Tuesday 3 May 2011

Waltari, Mika "The Egyptian"


Waltari, Mika "The Egyptian" (Finnish: Sinuhe Egyptiläinen) - 1945

A book suggested by one of our Finnish members. She told us that the author studied ancient cultures and theology and the facts in this book are accurate. He couldn't print war books at the time, so instead he wrote this one. We all thought it was wonderful even though none of us was really that much into that kind of history. A very detailed and informative account.

The book covers not only Egyptian history but also everything about the human nature, its goodness and its cruelty. The author writes about love and war, intrigue, victory and defeat, about the role of religion that was very important at the time. It was interesting to compare the ancient way of looking at the world. It's amazing how the pharaoh Akhenaton at the time tried to create a Christian-like religion.

This novel gave a lot of discussion material. The life of Sinuhe, an Egyptian doctor, is wrapped around the history of quite a few famous and impressive pharaohs. I have actually enjoyed it so much that I started reading more about Egyptian history.

We discussed this in our book club in May 2006.

From the back cover:

"This epic tale encompasses the whole of the then-known world, from Babylon to Crete, from Thebes to Jerusalem, while centering around one unforgettable figure: Sinuhe, a man of mysterious origins who rises from the depths of degradation to become personal physician to Pharaoh Akhnaton."

We read "The Dark Angel" by the same author a year later.

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