sara_h's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ergedogan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
daphnerieke's review against another edition
4.0
Het taalgebruik van Mahfouz vind ik prachtig in dit boek. Langzaam nadert het verhaal een apotheose waar je u tegen zegt.
Een mooi verhaal van slechts 114 pagina's en goede introductie in het werk van [a:Naguib Mahfouz|5835922|Naguib Mahfouz|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1448319849p2/5835922.jpg].
Een mooi verhaal van slechts 114 pagina's en goede introductie in het werk van [a:Naguib Mahfouz|5835922|Naguib Mahfouz|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1448319849p2/5835922.jpg].
gef's review against another edition
4.0
Takes place in Cairo not on a single day, but over an unspecified span of weeks culminating October 6, 1981. On that day a young low-level government clerk named Elwan Fawwaz Muhtashim explodes in rage at the bourgeois frustrations of his bourgeois love aspirations, and commits a folly that redeems his honor but will certainly destroy his career. On that day also, the symbol and partial cause of the frustrations of the urban middle class, President Anwar al-Sadat, is assassinated.
This is a slight book of limited ambition, a piece -- barely more than a chapter -- in Mahfouz's life-time oeuvre of huge ambition, to retell the whole modern Arab experience. He tells the story in alternate chapters from three first-person points of view: Elwan; his grandfather -- as old as the century, a retired school teacher who remembers his youthful participation in the 1919 "National Movement" and who sees Elwan's dilemma in that long historical perspective; and Randa, Elwan's long-time girlfriend and fiancée, who works in the same government office. She loses much of her respect but none of her affection for Elwan when, bowing to economic and parental pressure, he declares their engagement to be at an end.
This is a slight book of limited ambition, a piece -- barely more than a chapter -- in Mahfouz's life-time oeuvre of huge ambition, to retell the whole modern Arab experience. He tells the story in alternate chapters from three first-person points of view: Elwan; his grandfather -- as old as the century, a retired school teacher who remembers his youthful participation in the 1919 "National Movement" and who sees Elwan's dilemma in that long historical perspective; and Randa, Elwan's long-time girlfriend and fiancée, who works in the same government office. She loses much of her respect but none of her affection for Elwan when, bowing to economic and parental pressure, he declares their engagement to be at an end.
learnthuman's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the way the novella focused on normal citizens, from the grandfather lived through previous regimes to young man and woman trying to get married but also trying to establish themselves independently. However, the stream of consciousness format makes the novella come off as monotonous and slow. While the novella is about a 100 pages, it took a while for me to eventually finish.
wessam's review against another edition
4.0
رائعة تحكي من خلال أسرتين فقيرتين عن نفس الهموم والمشاكل والصراعات الأخلاقية التي عانت منها الأجيال منذ بداية عصر الانفتاح والهزيمة التي مثلتها اتفاقية كامب ديفيد
georgeous1989's review against another edition
3.0
very well written novella, I really enjoyed the two younger perspectives and while i appriciate the grandfatuers perspective and the different view point it added I just did not connect with it. I wish Id known morr about that era i egypts history before i read this as I would have gotten more out of it but it was still enjoyable.
nicolexx's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
3.0
frejola's review against another edition
3.0
From the get-go I felt I was reading a master writer. Unlike the previous book I read, by Domenico Starnone, in which the musings of a 75-year-old felt inauthentic to me, the narration of the 80-year-old central character in this book felt tremendously real - and enthralling. Also rather quickly I realized that only an author from the developing world would point out that economics drives life events, in the sense that it overdetermines it. It's the economy, stupid. The star-crossed lovers in this story suffer from lack of money, despite having everything else (looks, youth, intelligence, morals, etc). Another thing I picked up in this book, that is a takeaway for me, is that the "defeated" president Nassar was more beloved by the Egyptian people than the "victorious" president Anwar Sadat. That gives me much food for thought regarding populist politics. Finally, as an aside, I remember the day Sadat was killed because I was doing homework and watching tv in the afternoon, when the programming was interrupted to announce the murder as it had just happened. I had no idea of the significance of it, but it's the first example of experiencing globalized communications in my life.