Picture In the Sand Review

Picture In the Sand

Paul Blauner

Minotaur Books published January 3, 2023

Historical Fiction

Picture In the Sand Review

Summary

George Eliot is attributed with saying “History repeats itself.” An Egyptian grandfather shares his untold story beginning with the making of the Ten Commandments, in an attempt to save his grandson.

The story is written as a modern epistolary based on emails between Ali Hassan and his grandson.  Ali’s grandson, raised in the USA, has joined a group in the Middle East that are fighting a “holy war.”  Desperate to have his grandson return he reaches out via email. He decides to share his own untold story.  It turns out he had participated in a political rebellion in 1950’s Egypt, that somehow involved the filming of the Ten Commandments and Cecil B. DeMille and drastically changed his life forever.  

Overall Impressions

I read historical fiction to learn about historical events and places through a good story, and I have to say this was a good story. The pacing and characters you encounter feels like an action film, but with more time to feel the emotions, confusion, and danger. 

The book has some very difficult moments with explicit descriptions of torture, making for some tough but necessary reading.  The lack of respect for other people and the radicalization of ideas play a crucial part to both storylines.

Personal Issues

My only issue is once again the write up of the book does not do it justice – in fact promises something it does not give, “…a sweeping intergenerational saga…”  I am running into this more and more with book descriptions. Flippant and misused attention-grabbing grandiose buzzwords target the wrong audiences and therefore lead to disappointed readers.  This in fact is really one man’s story that is being mirrored by his grandson’s story.  You do not get much of the grandson’s story, but it follows a familiar path and since it is based in modern day the reader can fill in the blanks.  

However, this is still a great historical fiction novel with lots of insight into a part of the world I embarrassingly know very little about, even though their history has now crossed with my present.  In addition to the political historical references, movie history buffs might find the appearance of well-known historical figures of old Hollywood an appropriate and great addition to the story. Once again it has taken a fictional story to get me started down a path of education and discovery.