Book Review: Alaa al Aswany -The Yacoubian Building

Al Aswany’s novel tells the interconnected stories of the tenants of the once-grand Yacoubian Building, now housing a motley mix of Cairo’s citizens: gentlemen who yearn for the "golden era" when Cairo was like Paris, corrupt politician (what other kind are there?), a gay newspaper editor, a student demoralised by corruption and drawn to religious fundamentalism, a young woman finding out that it’s a man’s world and the conniving and desperate poor.

The characters and their lives reflect all of the different aspects of Egyptian life and society and deliver a damning verdict as to the state of Egypt today. Neither the government, the police and the politicians, nor the Imams (both state-sponsored and fundamentalist types), the old-money, the new-rich, the intellectuals nor the poor come off very well in this novel.

They say that one of the things that must exist in a novel is that the characters must arouse sympathy on the part of the reader in order to keep him/her interested. I did find that most of the characters were so corrupt in one way or another or often so self-deluding that I did not feel much for nay of them except a little contempt and occasionally pity. The exception to this is those people who come into the story from outside of Cairo: the politician’s second wife, the newspaper editor’s soldier lover and his wife – all of whom become hateful, angry and deceitful as they are drawn into the lives of the inhabitants of the Yacoubian building.

I was surprised at how openly this book deals with the trials of the young woman who is forced to use her looks to her advantage to keep her job and also the sexuality of the newspaper editor. I have not read much Arab literature, but suspect that this is not the norm (especially considering that this book was a mainstream hit in Arab countries).

There was enough of a plot for me to want to continue reading, but this is a depressing portrayal of Egypt despite some kind of a happy ending for a few of the characters.

I wouls be very curious what other readers think, especially Egyptian's regarding how realistic a portrayal of modern Egypt this is.