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August Book Sense Pick A fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed 'scientist of women.' A purring, voluptuous siren. A young shop-girl enduring the clammy touch of her boss and hating herself for accepting the modest banknotes he tucks into her pocket afterward. An earnest, devout young doorman, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism. A cynical, secretly gay newspaper editor, helplessly in love with a peasant security guard. A roof-squatting tailor, scheming to own property. A corrupt and corpulent politician, twisting the Koran to justify taking a mistress. All live in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor slowly decaying in the smog and hubbub of downtown Cairo, Egypt. In the course of this unforgettable novel, these disparate lives converge, careening inexorably toward an explosive conclusion. Tragicomic, passionate, shockingly frank in its sexuality, and brimming with an extraordinary, embracing human compassion, The Yacoubian Building is a literary achievement of the first order.… (more)
User reviews
The book uses non-overlapping narrativs to tell the stories of the inhabitants of the Yacoubian building
So why didn't I like it? Well, firstly because al Aswany's attempts to deal with the above issue are shallow and frivolous. He populates the Yacoubian building with a series of unsubtle stereotyped characters (the corrupt politician, the radicalised fundamentalist, the dodgy businessman, the repressed homosexual, etc.) and proceeds to give them narratives as unsubtle and cliched as their protagonists. There was a frivoility to the whole thing that made me feel like I was watching a cartoon, or reading a kid's book.
Secondly, al Aswany tells each narrative in short bursts (around 5 pages mostly) before switching to another story. I think he was trying to build up a sort of mosaic picture. The narratives didn't overlap (or only rarely, and not in particularly meaningful ways), so it felt like he had written a bunch of short stories then shuffled them together, in an attempt to create a single novel from the disparate strands. It just didn't work for me, and I felt like the structure was trying to cheat me into believing I had read something more interesting and complex than I actually had.
The tales of the people whose lives centre on this buidling, which is a relic of former days of granduer, give glimpses into the lives of many different parts of Egyptian society. It highlights the hyporcacy of many and the corruption of state bodies and politicians. it does it in an easy to read style and gives the reader an understanding of the thoughts and motivations of the characters, some motivations not being the most honourable.
I have seen this book described as a great book about homosexuality in Egypt. Some of the commentaries I read left me thinking that homosexuality was the only theme in the book. One of the story lines is about a homosexual relationship, but it is only one story line and I think the author did a great job with all the story lines.
Would I read another book by thie author?
Yes.
Would I recommend this book?
Yes.
Who would I recommend this book to?
Anyone interested in learning something about Egyptian society in the years before the Arab Spring.
This is a vivid snapshot of what life was like in Cairo, at a time before the demonstrations in Tahrir Square, but when a religious extremism was on the rise, a reaction to the lack of opportunity for those without money or connections. al-Aswany also looks at the treatment of women and how they are expected to keep themselves removed from public life, as well as the stark disparity between the wealthy and those who are struggling to get by. The author treats all his characters, even the most reprehensible, with understanding and a clear-eyed compassion that made me feel invested in even the characters I actively disliked.
(Review written in 2007.)
Two of the male characters were engaged in a homosexual relationship which didn't work out well; without spoiling the plot, I felt this was quite a negative depiction and wonder why Al Aswany chose to do this when it might have been more powerful to just leave it as it was earlier in the book.
The premise of the book - to describe the interlinked lives of people living and working in a particular building - was a really great idea but I don't think it was executed very well. It took a long time for the story to get going, the characters' lives remained quite insular, and when I turned the page and discovered it was the end of the book, it all felt very anti-climatic and as if the story had just fizzled out to nothing.
While each of these characters are interestingly drawn, I felt that ultimately, if the cast had been less numerate, i may have learnt more from each of them. The conglomerate made the novel feel episodic and short storyesque.
I think, at base, my main issue is - and this could be as a result of reading in translation - that I didn't find it particularly well written. At base, despite the seriousness of some of the subject matter, it read like a trashy read.
One of those books where I think I would probably prefer the film, and that's really not something that I say very often.
The strength of this book is its characterizations. Zaki Bey is flamboyant and wealthy, and goes through elaborate rituals to prepare himself to entertain women in his apartment / office. His servant, Abaskharon, lives on the roof with his brother. Also living on the roof are Busayna, a beautiful young woman, and Taha, a devout Muslim man in love with Busayna. Hagg Muhammad Azzam is a rather slimy businessman and politician who manipulates everyone around him for personal gain, and Hatim Rasheed is a gay newspaper editor struggling to find happiness. For the most part, the characters' lives are not linked in any way, but each person's story progresses a few pages at a time, sometimes stopping at logical points and at other times with a bit of a cliffhanger.
The people portrayed in The Yacoubian Buildilng are all ordinary people, living ordinary lives within their social class, and striving for self-actualization. This is important reading for Americans, to counteract the media's typical portrayal of all middle eastern people as evil.
