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Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'
The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk / Palace of Desire / Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
1 review
astrangewind's review
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the most beautiful work of fiction I think I have ever read.
With each passing chapter - and there are a lot of them - I am increasingly stunned by Mahfouz's ability to create and maintain such a nuanced and myriad cast of characters. Each character - again, there are a lot of them - is always self-consistent, even over the course of the 30-ish years the trilogy spans. The inquisitive Kamal, who begins this journey as a very young boy who understands little and asks a lot, develops an interest in philosophy; for the duration of the book, he remains the same Kamal, just weathered by age and heartache. Mahfouz elegantly captures the wide range of what it means to be human. Not only do these characters exist in a time of political upheaval surrounding Egyptian independence and the buildup to WWII, they get married and then divorced, have affairs, drink coffee or wine with friends, experience the death of loved ones, learn things about their place in the world, and everything else that I, too, experience a century later. There are staunch Muslims and atheists, nationalists and socialists, philosophers and those rooted firmly in the world of the real... and each of these characters is built with the immense depth that every living person has inside of them, too. I felt truly connected to these fictional people from a far different place and time than I.
This trilogy is sad, but not because of Mahfouz. It's sad because things happen in life - we experience heartbreak, disappointments, the loss of friends, and so on. The things that make life sad also make this trilogy sad, because it follows life's natural path. In that way, it is also happy, and tense, and infuriating, and every other human emotion. Everything, from the political climate to religion to death in the abstract, is humanized, brought down to the simple act of needing to purchase a necktie or dusting the shutters.
Unfortunately, I have one major qualm: the translation. As I can't read Arabic, I can't guarantee that Mahfouz's work is accessible to those who can, but the English translation prevented me from advancing very far in this book the first time I attempted to read it. (Clearly, I was successful on the second attempt.) The conversations initially felt awkward and forced; people don't really talk like that, even people who lived in the 1920s. It grew on me after a time, but I worry that this particular translation would make this incredible work inaccessible to the average English-speaker.
I would recommend this book to people who are already avid readers, as it is quite a bit hefty and at times dense. But what a beautiful book it is.
With each passing chapter - and there are a lot of them - I am increasingly stunned by Mahfouz's ability to create and maintain such a nuanced and myriad cast of characters. Each character - again, there are a lot of them - is always self-consistent, even over the course of the 30-ish years the trilogy spans. The inquisitive Kamal, who begins this journey as a very young boy who understands little and asks a lot, develops an interest in philosophy; for the duration of the book, he remains the same Kamal, just weathered by age and heartache. Mahfouz elegantly captures the wide range of what it means to be human. Not only do these characters exist in a time of political upheaval surrounding Egyptian independence and the buildup to WWII, they get married and then divorced, have affairs, drink coffee or wine with friends, experience the death of loved ones, learn things about their place in the world, and everything else that I, too, experience a century later. There are staunch Muslims and atheists, nationalists and socialists, philosophers and those rooted firmly in the world of the real... and each of these characters is built with the immense depth that every living person has inside of them, too. I felt truly connected to these fictional people from a far different place and time than I.
This trilogy is sad, but not because of Mahfouz. It's sad because things happen in life - we experience heartbreak, disappointments, the loss of friends, and so on. The things that make life sad also make this trilogy sad, because it follows life's natural path. In that way, it is also happy, and tense, and infuriating, and every other human emotion. Everything, from the political climate to religion to death in the abstract, is humanized, brought down to the simple act of needing to purchase a necktie or dusting the shutters.
Unfortunately, I have one major qualm: the translation. As I can't read Arabic, I can't guarantee that Mahfouz's work is accessible to those who can, but the English translation prevented me from advancing very far in this book the first time I attempted to read it. (Clearly, I was successful on the second attempt.) The conversations initially felt awkward and forced; people don't really talk like that, even people who lived in the 1920s. It grew on me after a time, but I worry that this particular translation would make this incredible work inaccessible to the average English-speaker.
I would recommend this book to people who are already avid readers, as it is quite a bit hefty and at times dense. But what a beautiful book it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Stalking, Incest, and Rape
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Dementia, Addiction, and Colonisation
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