I'm not sure if it's because it's a translation, but I found the writing clunky. It takes a *very long time* to say anything. I gave the book 150 pages and then gave up. I picked it up with great interest given its setting, Egypt during WW1, but was disappointed.

The father, an outwardly pious man who is an overbearing bully to his family, is actually a hedonist. This could be interesting, but is not. He is just a shallow hypocrite. I'm not sure if it would have been expanded upon in the last 2/3 of the book, but it sure wasn't in the first 1/3.

The eldest son longs for a musician, and calls her a "smart ass bitch" when she doesn't appear at her window. And other various foul names while he stalks her. The sexual politics of the dominant religion, gender issues at the time, could and should be very interesting, but was not. I just wanted to punch "the camel" right in the chops. The other two sons provided the most interesting chapters, but even there the characterizations were overly expository and blunt.

The ugly sarcastic daughter Khadija showed promise, but there weren't any chapters from her perspective before I gave up. The matriach, Amina, again could have been interesting. There were glimpses of how a person tolerates never being able to leave their home, but they always ended up being glossed over by her 'determination to be happy.'

And unsatisfying and unoriginal way to say "It's a man's world."