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shanth's review against another edition
5.0
There is something very powerful in the way Aswany says more by what he leaves unsaid, like what transpires between the new resident and the despotic chief of the hospital in Kitchen Boy, or how he leaves us hanging at the end of Waiting for a Leader waiting for el-Nahhas. In a lot of ways the way he describes violence, especially that directed against women, in his stories is reminiscent of Manto in its very neutral matter of fact language. This absense of judgement and condemnation from the author, this silence on the unspeakable violence that goes on, hits harder than the most scathing condemnation could. He is not all gloom though. In Izzat Amin Iskander a disabled boy rides a cycle for the first time, falls down, and asks, smiling, “Did you see me ride the bike?”. There is something extremely beautiful in those two pages which restores our faith in the human spirit the way only a master writer can.
ruthie_'s review
challenging
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
sunothesea__'s review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cm_kayla's review against another edition
3.0
My Rating: 3/5
I'm going to go through this one a little differently since it is all short stories. I wrote down some notes from the first few longer stories that I'll talk about separately. There won't be a character aspect to this because there were just too many.
The Isam Abd el-Ati Papers:
In the preface of this book, Aswany talks about how this book came about and how it was actually banned in Egypt and while completely ridiculous, I can understand why a government would want to. Aswany does not sugar coat a single story in this novel and when I first started reading it with no other introduction to Egypt than what I learned in school I was unaware of the point. It was a very pessimistic, hateful portrait of Egypt by a young man named Isam. In this novel we see his artist father struggle with his career and finding other Egyptians who appreciate art the way that he does. Isam is faced with a very selfish mother and undesirable workplace after achieving a Baccalaureate in Science.
Isam is not too kind to his father and comes off as extremely pretentious later on in the novel when dealing with his coworkers at the Chemistry Authority. To be fair his family is less than perfect when discussing his mother and grandmother who have extreme animosity towards each other. In the end Isam is unable to escape from this life he was born into. This whole book is really just about hardship and Isam's dislike for his home country, something I'm sure Egypt was not too fond on that they'd have it banned.
The Kitchen Boy:
This story, to me, was much more understandable and is something that I can easily picture in some corrupt governments. Our main character is Hisham who attends medical school to become a surgeon after his mothers constant pushing because their social and financial situation isn't ideal. Hisham is hired at the General Surgery but he finds out when he arrives that he is simply being put to work in the kitchen over the next several years to work his way up despite having a degree. There are two doctors present at this establishment who are terrifying but vital to becoming a real resident at the hospital and we follow Hashim as he tries to figure out how to work his way through this politically charged system where making your boss look good is the most important thing.
And We Have Covered Their Eyes:
This short story follows Mr. Gouda, a worker at the Ministry of Planning who seemingly falls apart after having his normally drab wardrobe noticed and picked at by a younger client.
To the Air Conditioning Attendant in the Hall:
This small section of the book held the most historically interesting story, set in Jenin in 1967. We see this entire community completely annihilated by Jewish soldiers after being deserted by the Jordanian Army.
Plot Overall:
There are 17 stories featured in this book, most of them rather depressing although a couple that will help lift your spirits. In general it seems this novel is really a criticism on the political aspect and suffering that many Egyptians have been going through whether personally or because of government rule. At first I felt really put off by this novel because of its hateful attitude towards Egypt and I think we all tend to think authors think as they write but in the preface Aswany states specifically that "The screen is just a piece of cloth, on which images are reflected". Aswany himself is a very famous opposition columnist in Egypt and works as a dentist in Cairo.
While I went into this looking for uplifting stories and to have a picture painted of a great nation, that's not what I found. Nearly all due to my simple buying of this book without looking further into the plot, but I'm glad that it came this way. This book is truthful, honest, and raw. We see seemingly real people dealing with real struggles in their lives despite where they come from and that can open a lot of windows and interesting conversations.
