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A review by bergsteiger
Khufu's Wisdom by Naguib Mahfouz
2.0
I was in Egypt recently and while there wanted to buy something by an Egyptian author. Mr. Mahfouz was a Nobel prize winner so I thought that would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, the novel I got a hold of was his very first...
The book reads like an allegory with the characters serving as archetypal cutouts. The descriptions of people are like an ancient philosopher's observations on what perfect virtuous leaders, and their morally corrupt counterparts, look like. The story follows an incredibly obvious arc, which is not necessarily bad...if the story is told well.
There are also a lot of gaps here. Historically, key people are confused, cultures are misrepresented, and ancient military tactics are laughable in their misconceptions. Some of these mistakes are actually pointed out at the end of the book and while some of this tale could be seen as an attempt to write a Red Tent type novel (fleshing out ancient heroes we have little information about), the fact that the pharaoh who actually succeeds the main character dies in the novel makes this into a Hollywood alternate history. Outside the historical content, the love interest is so horribly contrived, you can't help but laugh. I suppose it was in keeping of the virtuous hero winning the upright maiden through staying true to his many values, but, yeah.
Look, some of the descriptions of the landscape and ancillary characters were well done. The story flowed well. You can see where Mr. Mahfouz can potentially become a much better writer. It's just that this piece read like an ancient propaganda story. Wanted to love it based on the content, but just couldn't. Solid 2 stars.
The book reads like an allegory with the characters serving as archetypal cutouts. The descriptions of people are like an ancient philosopher's observations on what perfect virtuous leaders, and their morally corrupt counterparts, look like. The story follows an incredibly obvious arc, which is not necessarily bad...if the story is told well.
There are also a lot of gaps here. Historically, key people are confused, cultures are misrepresented, and ancient military tactics are laughable in their misconceptions. Some of these mistakes are actually pointed out at the end of the book and while some of this tale could be seen as an attempt to write a Red Tent type novel (fleshing out ancient heroes we have little information about), the fact that the pharaoh who actually succeeds the main character dies in the novel makes this into a Hollywood alternate history. Outside the historical content, the love interest is so horribly contrived, you can't help but laugh. I suppose it was in keeping of the virtuous hero winning the upright maiden through staying true to his many values, but, yeah.
Look, some of the descriptions of the landscape and ancillary characters were well done. The story flowed well. You can see where Mr. Mahfouz can potentially become a much better writer. It's just that this piece read like an ancient propaganda story. Wanted to love it based on the content, but just couldn't. Solid 2 stars.