I have always loved and been fascinated by the Egyptian ancient civilization. I clearly remember the timing of getting this book. Egypt’s Golden Couple had just come out, a book about two famous Pharaohs. I had been looking into the 2022 Giller Prize finalists and one of the books was If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English. When it arrived, Picture in the Sand by Peter Blauner was a lovely surprise in the mailbox. It’s great when so many books with even the smallest commonality line up close to one another. I was getting a chance to read about everyday lives of the people. Here is a look at what Picture in the Sand is about:
Picture in the Sand
By Peter Blauner | Goodreads
Peter Blauner’s epic Picture in the Sand is a sweeping intergenerational saga told through a grandfather’s passionate letters to his grandson, passing on the story of his political rebellion in 1950s Egypt in order to save his grandson’s life in a post-9/11 world.
When Alex Hassan gets accepted to an Ivy League university, his middle-class Egyptian-American family is filled with pride and excitement. But that joy turns to shock when they discover that he’s run off to the Middle East to join a holy war instead. When he refuses to communicate with everyone else, his loving grandfather Ali emails him one last plea. If Alex will stay in touch, his grandfather will share with Alex – and only Alex – a manuscript containing the secret story of his own life that he’s kept hidden from his family, until now.
It’s the tale of his romantic and heartbreaking past rooted in Hollywood and the post-revolutionary Egypt of the 1950s, when young Ali was a movie fanatic who attained a dream job working for the legendary director Cecil B. DeMille on the set of his epic film, The Ten Commandments. But Ali’s vision of a golden future as an American movie mogul gets upended when he is unwittingly caught up in a web of politics, espionage, and real-life events that change the course of history.
It’s a narrative he’s told no one for more than a half-century. But now he’s forced to unearth the past to save a young man who’s about to make the same tragic mistakes he made so long ago.
Content notes include torture, imprisonment, racism, and violence.
Picture in the Sand
I love books that revolve around grandparent-grandchild relationships! I have mostly read of granddaughter-grandmother relationships (The Mountains Sing, The Lost Souls of Leningrad) and more recently, The Theory of Crows involved a grandfather and granddaughter. It feels great to see another similar-but-different relationship. My Amma, paternal grandmother, wrote letters to me, and Gedo (Alex’s grandfather), Ali’s letters to Alex reminded me of her. She passed away in 2020 and reading Gedo’s tale, I wonder what her life story had been like, the event or situation that changed her life and got her where she did. She did not get a chance to tell me about her young days and I was glad to experience such an exchange between Ali and Alex.
Ali and Alex
It’s been decades since Ali has told anyone of his time before America. Watching Alex grow and his parents struggle with him, he has been pondering telling Alex about his life but he doesn’t know where to begin – how to create an opportunity to share a time of deep personal upheaval. When Alex decides to take part in the holy war in the Middle East, Ali can’t help seeing his young self in his grandson and hence has the chance to share his life story. As terrible as the situation was, Alex is right where Ali had been decades before. He hopes that in reading his manuscript, Alex would reconsider his actions and worldview, and hopefully come home safe.
Ali was a common man with more education than the average young man in Egypt in the 1950s. He wasn’t happy with the state of his country and he had a dream to make it to America one day. He didn’t know how in his early twenties but he was always on the lookout. When he got offered a job to work as the assistant to the great director Cecil B. DeMille on the set of his epic film, The Ten Commandments, he knew it was his time. Little did he know the obstacles he would be facing.
When first introduced, Alex comes off as a young head-strong man who was committed to his faith. He has embraced their doctrine with a new commitment and as Ali shared his life story, Alex judged him for every action and criticized him openly for each mistake. Alex took on his new identity by renaming himself. He is now Abu going forward. When Ali first appeals to him to read his manuscript, Abu is flippant. He will read but he wants a short answer. Can’t his Gedo just tell him what he wants him to learn from the tale? He felt he was being forced to read, though it was his choice (whether conscious or not), to continue to read and write back.
When we are alone, where no one knows us, it makes sense to hold on to one last thing from our past. It’s a connection to our identity, a possible way back home should we need it. Gedo is that lifeline for Alex, even though he doesn’t know it for the longest time.
