British soldier named Townrow returns to Port Said, Egypt in 1956 after being summoned by his friend's widow. She's convinced her husband, Elie Khoury, was murdered. Once in Egypt Townrow's reality is tenuous. He's not sure at times of his identity, his nationality or even whether he's still alive. A blow to the head, his friend's death, the nationalization of the Suez Canal and subsequent invasion by the British don't help. He also meets a woman who "changed the chemistry of his blood."

Memory is integral to the story. Townrow's memory in particular. Events and timelines are muddled. "He must stop mis-remembering. He must clear his mind. What actually had happened?" An intelligent and skillfully written story with a great sense of time and place. ( )

Jack Townrow answers a plea for help from an Englishwoman living in Port Said he is acquainted with who believes her Lebanese husband was murdered. His first night in Port Said he gets drunk, is knocked unconscious and left for dead in the desert. The resulting injuries and concussion give him memory problems as he tries to piece together what happened to the deceased and to himself.

I found this book annoying because I kept misreading Townrow (as the author continually referred to the character) as tomorrow and having to backtrack. I don't like inconclusive endings. ( )

It is always interesting to read Booker winners but I have rather mixed feelings about this one (the first). At face value it reads like a comic picaresque dream story, a confusing narrative set in Egypt during the Suez crisis, but it addresses wider issues of responsibility, national identity and the end of the British empire. ( )