The cast of characters seemed to run the gamut of Egyptian stereotypes … from the aging debonair playboy and his sister the shrew-like crone to the poor student-turned-fundamentalist and his too-practical less-conservative girlfriend. Thrown in were a few scheming servants, greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians and semi-closeted homosexuals. The predictable dramas ensued as the characters scratched out a living, confronted bigotries of various kinds, and searched for love. The novel was fast-paced, laying out the circumstances for a particular character, and then moving to another. To me this organization made it easy to stay interested in the various people moving in and out of the Yacoubian building even if they were a bit two-dimensional.
This book may not be what people typically think of as an "African" read, but it is nonetheless an enjoyable introduction (albeit with a very Western-leaning worldview) to a vibrant African culture.
The binding factor in the novel is the Yacoubian building, a once stylish, but now rather decayed building in the centre of Cairo. All of the characters either live or work in this building. Otherwise, their stories couldn't differ more. There is the serious student becoming a religious fundamentalist, the girl trying to survive in a sexist world, the old womanizer, the homosexual, the wannabe politician paying his bribes. Through these stories al Aswaani touches on the questionable sides of Egyptian society: corruption, unqualified politicians, torture, sexism, double standard of morals, the rise of fundamentalism, inequality and abuse of power.
I don't think it was intended to be a literary novel. The characters remain somewhat superficial, and the language is functional, not poetic, at least not in the translation. For these reasons I wouldn't give the book a top rating. However, I would still recommend this book to my friends, because it was an interesting and pleasant read, giving insight in Egyptian society.
I needed have worried. Despite the fast
Another thing that I really liked about this book was there were no “good guys” and “bad guys”, and in this way I found it very true to life. In so many books you are presented with flat, uninspiring characters that are clearly intended to be either loved or hated by the reader. But in The Yacoubian Building every one of the main characters was flawed, and yet at the same time I found that they were each likable in their own way.
This was a romping read, fascinating from the first chapter and brutally honest in its portrayal of sex, religion, relationships, politics and cruelty. A ‘warts and all’ look at human nature that as well as being an insight into Egyptian life was surely relevant to every culture. I would recommend it to anyone.
Finally, I found the references to scent intriguing. The smell of death, the scent of an old man, the perfume of a woman preparing for the arrival of her lover. An interesting thread that ran through the book and helped give the narrative an evocative extra layer.
Great stuff!
I think it very encouraging that this book has won the Best Arabic Book of the Year award: our media would have us believe this kind of writing to be impossible in a Muslim country. ”
One or another of this varied collection of humanity engage in or suffer deceit, corruption, illegal dealings, domestic strife, rejection, fundamentalism, torture, and sexual desire, harassment and fulfilment. For some the outcome is frustration or even tragedy, for others unexpected joy and satisfaction. Altogether this provides a very colourful picture of life in Egypt during a difficult period. An engaging read.
Escaped from the Egyptian censor, this book deserves to be read by the world.
I hope his
Three affluent and independent men (all at least fifty years old and all, conveniently, apartment holders in the Yacoubian Buildnig) create drama by exercising their power to initiate relationships with much younger Egyptians, whether male or female. The novel is pleasantly villain-free; though there are plenty of misled, meddling and ill-intentioned characters.
"The Yacoubian Building" is interspersed with Al Aswany's contribution to the "What makes them do it?" sub-genre of humanizing jihadists. This sub-plot, while slightly predictable and a little grim, is balanced, detailed and not particularly manipulative. The only other young man in the novel (who doesn't want to shoot the infidels) is a poor Nubian with wife and child who serves to illustrate the vaguely tragic plight of sensitive and cultured Cairo homosexuals. Al Aswany deals with gayness in Egypt in an unabashed and almost affectionate way, going out of his way to explain how the larger community adapts to the presence of homosexuals in their midst.
The whole composition works quiet well and is propelled by a series of creative and comical power grabs and sexual stratagems set against the struggle between secularists and fundamentalists, wealthy power holders and aspirants. Al Aswany's careful attention to the psychology of his characters sustains the novel and prevents it from becoming an overblown parade of stereotypes. His ability to slow down and pinpoint, often with a pleasantly dark humor, the precise motivations and tactics of his characters is what elevates this from story-telling to literature.
For instance, "Right now, in bed with Hagg Azzam, she is playing out a scene--that of the woman who, taken unawares by her husband's virility, surrenders to him so that he may do with her body whatever his extraordinary strength may demand, her eyes closed, panting, and sighing--while in reality she feels nothing except rubbing, just the rubbing of two naked bodies, cold and annoying."
And, "There lay between the two old people all the irritability, impatience and obstinance that go with old age, plus that certain tension that develops when two individuals live in too close a proximity to one another--from using the bathroom for a long time when the other wants it, from one seeing the sullen face the other wears when he wakes from sleeping, from one wanting silence while the other insists on talking, from the mere presence of another person who never leaves you day and night, who stares at you, who interrupts you, who picks on everything you say, and the grating of whose molars when he chews sets you on edge and the ringing noise of whose spoon striking the dishes disturbs your quiet every time he sits down to eat with you."
I find it easier to be patient with an author who is constantly introducing new characters if he will at least take the time to put them forward in such a clear light. I will read Al Aswany's subsequent novel. (And this is definitely one of the two best Arabic language novels that I have ever read.)