By Asyrique Asyraf Thevendran/The Gazelle

"In an Antique Land." The title conjures up visions of ancient castles, camels in the sunset and Persian princes. But for the class of 2017, this required summer reading was an example of how not to judge a book by its cover.

The story-line novel follows the anthropological adventures of the author, Amitav Ghosh, as a graduate student at Oxford, transplanted from his hometown to the dusty, isolated village of Lataifa in rural Egypt. The somewhat reluctant protagonist is thrown into a variety of thought-provoking circumstances as he navigates small-town life while completing research for his thesis.

What makes this book unique and challenging is the blurring of genre lines that Ghosh attempts, creating a piece which appears to be fiction at first glance, but later reveals its multi-faceted nature after a closer read.

“What was really interesting to me was to explore how the same experiences, that of a tradesmen travelling from the Middle East to India, and that of the narrator, going the opposite way, are actually quite different,” said Ghosh.

The novel evoked a variety of sentiments among the class of 2017. As the class was given two months to complete their first assignment, one would assume many would have dove in with gusto. However, many did not manage to finish the book.

“I only finished it halfway, mainly because I didn’t get my copy of the book until three days before Marhaba,” said freshman Nadine Ibrahim. “It was an interesting read, but I found it repetitious because, being Egyptian, the culture was familiar to me.”

A similar sentiment was echoed by other members of the class, mostly those from Islamic backgrounds. For them, Ghosh’s descriptions of observing a mowlid, the practice of celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, were already familiar.

However, students who came from other backgrounds found the novel to be an insightful, well-timed introduction to the Arab world prior to arriving at NYU Abu Dhabi.

“The book illuminated the culture of the Middle East for me. However, some parts were slightly tedious to get through,” said freshman Martin Slosarik.

Mixed reactions abounded during the colloquium sessions, when students discussed and debated the merits and pitfalls of the novel with the guidance of a faculty member. At first, the class of 2017 was not very enthusiastic. However, following the discussion they slowly warmed up to the eclectic style of the book.

This trend was more apparent during a plenary session for NYUAD students at the Downtown Campus, where the author came to discuss the ideas he touched upon in the novel. Although required for all freshmen enrolled in the Analysis and Expression course, a large number of upperclassmen attended for their capstone seminar.

Ghosh began the plenary with a riveting introduction to his background, describing his life back when he was writing the book in the  ‘80s. Emphasized with black and white photographs of the fellaheen, the peasants from the village in Egypt on which he based his novel, the talk painted a vivid picture of his travels in the region.  He also explained why he decided to combine two stories, one autobiographical and one historical, in the book.

While the novel did stir up some strong feelings, both positive and negative among the freshmen, it also created a  forum for debate on social media platforms like Facebook chats, Whatsapp and Twitter.

Senior Lucas Hansen, who was among the students attending the event with the Arts and Humanities capstone course, liked that Ghosh questioned commonly-used terms at this university.

“He pointed out, accurately, that NYUAD is not special in the sense of being cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitanism has always existed; it's only recently as we fragment that we feel the need to claim ourselves as such,” Hansen said.

"I think he was very realistic about what to expect and not to expect in university."