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A review by jennyyates
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
3.0
I had trouble getting into this Egyptian novel, written in the 50s, at first. I felt that the prose was too repetitive and long-winded. But I gradually got used to the pacing. I think it’s probable that what’s sonorous in Arabic doesn’t work as well in English.
In many ways, it’s an eye-opening novel, and I imagine it was pretty radical in its time. The center personalities of the book are an autocratic and rigidly religious father, Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawal, his submissive wife, Amina, and their five children. They have four who are mostly grown – Yasin, Fahmy, Aisha, and Khadija - and one inquisitive nine-year-old, Kamal.
Al-Sayyid Ahmad is a very different person when he’s out with his friends, drinking and having affairs with the local wicked women, who are generally entertainers. At home, he’s stern, angry, and punitive, and this is how his wife and children know him, at least until his eldest son, Yasin, discovers him frequenting the same house of pleasure where he goes.
Still, they don’t dare to defy him even in the smallest way, and all the women of the house are completely cloistered (except the servant). Amina never goes out. And one day when her husband is out of town, Yasin persuades her to go visit a religious shrine, a harmless excursion, and not out of line with what women are generally allowed to do. She takes off walking, hand in hand with Kamal, but is worn down by the unfamiliar sights and her own fatigue, and ends up fainting in the street. When her husband finds out, he waits until she recovers from her injury and then turns her out of the house.
The novel is unusual in that it delves into the feelings of all seven people in the house, and this implies criticism of such rigidity and autocracy. Amina, the wife, is a perennially frightened creature, with good reason, although the author doesn’t give her a lot of depth. The male characters are more three-dimensional.
The last quarter of the book takes a political term, and things get more interesting at this point. The time period is just after World War I, when Egypt was struggling for independence from
England. Fahmy, the second son, dedicates himself to the cause, although he keeps his political activity secret from his parents. The novel does a wonderful job of describing the way everyone in Cairo resonates to certain beliefs, longings, and joys. The ending of this novel is very good.
In many ways, it’s an eye-opening novel, and I imagine it was pretty radical in its time. The center personalities of the book are an autocratic and rigidly religious father, Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawal, his submissive wife, Amina, and their five children. They have four who are mostly grown – Yasin, Fahmy, Aisha, and Khadija - and one inquisitive nine-year-old, Kamal.
Al-Sayyid Ahmad is a very different person when he’s out with his friends, drinking and having affairs with the local wicked women, who are generally entertainers. At home, he’s stern, angry, and punitive, and this is how his wife and children know him, at least until his eldest son, Yasin, discovers him frequenting the same house of pleasure where he goes.
Still, they don’t dare to defy him even in the smallest way, and all the women of the house are completely cloistered (except the servant). Amina never goes out. And one day when her husband is out of town, Yasin persuades her to go visit a religious shrine, a harmless excursion, and not out of line with what women are generally allowed to do. She takes off walking, hand in hand with Kamal, but is worn down by the unfamiliar sights and her own fatigue, and ends up fainting in the street. When her husband finds out, he waits until she recovers from her injury and then turns her out of the house.
The novel is unusual in that it delves into the feelings of all seven people in the house, and this implies criticism of such rigidity and autocracy. Amina, the wife, is a perennially frightened creature, with good reason, although the author doesn’t give her a lot of depth. The male characters are more three-dimensional.
The last quarter of the book takes a political term, and things get more interesting at this point. The time period is just after World War I, when Egypt was struggling for independence from
England. Fahmy, the second son, dedicates himself to the cause, although he keeps his political activity secret from his parents. The novel does a wonderful job of describing the way everyone in Cairo resonates to certain beliefs, longings, and joys. The ending of this novel is very good.