The Cairo trilogy was recommended to me by so many people, but I didn't know what I was getting into because the description was so sparse. You get the basic plot but are left to pick up the details as you go. The copy I got from the library was actually the audio play, which was very enjoyable to listen to. I can't wait to get into the next book in this series.

I’m unsure how I feel about this read. Keeping hold of any modern sensibilities about feminism when reading this will just leave you appalled and perhaps it is unfair to overlay any of those viewpoints when reading a novel based in a middle class Hanbali household set in 1917 Cairo. Letting those go, I could enjoy the book a lot more. I can only imagine how beautiful the prose would be in its original Arabic when it is so pretty in parts in English. I like that it’s a story crafted around a single family unit and their lives. The backdrop of the World War and colonizing powers for much of the book is just that, the backdrop (until it takes more of the center stage towards the end) and the lives of the family move along with sibling bickering, marriages, divorces, etc. I also enjoyed the quick pace at which the story moved once you’re about 25% in. It forces you to keep picking up the book. I also appreciate that the book doesn’t become about all the atrocities and social ills which may have existed in that society would make this a heavy read. Having said that, Yasin’s behavior with the maids is atrocious. Okay, I’m hungry, wrap this up. Pros: told from a non-judgmental Egyptian point. Cons: women are objects.

I’ll rate later.

I loathed the father and was incredibly frustrated with the mother. I had a difficult time understanding most of the characters. Sometimes, especially when there are the cultural and era differences there are here, I have tremendous interest in a book; here it made it very difficult for me to read it. I’m not sure why as I’ve adored plenty of books with evil or unappealing characters. I did begin to enjoy it a bit more toward the end and I should probably give the next two books in the trilogy a try…but there are just so many books that I want to read so I doubt that I will do that. But I know that many people think highly of this book and I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from reading it.

I appreciated being transported to an insiders view of another culture & time. I could see myself enjoying the coffee hour with them, but that's about it! It made me glad I live when and where I do! The Dad and older son were monsters! The plot was a bit slow at first with a rather abrupt ending, missing resolution to a bunch of threads. I guess we're expected to read the next one in the trilogy to find out. Not I! I had enough of female oppression for awhile thanks...

An amazing story taking place in Cairo following the great war by the first Nobel Laureate to have written in Arabic.

There‘s hardly anything on the dramatic events of 1919, the mess as described could happen on any political rally. Even though a „family“ saga, there‘s hardly any human present. Unless you count those robot-like creatures whose only operational mode and emotion is obedience and their language a religious mumbo-jumbo. Then there‘s a small clique of hyper-hypocritical topdogs. And yet it all is a very captivating read.

أحببت الوصف الجميل والتفاصيل الأجمل
أحمد عبد الجواد يبا له من متناقض ليس مع نفسه .. بل مع أهله وأصدقائه
أمينة .. لطيفة ووديعة أحببتها هي وذلك الطفل الجميل كمال
فهمي .. شخصيتي المفضلة .. موته أحزنني

أحببت الكتاب

Beautiful study of an Eygptian family struggling to reconcile their past, present and future.

3.5