Book of the Week

12 years ago

Palace Walk / Naguib Mahfouz ; translated by William Maynard Hutchins and Olive E. Kenny. The Acknowledgements section gives credit to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for her editing.

"A magnificent work" - Chicago Sun-Times.

I hesitated to feature this book because some of the writing is dense with long paragraphs, making those portions more challenging to read. But it is such a good book and many of its themes are current in Egypt today, such as political self-determination and changing women's rights. As noted by its Wikipedia entry, the book begins in 1917, during World War I, and ends in 1919, the year of the nationalist Egyptian revolution.

Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. This book is the first volume in the three part Cairo trilogy, originally published in Arabic. The other two titles are Palace of Desire and Sugar Street.

Palace Walk follows a family of a man and woman and their five children who live in British (and Australian) occupied Cairo. They are very conservative and devout Muslims. Father Ahmad Abd al-Jawad is a prosperous merchant and his wife Amina stays within the home. In fact, she married when she was not yet fourteen and is confined to the house, being allowed to leave only for the most extraordinary of circumstances. The two daughters are similarly confined and all three females are forbidden from standing at a window or otherwise showing themselves to the outside world. The girls attended school only when quite young.

Ahmad Abd al-Jawad is ruthlessly authoritarian within his family. He rants and rages, beats his sons, uses derogatory language toward them and cheats on his wife. While he is harsh and frightening at home, he has a very different personality when he is outside with his friends. He is a "party animal," loving music, jokes, alcohol, lewd talk and serial mistresses. The author gives a voice to Amina and the children as they make a life for themselves within the strictures imposed upon them. Anima is revered by her children and at great peril to themselves (9 year old Kamal is beaten), they help her when she is faced with a dreadful consequence when she leaves the house without her husband's permission to visit a mosque.

The presence of the British and Australians causes political and social strife, although Anima is forgiving as she notes that they are left free to worship as they please. The struggle for political independence begins to affect the family directly and is the cause for conflict within and outside of the household. The British have exiled Egyptian political leaders and many citizens have died when demonstrations and strikes are put down with force. Son Fahmy, who is in law school, notes "If we don't confront terrorism with the anger it deserves, may the nation never live again."

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

stacey_mb
Original Author
12 years ago
Sending this down.
sable_ca
12 years ago
Stacey - This is a good suggestion; thank you! A friend sent DH and me Sugar Street and Palace of Desire just a few weeks ago and this is a reminder to read them (my TBR pile is so large, sigh). DH spent a year in Cairo working on his graduate degree in Arabic and read some Mahfouz then. He is a great writer.

If you enjoyed the way Mahfouz writes about Egypt, you might also enjoy The Alexandria Quartet, by Lawrence Durrell. These are four novels about a group of people, mainly expatriots, in Alexandria before and during WW2. They are poetic and a bit abstract, without a set plot from start to finish. That in a way reflects Egypt itself, which has spent the last thousand years muddling along.

