Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Egyptian

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The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

2 reviews

stindex's review

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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altsiboi's review

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adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

"Solitude is some men's destiny -- a destiny of mature years -- but I had been lonely from childhood, a stranger in the world since the reed boat had carried me to the Theban shore. I did not need to adapt myself to loneliness as many must since from the beginning it was home to me and a refuge in the dark."

*In-depth review, includes many spoilers*

The Egyptian by Mika Waltari tells the life story of Sinuhe, a royal doctor from the perspective of Sinuhe himself (not to be mistaken to "Myth of Sinuhe" from ancient Egypt, although these two hold some minor parallels).

There are at least two ways to read this book - you can enjoy it as a work of historical fiction or see it as a critique of capitalism and Marxism.

For historical fiction, "The Egyptian" is very accurate in its source. Inspired by the 20's Egyptomania resulting from the finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun, the story revolves around real people and real events.
Not knowing the history of these events doesn't reduce one's enjoyment of the story, but knowing something does help to keep on track of the events happening and the timeline.

The events of the book happen before the Late Bronze Age collapse, and societies can be seen slowly crumbling as Sinuhe makes his way through Assyria, Babylon (during its dark ages when controlled by Kassites), Hattusa, and Minoan Crete.
For most of the book, Egypt is going through its Amarna Period due to Pharaoh Akhetaten trying to make Egypt and its surrounding empires monotheistic by switching polytheism to worship of the sun god Aten.
Some supernatural elements aside, Waltari knew the history very well, mainly making mistakes with the concept of "Holy Prostitution" (although this was believed to be true during the time of writing) and leaving out Neferneferuaten completely out as pharaoh

(although this is teased as Nefertiti does think about stepping to power in the story) and moving straight from Akhenaten to Tutankhamun.

You don't have to be a literary genius to see Aten and its cult (Atenism) as an allegory for Christianity, which is no surprise knowing Waltari's background as a theologist and a son of a priest.
Akhenaten preaches about equality and unconditional love of Aten, as long as everyone accepts Aten as their one true god.
While preaching about love and peace, as well as prohibiting violence altogether (even when it would be used to defend Egypt), Akhetaten hypocritically goes to great lengths to force everyone to accept Aten, even when it could lead to violence. He gives the people of Egypt no freedom of religion, nor freedom from religion.

While Akhenaten is an obvious allegory for Christianity, there still are hints of critique towards communism as well. Akhetaten wants to free the slaves and the working class, creating a world where everyone can choose a job of their choice, and where everyone is of equal value. While building the city of Akhetaten (also known as Armana), he designs the houses of the city to be identical to each other, no matter who lives there (except obviously for himself, as he lives in a palace). He fails to see the needs of the people individually, giving identical houses to those who live alone and those with multiple children - leaving the latter with minimal space.
This is a continuous theme with Akhenaten's rule, as he fails to help those in need, leading Egypt to famine, war, and sickness. He cares more about the ideology, yet fails to execute it or even care for the execution of it.

Capitalism is personified in the book as Kaptah, the slave of Sinuhe that enjoys being a slave.
Kaptah believes that the current system of worker exploitation is good, as it allows the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. He is a stone-cold entrepreneur and isn't afraid to exploit, manipulate, cheat, or steal from others to gain riches and even carries his greedy attributes with great pride. He does this to everyone, but especially those working under him without feeling guilty.

Horemheb is the personification of war as he is a soldier (and in the end a pharaoh) that is violent, fearless, tactical, and cruel. He is a nationalist, whose main goal is to keep and expand Egypt as a great empire, no matter the cost of life. As a commander, he values the lives of his soldiers very little and only sees death as a form of weapon. For context, "The Egyptian" was written during the summer of 1945 near the end of WW2, and after the Winter War and Continuation War (USSR-Finland) ended, in during these wars Waltari worked as a propagandist.

Sinuhe is left to balance between these personifications, enjoying both the good and the bad that they have to offer him. He lets Kaptah exploit workers and slaves freely for his and Kaptah's benefit and rarely criticizes him for his actions.
Akhenaten he loves, as well as Aten and his message of equality - however, Sinuhe is very hypocritical about this, as he lectures about equality between people no matter the race, gender, or societal status, yet keeps a slave and is constantly racist and misogynistic for the entirety of the book.
The actions of Horemheb he often condemns, yet keeps working (mostly) willingly for his benefit and with him.
He sees the harm that both of these people do to society, and throughout his life is faced with options favoring one over the other and then left to deal with the grave consequences of said options.

Sinuhe is not a good or even likable person - he tells his story as he remembers it, with no need to glorify himself, as he believes his story will not be read by anyone else (although he seemingly hopes for it, based on who he decides to reserve the books).
I believe Sinuhe is not meant to be seen as a good person but as a deeply flawed individual.
He is incredibly racist, incredibly misogynistic (he keeps calling women simple and undermining anything they do if they do not do it for him), selfish, privileged, greedy, and a murderer. On a few occasions, he even prides himself on not raping a woman, even when he could.
While we see Sinuhe growing and maturing during the duration of the story, he never reaches that "perfect clarity" while self-reflecting on his actions. He knows he did bad things, and now he suffers greatly for it. Yet for some things he does he fails to realize are bad or morally wrong and thus doesn't reflect upon them.
Sinuhe does good deeds, like healing poor people without payment, but he is not a good person. Personally, this is the aspect that makes the story interesting, as we can follow through a fictional life of a very raw and humane person.

In the end, "The Egyptian" is a beautifully written story, that creates a mostly accurate description of the Ancient Near East. It is still a product of its time and heavily includes racist language, awful and objectifying descriptions of women, and many other things that have at best aged like milk. Yet, I still found myself devouring this book for the second time.

Also, while I'm at it - Nefernefernefer did nothing wrong.

4.25/5

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