On Roots, Belief and Identity
There is suspense, thrill and betrayal in Picture in the Sand. There are also deep family bonds. Ali and his father’s relationship was another favourite of mine throughout this book. An accident shakes his existence and having to hide something that horrific takes a toll on Ali. He realizes that in his quest to be someone, he has a lot to lose. Ali, like Alex, was seeking belonging. They both wanted to be part of something larger than them, whether it was a movie or a movement. They had dreams. I was reminded of the non-fiction book, High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by investigative journalist, Amanda Ripley and how people try to find meaning in big issues.
I will never forget Ali’s eventual stay in prison. It was heartbreaking to read about. On one hand, it shed light on the cruelty of humans and the torture we are capable of inflicting on each other, on the other, the beliefs that divide us can also crumble and we can find a common ground, like in the case of Ali and Raymond. I quite enjoyed how their relationship evolved.
While hating men and those who don’t believe in the same cause was easy, Alex is confronted with a dilemma when he meets (and is married to) a young child, Shayma. Alex is reminded of his values to be kind and wants to console her but the language barrier is devastating. The treatment of her by other men is unspeakable. Alex is discovering the other parts of his cause, where it is no longer the cause he agrees with. I loved how supported Alex felt by Gedo in these tough times and how the two of them could connect more. Gedo was the only one Alex could turn to in high stress situations.
Apart from major belief-shaking events, Alex’s continuous tug of war on his values is portrayed in subtle ways of how he signs his name at the end of the letter. He cannot share what exactly is happening around him but that and what Gedo is writing to him, the way he feels about the cause greatly affects his response.
He went as a young man, making bold declarations of a rebirth and recultivation of his roots, what reading Gedo’s letters reminds him is that it isn’t as straightforward.
Books set in Egypt
My thoughts of Picture in the Sand are incomplete without the mention of If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga (Goodreads). This book influenced and enhanced my reading of Picture in the Sand. While Noor’s book is set in present-day modern Egypt, Peter writes about the 1950s in Egypt. It was good for me to have a current idea of what Cairo and part of Egypt feel like to be able to imagine it back in the 50s. One of the protagonists in If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English is an Egyptian man while the other is an American woman whose family were immigrants from Egypt. She commented on the names of streets being important dates, telling of the times that Hassan, in Picture in the Sand, lived through and saw the roads named in front of him and the significance of the dates. My understanding of modern Egypt and a book set there was enhanced by reading historical fiction. I love the power that stories have in painting a world and how authors paint it at different times and places.
On Stephen King’s review
Along with my book, I received a glowing review of this book by Stephen King. As one of the most prolific and active writers out there, this was extraordinary praise and Minotaur books wanted its reviewers and readers to know that. I have read some books from King, most recently and my favorite, Pet Semetary, but I don’t know the kind of reader he is.
King commented that the book reminded him of why he fell in love with storytelling. This is deep admiration and I wholeheartedly agree that Picture in the Sand is amazing storytelling. It flows beautifully, integrating the everyday, personal struggles and political events into the fabric of life. I noticed the thematic wisdom through the stories as well.
Reading Experience for Picture in the Sand
Picture in the Sand kept me interested until the very end. I quite enjoyed it, finishing it within three days! This is a story about two people – grandson and grandfather – connecting for the first time, as adults and as humans. I recommend it to all avid readers of historical fiction and those who enjoy a tale about Egypt.
About the Author: Peter Blauner
Peter Blauner (b. 1959) is the Edgar-winning, New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including SLOW MOTION RIOT and THE INTRUDER. A native of New York City, he apprenticed under famed newspaper columnist Pete Hamill and first broke into print as a journalist for New York magazine. His books are detailed, character-driven crime novels that have attracted a devoted cult following. His newest novel, PICTURE IN THE SAND, due out in January 2023, is his first work of historical fiction.
Connect with Peter on Instagram, Facebook and his website. Stay tuned for my interview with him, coming tomorrow!
Many thanks to St Martin’s Press for sending me a review copy of this book for an honest review. Picture in the Sand is now available in stores. Find it on Amazon and Chapters. Add it to your shelf on Goodreads.
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