One of my all time favorite novels is Nile, by Laurie Devine, a postwar story of a young woman who undergoes female circumcision and then must make an independent life of her own, led primarily by her emotions and the very unsuitable man she loves. This is a straightforward tale, beautifully written, filled with details of Egyptian life. If you liked Mahfouz, I think you'll like this one!
Related Discussions
Book of the Week
Q
Comments (5)
I read the book, it was okay. The movie was okay too...although they totally changed her one friend's personality completely in the movie. My daughter said that actress always plays her parts that way. Weird.
...See More
Book of the Week
Q
Comments (7)
Caflowerluver - the book has romance, but also some bitter anti-romance. One event I'm thinking of is when the group goes to the Plaza Hotel to drink. There is a confrontation where Gatsby tells Tom that Daisy loves him and not Tom, her husband. After Tom mentions Gatsby's illegal business activities in order to discredit him, Gatsby tries to defend himself to Daisy, "But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room." Ironically, at the same time that the marriage is being damaged, there is a wedding being celebrated in the hotel just below them.
...See More
Book of the Week
Q
Comments (0)
This has been double-posting. Trying again ... Lessons from Tara : life advice from the world’s most brilliant dog / David Rosenfelt Many people know David Rosenfelt from his mysteries, such as Play Dead that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Lessons from Tara is about the dog rescue that he and his wife Debbie run through their Tara Foundation, inspired by their love of Tara, their golden retriever. The couple has a real affection for dogs and have had as many as 42 of the animals in their home as well as re-homing about 4,000 others. This book is a very entertaining, quick read with lots of humor. The author doesn’t hesitate to poke fun at himself and is often very humorous in describing the quirky personalities and habits of the dogs he encounters. The way in which the Rosenfelts deal with many canines, some of whom are troubled, together with the sad moments that are inevitable with pet ownership, testifies to their great dedication. I would recommend this book in audio format as well since I enjoyed it greatly while taking my walks. Although there is some overlap with this book, Rosenfelt’s Dogtripping describes how they moved 25 dogs in 3 RVs from California to Maine. The well-being of dogs is altogether a labor of love for David and Debbie Rosenfelt.
...See More
Book of the Week
Q
Comments (0)
The trapped girl / Robert Dugoni. A #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller. This book, # 4 in the Tracy Crosswhite series, is another very good mystery with lots of twists and turns. An added bonus that I really enjoyed is the flavor of Seattle and Washington State that came through so vividly in the novel. Tracy Crosswhite is a Seattle homicide detective who has been called to investigate when a woman’s body is found in a submerged crab pot. The police believe that the woman is Andrea Strickland, last seen during a mountain climb with her husband. He claims that Andrea left their tent to use bathroom facilities and disappeared. It looks suspicious since Andrea’s mountain climbing equipment was still at their campsite and it was discovered that her husband was the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. But things are not always what they seem to be, in the novel or even within Detective Crosswhite’s professional life. Publisher's Weekly Review: In Dugoni's outstanding fourth Tracy Crosswhite mystery (after 2016's In the Clearing), the Seattle homicide detective investigates the death of Andrea Strickland, a young woman whose body a fisherman finds in a crab pot raised from the sea. Andrea, who was reported missing after a treacherous mountain hike, was already presumed to be dead. The victim's husband is the prime suspect and the beneficiary of a sizable life insurance policy. As the plot twists and turns, Tracy is struck by the similarities between her own life and Andrea's: both suffered family tragedies and rigidly structured their lives to compensate for the loss. For Tracy, solving the case is personal-but on a different level than the murder of her sister years before. In less deft hands this tale wouldn't hold water, but Dugoni presents his victim's life in discrete pieces, each revealing a bit more about Andrea and her struggle to find happiness. Tracy's quest to uncover the truth leads her into life-altering peril in this exceptional installment.
...See More
stacey_mb
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you, Sable, for the reading suggestions. I'm always looking for new books to read lol! True, that Egypt has been muddling along for the past thousand years. Rights for women are getting better, but very slowly. Hopefully there will be progressive political stability in Egypt's future.

As an aside, we traveled to Europe last year, and while in Italy a tour guide mentioned to us that we North Americans have what he envies, which is political and economic stability. So we here have lots to be thankful for.
sable_ca
12 years ago
Stacey - If you check The Alexandria Quartet online, don't be put off by the very strange descriptions of it - "Einsteinian relativity", "quantum mechanics", etc. The four books fit together, each one written from the perspective of a different character. They are not an exercise in physics!

We surely do have lots to be thankful for. But I found that comment interesting coming from an Italian. I would love to live for a year or two in Italy!
stacey_mb
Original Author
12 years ago
Sable - glad you explained about the physics terms, because generally I run screaming in the other direction when confronted with science LOL. Italy is a beautiful country and it would be so much more rewarding to live there for a time rather than be a tourist for a few days. I really enjoyed the books of Frances Mayes, an American who moved there and who wrote Under the Tuscan sun and Bella Tuscany : the sweet life in Italy.
sable_ca
12 years ago
Stacey - Haven't yet read any books about Brits or Yanks in Tuscany, but have certainly seen every movie. Who wouldn't enjoy them?

However - here is another suggestion for you: Cooking with Fernet Branca, by James Hamilton-Patterson. It's comedic. I don't usually read comedies, but I loved this one. About a British writer of celebrity biographies who is a master of gentle pomposity, who rents a villa on an Italian hillside overlooking the sea, and who discovers that he has a mysterious female neighbor, whose English is, uh, not good. Who she is is the core of the story, but you must discover this for yourself as it is slowly and cleverly revealed. It's a very unusual story and explaining it would amount to one long spoiler. Check it out on amazon and see what you think. I took a chance, and found myself cackling out loud and unable to put it down. It bogs down a wee bit toward the end, but then concludes with the inevitable finish that must take place. Highly recommended, but only if you like very offbeat humor. And Italy, of course!
stacey_mb
Original Author
12 years ago
Sable - thank you for the suggestion. I will look it up that title; it sounds like one that I would enjoy.

Book of the Week

Comments (7)

stacey_mb
Original Author

sable_ca

Related Discussions

stacey_mb
Original Author

sable_ca

stacey_mb
Original Author

sable_ca

stacey_mb
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Book of the Week

Comments (7)

stacey_mbOriginal Author

sable_ca

Related Discussions

stacey_mbOriginal Author

sable_ca

stacey_mbOriginal Author

sable_ca

stacey_mbOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

stacey_mb
Original Author

stacey_mb
Original Author

stacey_mb
Original Author

stacey_mb
Original Author