A number of events related to the Egyptian struggle for independence figure in the novel, but the author chooses simply to drop his characters into momentous circumstances without exposition or explanation. British rule is being challenged by Egyptians, leading eventually to the Revolution of 1919. The novel is set at the end of World War I. The patriarch of the family is a successful merchant, yet we get virtually no description of his shop (where many scenes play out) and can only surmise the kinds of goods he sells through passing references to supplies and sales. Surroundings are scarcely described at all. The physical description of characters rarely rises above the level of caricature (great girth, big nose, beautiful eyes, etc.). Unfortunately, at every turn, the author misses opportunities to paint a scene with color and depth. The narrow focus of the book could have been an asset, allowing us to be steeped in the texture and details of people’s lives. Eventually, something resembling a plot lurches into action, but it’s too little, too late. Indeed, much of the book might better be considered as a series of short stories all centered around one family, the household of al-Sayyid Ahmad. There is very little in the way of a narrative thread holding the novel together. What’s not to love? As it turns out, a lot. I had heard that it was a classic of modern Arabic literature and that it offered an inside look at the lives of middle-class Egyptians a hundred years back.
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