What I Learned: Despite not giving me what I anticipated, I'm very happy I read this book. While I would have loved to learn more about the history and demographics of Egypt, that's what google is for, not books. Each story makes you shake your head in defeat but also in a "I understand this" kind of way that all humans feel at some point or another. Aswany mixes many different social classes, religions, and ages within this novel to give a broad sense of Egyptian people and I appreciate that. I lived a lot of lives while reading this book and gained some insight. I definitely am more intrigued by the country than I originally was. I'm also glad that I was able to find something that was actually banned in the country as those provide the most interesting tales.
I'm going to go through this one a little differently since it is all short stories. I wrote down some notes from the first few longer stories that I'll talk about separately. There won't be a character aspect to this because there were just too many.
The Isam Abd el-Ati Papers:
In the preface of this book, Aswany talks about how this book came about and how it was actually banned in Egypt and while completely ridiculous, I can understand why a government would want to. Aswany does not sugar coat a single story in this novel and when I first started reading it with no other introduction to Egypt than what I learned in school I was unaware of the point. It was a very pessimistic, hateful portrait of Egypt by a young man named Isam. In this novel we see his artist father struggle with his career and finding other Egyptians who appreciate art the way that he does. Isam is faced with a very selfish mother and undesirable workplace after achieving a Baccalaureate in Science.
Isam is not too kind to his father and comes off as extremely pretentious later on in the novel when dealing with his coworkers at the Chemistry Authority. To be fair his family is less than perfect when discussing his mother and grandmother who have extreme animosity towards each other. In the end Isam is unable to escape from this life he was born into. This whole book is really just about hardship and Isam's dislike for his home country, something I'm sure Egypt was not too fond on that they'd have it banned.
The Kitchen Boy:
This story, to me, was much more understandable and is something that I can easily picture in some corrupt governments. Our main character is Hisham who attends medical school to become a surgeon after his mothers constant pushing because their social and financial situation isn't ideal. Hisham is hired at the General Surgery but he finds out when he arrives that he is simply being put to work in the kitchen over the next several years to work his way up despite having a degree. There are two doctors present at this establishment who are terrifying but vital to becoming a real resident at the hospital and we follow Hashim as he tries to figure out how to work his way through this politically charged system where making your boss look good is the most important thing.
And We Have Covered Their Eyes:
This short story follows Mr. Gouda, a worker at the Ministry of Planning who seemingly falls apart after having his normally drab wardrobe noticed and picked at by a younger client.
To the Air Conditioning Attendant in the Hall:
This small section of the book held the most historically interesting story, set in Jenin in 1967. We see this entire community completely annihilated by Jewish soldiers after being deserted by the Jordanian Army.
Plot Overall:
There are 17 stories featured in this book, most of them rather depressing although a couple that will help lift your spirits. In general it seems this novel is really a criticism on the political aspect and suffering that many Egyptians have been going through whether personally or because of government rule. At first I felt really put off by this novel because of its hateful attitude towards Egypt and I think we all tend to think authors think as they write but in the preface Aswany states specifically that "The screen is just a piece of cloth, on which images are reflected". Aswany himself is a very famous opposition columnist in Egypt and works as a dentist in Cairo.
While I went into this looking for uplifting stories and to have a picture painted of a great nation, that's not what I found. Nearly all due to my simple buying of this book without looking further into the plot, but I'm glad that it came this way. This book is truthful, honest, and raw. We see seemingly real people dealing with real struggles in their lives despite where they come from and that can open a lot of windows and interesting conversations.
What I Learned: Despite not giving me what I anticipated, I'm very happy I read this book. While I would have loved to learn more about the history and demographics of Egypt, that's what google is for, not books. Each story makes you shake your head in defeat but also in a "I understand this" kind of way that all humans feel at some point or another. Aswany mixes many different social classes, religions, and ages within this novel to give a broad sense of Egyptian people and I appreciate that. I lived a lot of lives while reading this book and gained some insight. I definitely am more intrigued by the country than I originally was. I'm also glad that I was able to find something that was actually banned in the country as those provide the most interesting tales.
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