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A review by booksbythewindow
The Book of Cairo: A City in Short Fiction by Hatem Hafez, Nahla Karam, Hassan Abdel-Mawgoud, Eman Abd El-Rahim, Mohammed Kheir, Mohamed Salah El Azab, Nael El-Toukhy, Raph Cormack, Ahmed Nagi, Areej Gammal, Hend Jaafar
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For Full Review: The Book of Cairo – Books by the Window (wordpress.com)
Summary: There are ten short stories included in this anthology, each exploring differing experiences of characters living in Cairo. The anthology opens with Mohamed Salah al-Azab’s ‘Gridlock’, translated by Adam Talib, which recounts the morning of a number of characters whose paths cross in one specific traffic jam, clearly evoking the noises of a city centre at rush hour. From there, several stories follow individual characters struggling with the direction of their lives.
Overall Thoughts: For me, the opening six stories were the highlight of the anthology, each bringing to life diverse characters and aspects of Cairo. Although none of them stood out to me in particular, all six as a whole served to do exactly what I as a reader was hoping for from the anthology: allowing me an insight into the day to day life of the city. After the opening six stories, I was taken by surprise at the change of pace in the final four, with the middle two in particular being a struggle to get through. This was a good introduction to some of the literature of Egypt and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for some of these writers in the future.
Summary: There are ten short stories included in this anthology, each exploring differing experiences of characters living in Cairo. The anthology opens with Mohamed Salah al-Azab’s ‘Gridlock’, translated by Adam Talib, which recounts the morning of a number of characters whose paths cross in one specific traffic jam, clearly evoking the noises of a city centre at rush hour. From there, several stories follow individual characters struggling with the direction of their lives.
Overall Thoughts: For me, the opening six stories were the highlight of the anthology, each bringing to life diverse characters and aspects of Cairo. Although none of them stood out to me in particular, all six as a whole served to do exactly what I as a reader was hoping for from the anthology: allowing me an insight into the day to day life of the city. After the opening six stories, I was taken by surprise at the change of pace in the final four, with the middle two in particular being a struggle to get through. This was a good introduction to some of the literature of Egypt and I will certainly be keeping an eye out for some of these writers in the future.