The Wedding of Zein

Praise

“Tayeb Salih is one of those writers who come upon us stealthily. We welcome them, but discover, after they leave, that they have stolen something precious from us. They have made it imperative for us to reconsider everything.” —Ali Al-Rai

“This book. . . has timelessness and universality. . . humanity and abundant humor in all hues. . . insights and worldliness and awareness.” —London Tribune

“The Wedding of Zein presents a view of rural life so resilient it seems capable of withstanding challenge from any quarter…Salih weaves the story of Zein’s life forward and backward, touching nearly everyone…" –The Christian Science Monitor

“What I find particularly attractive about Mr. Salih’s way of writing is his attitude to the village people he describes. All of them are seen in a humourous way; the reader is invited to laugh at them, or at least to smile. And yet this humour is fundamentally kind; even at their most ridiculous, all the characters retain an essential dignity.” –Kingsley Amis

“These three stories are interesting, formally, because they show what happens when a considerable sophistication and resourcefulness of technique is applied to traditional storytelling material.” –The Guardian (London)

“A group of three sympathetic, well-told tales of Sudanese village life.” –The Listener

"It is certainly time that [Salih] be better known in America." –The Christian Science Monitor