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Review
'Alaa Al Aswany is a world writer, making Egyptian concerns into human ones and beautifully illuminating our always extraordinary and sometimes sad and baffling world.' The Times
'Alaa Al Aswany is among the best writers in the Middle East today, a suitable heir to the mantle worn by Naquib Mahfouz, his great predecessor, whose influence is felt on every page. Yet Al Aswany has his own magic.' Guardian
'A wonderful storyteller and a cynically astute observer of human folly and frailty.' Spectator
Product Description
The new book from Alaa Al Aswany, author of the international bestsellers The Yacoubian Building and Chicago
Friendly Fire is a novella and collection of short stories from Alaa Al Aswany, author of the bestselling The Yacoubian Building. As in that novel, Al Aswany dissects modern Egyptian society and reveals with skill and detachment the hypocrisy, violence and abuse of power characteristic of a world in moral crisis. Here, though, the focus has shifted from the broad historical canvas to the minute stitches of pain that hold together an individual, a family, a school classroom, or the relationship between a man and a woman. Can a man so alienated from his society that he regards all its members as no better than microbes wriggling under a microscope survive within it? Can cynical religiosity triumph over human decency? Can a man put the thought of a delicious dish of beans behind him long enough to mourn his father's death? Alongside these wry questions, other, less mordant perspectives also have their place: an ageing cabaret dancer bestows the blessing of a vanished world on her lover's son; a crippled boy wins subjective victory from objective disaster. In Friendly Fire, readers will find again the vivid, passionate characters of today's Cairo, clamouring to be heard.
Friendly Fire also features an introduction by Alaa Al Aswany giving the history of the novella, 'The Isam Abd el-Ati Papers', which was banned in Egypt for a decade.
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One of the issues one finds with some short story works is that the author can sometime skip over character or plot development but in this case the stories were well developed, with a good pace and flowed to a close naturally without the notion of being forced.
As other reviews have mentioned, all of the stories concern real life issues and perhaps illustrate that human needs/want/desires and particularly challenges move along the same lines albeit with different intensities.
A great introduction to a strong writer and a book worth owning.
Both of those are much more accessible and more polished than Friendly Fire. The stories in Friendly Fire were written before those two novels and feel as if they were intended for a domestic (Egyptian, that is) audience, while the other books have a more international appeal.
The titles of this collection couldn't be more accurate: Al Aswany spares no sentiment in his criticism of his country. His prose is sharp and almost bitter; the scenarios frequently reveal an unhappy, corrupt society. Think of Will Self's early short stories and transport him to Egypt and you'll be close!
So while much of Friendly Fire doesn't make for comfortable reading it IS extremely revealing. There are universal truths here; human behaviour does not differ greatly be it set in Egyptian or English society. There's much to wince at, much to feel ashamed about, and an occasional glimmer of hope that through understanding can come improvement.
Difficult, but rewarding.
8/10
The book starts out with some hilarious thoughts about being Egyptian then he goes on to... Read more
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