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A review by wickham
The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany
4.0
I can't speak to the accuracy of this book in terms of Egyptian culture, particularly in its given setting of the early 2000s, but I can speak to the quality of the book itself. It's been a good while since I actually had the opportunity to read this book, but it is only now that I've had time to write a proper review.
I may have lost the specifics of my praises and gripes with this book by now, but I remember the way that it gripped me day and night until I was able to finish it. Even for someone with no personal connection to the content of the book, nor any real frame of reference for the many social and political issues which form the crux of the plot, it was utterly engrossing from page to page and even from word to word. The characters were complex, some deeply sympathetic despite their obvious flaws while others are nearly perfect examples of human garbage that Aswany was somehow able to lend a glimmer of humanity.
In that vein, it's worth noting the attitude towards women in this novel. During the sections narrated by male characters the women are constantly degraded, oftentimes reduced to nothing but sexual objects. Yet if the discerning reader can look past these sections they'll find that the sections where the women are given voice completely justify these sections with the ignorant, cruel voices of the men. The women of this novel are clever, self-aware people who strive at every turn to better themselves and better their lives despite their fundamentally lower place in the hierarchy of the novel. There are women of all kinds, with all nature of opinions on sexuality and their own application of it for social progression, and they are made people with an unflinching glare at the sexism which hinders their lives so entirely.
This is a difficult book to read, with many moments of cynicism and tragedy which are genuinely painful to observe. Yet it has genuine heart to it, with shining humor and intellectualism that makes it an utterly engrossing read.
I may have lost the specifics of my praises and gripes with this book by now, but I remember the way that it gripped me day and night until I was able to finish it. Even for someone with no personal connection to the content of the book, nor any real frame of reference for the many social and political issues which form the crux of the plot, it was utterly engrossing from page to page and even from word to word. The characters were complex, some deeply sympathetic despite their obvious flaws while others are nearly perfect examples of human garbage that Aswany was somehow able to lend a glimmer of humanity.
In that vein, it's worth noting the attitude towards women in this novel. During the sections narrated by male characters the women are constantly degraded, oftentimes reduced to nothing but sexual objects. Yet if the discerning reader can look past these sections they'll find that the sections where the women are given voice completely justify these sections with the ignorant, cruel voices of the men. The women of this novel are clever, self-aware people who strive at every turn to better themselves and better their lives despite their fundamentally lower place in the hierarchy of the novel. There are women of all kinds, with all nature of opinions on sexuality and their own application of it for social progression, and they are made people with an unflinching glare at the sexism which hinders their lives so entirely.
This is a difficult book to read, with many moments of cynicism and tragedy which are genuinely painful to observe. Yet it has genuine heart to it, with shining humor and intellectualism that makes it an utterly engrossing read.