From Publishers Weekly
In Baugh's evocative debut, an unnamed American woman studying at the American University in Cairo bears witness to the lives of several Cairene women, finding their lives at once heartbreaking, fascinating and inspiring. The American student's Arabic professor, Afkar, who teaches her the delights of a precise cup of Turkish coffee, was forced into marriage with a weak, abusive man after an indiscreet crush as a girl. Huda, now perilously in her early 20s, loves penniless Sharif, but marries a financially stable man she finds physically repulsive, and learns to live with this decision. Huda's mother, Karima, a childhood victim of female genital mutilation, marries the grocer and faces a horrific birth control situation. And the American learns the stories of Selwa, who has borne 12 children and had three survive, and of Samira, who has spent most of her adult life in love with her best friend's husband. Baugh overwrites (Qasr al-'Ayni Street seethes with faces and bodies, and I walk it in a daze that despises the density while thriving on the sudden, forced intimacy of it all), but her observations and empathy are often spot on.
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Review
“In Baugh’s evocative debut, an unnamed American woman studying at the American University in Cairo bears witness to the lives of several Cairene women, finding their lives at once heartbreaking, fascinating, and inspiring. . . . [Baugh's] observations and empathy are often spot on.”---Publishers Weekly
“Baugh weaves a rich tapestry of women’s lives through their stories. Without preaching, she demonstrates that patriarchal custom, not religion, places women in subservience. The narrator’s neighbors, all vibrant, intelligent individuals, provide the narrator with more of an education than her classes. This timely, important, readable book should be in most libraries.”---Library Journal
“A beautifully written, bittersweet journey into the complexities of life for six Egyptian women. Baugh magically peels away the layers of their complicated world as each crosses into forbidden territory, creating a masterpiece of intensely felt details that will seem at once strange, but familiar.”---Jean Sasson, international bestselling author of Princess
“The View from Garden City provides a striking testament to the amazing spirit of the unseen and unheard Arab woman living in Cairo. These women, though powerless to make their own decisions, not only survive the mental, psychological, and physical abuse inflicted on them, but through their unbreakable bonds with each other, actually triumph and become the core, the essence, of their society.”---Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent
