Call number
FIC MAH
Collection
Genres
Publication
Doubleday (1995), Edition: 1st, 448 pages
Description
The tale of a Mafia-like don in Egypt. He lives in a mansion in Cairo, uphill at the end of an alley whose inhabitants he exploits. He is the patriarch of a large family whose wealth comes from dealing in drugs and various protection rackets. While family members jockey for power, the people below live in squalor, dreaming of the revolutionary heroes their poverty produced. An expose of injustice in Egypt by a Nobel Prize winner and author of 30 novels.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kristenn
A really interesting concept, well-executed. (Nobel Prize winner, so go figure.) That concept was also a permanent distraction, however. Especially when the plot would deviate from the 'real' story. Although the deviations did at least keep it all from being totally predictable. For the
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second-to-last chapter, I know basically nothing about the theme, but even then I kept wondering which bits would be familiar if I did, and just generally felt guilty for knowing so little. Subplots involving supporting characters in that second-to-last section were clear just from current events, though. Really interesting look at another culture as well, since the issues of modern Egypt bled through. Brings up thoughts about how the story would go if written by someone in another -- any other -- country. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookfest
This is a challenging, complex novel set in Cairo. It follows one generation after another, descendants of a feudal lord, who are in constant, violent conflict. Saviors arrive in different time periods, trying to put an end to the brutality, but each is defeated or before long the violence returns.
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It would be seen as the endless struggle between good and evil, but the odds usually seem to be with evil. Sometimes the unfamiliar names and the constant references to those in the past made it difficult to follow. Sometimes, I suspect, the translation was a bit awkward. Interesting concept - but felt like it was work to stick with it. Show Less
LibraryThing member wickenden
I read this some time ago -- I remember it as a beautiful book which shed light for me on Islam. Shelving it for now as a must re-read!
LibraryThing member electrascaife
The fictional history of a gebelawi (alley/neighborhood) in Cairo, but it's really an elaborate allegory for/retelling of Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. At first I loved it, and that love sustained me through the Cain & Abel section and through the first part of the Moses bit,
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but then the variation in the saga (and it is, as it seems to me, much longer than it needs to be) leaked out and I lost interest. It's clever to a point, and I think the cleverness would have won out with a bit more editing. Show Less
Pages
448
ISBN
0385420943 / 9780385420945