the yacoubian building

starting to feel like a drowned rat. it has been raining in johannesburg for more than a week non stop. rain is good, but this much, and grey skies just don't engender happy feelings. i am beginning to sing that childhood mantra, "rain,rain go away come again another day." the only plus point about rain, is that one gets to have time to read. and i have not been doing much of that lately.

picked up ngugi wa thiongo's novel "wizard of the crow"..which i have yet to sink my teeth into. it looks promising as an epic satirical piece. set in magic realist style, first couple of pages seem good.
i have finished ala al aswany, " the yacoubian building". the dust jacket terms it a number one best seller. i hope he is a better dentist than author. yes you have guest it, i wasn't all that impressed.
the novel has been made into a movie and tv series, and obviously has caused quite a stir in the arabic world.

it is set around 1990, during the advent of the first gulf war. it is set in the yacoubian building, which still exists in cairo today. the author has based some of the characters on people he knows or has known. the novel is teeming with a plethora of characters, all living in the yacoubian building, and interrelated in one way or another.

i believe al aswany was trying to tackle to many issues at once, and their is no real character development, or not anything that one can really sink their teeth into. it read more like a fast food novel or comic book. somehow capturing the tastes of a fast food world. and perhaps that is the measure of its success.

he deals with to many issues and doesn't satisfactorily capture any of them in any real sense. homosexuality,women abuse,islamic radicalism,corruption,politics,poverty,...he has an opinion on all these issues, but that is just what it seems an opinion, the novel didn't really tackle them for me satisfactorily.
zaki bey el dessouki the main character, just appeares as a pathetic old man, horsewhipped by his boorish dishonest sister, living in the glory days of the old regime before Gamal abdel nasser and the revolution. he is not particularly observant of islam.
then there's the doormans son, taha shazli,...who joins the islamic revolution, the why's and wherefores of how he gets there, corruption in the police force, his class status excludes him from the police academy, torture by the police, while in their custody, drives him to seeking solace in islam and the radical movements, who have sprung up, as a result of the political and diminishing moral fibre of arab society.
busayna el sayed, taha's love interest,..resident on the roof....her exploitation at the hands of employers, that i suppose was meant to highlight the abuse and exploitation of women. who final marries zaki bey at the end of the novel.
hatim rasheed the educated newspaper editor and closet homosexual, who everyone knows is homosexual, but choose to ignore because he is good at his job....all french educated and refined manners.
the issues and characters abound, it is a good comic read, but not a novel that truly probes any of the caricatures or attitudes it throws up.the building itself represents a changing egyptian society, and moral fibre of the country as a whole, from the shanty dwellers on the roof, to the more affluent tenants and owners of the apartments within the building.

al aswany, had a sound idea, and had the strength to tackle taboo subjects, but not the talent or expertise of naguib mahfouz or taha hussein or gamal el ghitani to carry the momentum through.

i was dissapointed in that the hype surrounding the novel did not meet my expectations, but every reader will have their own opinion, and it does give one an idea of modern day egypt.