I did not expect this novel to be so readable and so engrossing. This is all the more impressive because the story concerns one single Egyptian family, mostly in their home. Set in Cairo around 1919, during the British occupation of Egypt, the story revolves around the lives of a small shopkeeper, al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad; his wife, Amina; and their five children, are of whom are young adults living at home except for the youngest, the beguiling 10-year-old Kamal.

One very appealing aspect of the story is the interior lives of Amina and her two daughters, just of marriageable age — none of whom are ever permitted to leave the house. Their thoughts and feelings are deep and complex and completely relatable — and believable. Another immensely compelling aspect is the deep religious belief of everyone in the household, even the oldest son, who certainly doesn't follow any religious or moral rules but fears God all the same.

Dominating everyone in the family is the father, al-Sayyid Ahmad, a well-respected figure in the local sector who is stern and domineering in his house, friendly and warm to customers in his small shop, and a wild party animal with his male friends every night, from after dinner until midnight. He leads a double life that would shock all his family members if they ever knew, drinking wine until he's drunk, having long sexual affairs with loose women, singing and playing a tambourine at private parties. His wife and children fear him. They almost never see him smile. They have never heard him sing. But all of this is the normal state of affairs — al-Sayyid Ahmad's friends are equally debauched and equally well-known as pillars of the community. Men are men, and women and children are their loyal subjects.

Every time I thought the story might be settling into a rut of ongoing daily life, something new would happen. A forbidden excursion, a proposal, a wedding, a neighborhood invasion of British troops. It was a pleasure to settle down with this book and read it every day. It left me with a feeling of insiderness, as if I had been a fly on the wall inside the family home and even inside their hearts and minds — and inside their culture. Now there are two more books, and I'm eager to read them.

2024'te 24 Ülke 24 Kitap challangeimizin patronu @Huzeyfe 'nin nisan ayı Mısır seçkisiydi.

Ahmet Bey ve ailesinin yaşamının anlatıldığı kurguda dönem Mısır'ında kadının sosyal yaşamdaki yerini gözlemek benim için zorlayıcı bir deneyimdi. Özellikle Emine'nin o uysal boyun eğmişliğinin betimlendiği satırlarda çok zorlandım.

Bir üçleme ama benim diğeri iki kitabı okuyacak enerjim yok. Belki ilerleyen zamanlarda diyebiliyorum.

Eserden bir çok alıntıyı notladım. Sadece bir tanesini buraya paylaşmak istiyorum:

“Bir yanda nefret ve küskünlük, öte yanda “mış gibi” sevinç ve gizlilik içinde yaşanan kesintisiz bir eziyet ve uğraşmakla geçmekteydi yaşam”

The book starts slowly and I found it somewhat difficult to enter this very alien world of a middle class home in Cairo in the early 1900s. Mahfouz meticulously depicts the atmosphere and builds the characters and then the story starts to unfold and one finds oneself more and more drawn in to the lives of the family of Al-Sayid Ahmad. Although the cloistered life of the women is so alien to another woman living in 21st century Europe, Mahfouz' skill is such that one can empathize with their hopes and fears while, at the same time, marvelling at their submission to the restrictions placed on their lives. While Amina's punishment for her crime of the excursion to the mosque is severe, even by the local standards, from what has been revealed of her character and circumstances one can understand why her respect for her formidable husband remains undiminished and the strong bonds between the family members are even strengthened by the incident.

The characters are artfully exposed and developed by the incidents in the story. Al-Sayid Ahmad himself is a complex hybrid of strict father and husband and pleasure-loving friend and lover, whose character is accentuated when his eldest son Yasin unexpectedly catches a glimpse of him with his musician lover. Young Kamal's process of growing up is revealed through the events, such as his sisters' marriages, the excursion to the mosque with his mother and his encounters with the English, which buffet and gradually reduce his childish innocence.

Although focused on one family, the book is full of events characterizing the period, initially on a more domestic and social level and then in the context of the absorbing political events of the time. Through the different characters Mahfouz shows the widely varying impacts on different people of the struggle for Egyptian independence: Fahmy, absorbed and dedicated to the fight for freedom; Yasin, who carries on life as usual but is capable of being moved by the mass celebration; the father, who also carries on life as usual but cannot avoid entering into the discussions about the momentous events and is even picked up for some forced labour; his wife, Amina, fearful of change to the status quo.

Overall, Palace Walk is a satisfying novel whose ending leaves one particularly eager to read the sequel.

The way love can disregard fears, however, is an age-old wonder. No fear is able to spoil love's development or keep it from dreaming of its appointed hour.

Palace Walk is a sweeping realist survey of a middle class family in Cairo. The novel covers two years or so from 1917-19, culminating in the Egyptian Revolution which overthrew the British Protectorate. The Abd al-Jawad family is dominated by the father, an ostensibly pious man who forbids his wife and two daughters from being seen, much less actually leaving this house. Yet this pillar of propriety is predisposed to nocturnal boozing and whoring. So it goes. His three sons quiver in his presence but all harbor hopes for both emancipation as well as approval: yet another family paradox.

Despite it being penned in the 1950s, this is a realist novel with little modernist trickery. There is a gentle core to this tale.

Yet another book that makes me feel an increase of gratitude for the freedoms I enjoy. The Egyptian women in Palace Walk are, for the most part, not allowed to leave their home, not allowed to be seen by men outside of their family. Their marriages are arranged, usually to men they have never before met. Most interesting to me was how Amina, the mother of the family, seemed to be completely submissive and content with her lot. I don't know that is even possible. Very interesting characters, good writing, somewhat difficult subject matter for me.

maybe I was expecting too much from this book, knowing it won the Nobel prize. but I just couldn't connect with it.. at first I thought the translation was awkward or that Arabic just naturally sounds clumsy in English. but the dialogue itself seemed stilted and the characters were pretty one dimensional (not to mention unlikeable). I can appreciate that it tells a story of Egyptian nationalism but there are stories that can convey a turning point in a nation's history with heart, beautiful writing and character development ('a fine balance' comes to mind). I'm just sorry this book took me so long to finish since it left me rather jaded about even starting anything new.

I will say that it's an illuminating portrait of how repressive daily life was (and perhaps still is, in some cases) for women in Egypt and other parts of the Muslim world.

This took a little while to really get going and it isn't really my personal jam but it's well written and I can see why it's a classic.