Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy) (Paperback)

As an Egyptian who lived through this period he shows it to us with a sharply focused eye that can portray the inevitability of the changes and both the positive and negative elements of what was lost. The central character, Al-Said Ahmad, combines a laughing, charming side that he exposes to his male friends and concubines and another of a bullying, inflexible autocrat which he shows to his family. He lives his life as a devout muslim and recognises no conflict between these two sides to his life. In the novel he personifies the old pre-war Egypt and his death at the end of the trilogy marks the end of this ancient culture. Palace Walk, the first book in the trilogy, defines traditional Egypt. Al-Said Ahmad is the great patriarch and Amina is his devoted wife, between them we have two powerful characters from whom the whole story hangs. Mafhouz skilfully controls a large number of characters. He is prepared to give each one a large section of the book. Their relationships, problems and thoughts are carefully and minutely conveyed through their own actions and concerns and through their interactions with their family and friends. Like any great Victorian novelist Mahfouz takes his time. He wants us to be part of the family, perhaps a distant cousin who hears the stories knows the characters but is not invited to comment. The landscape that Mahfouz creates for us is dominated by Al-Sayid whose dreadful hypocrisy leaps off the page from the first chapter. Amina, his wife, despite rising at 5am to cook the family breakfast, must break her sleep in the middle of the night to greet her dominating husband as he returns from his revels. She peers down the stair well with a mixture of love and fear as the light from his lamp slowly rises towards her. Each night is the same; she kneels before him and helps him undress. She waits to be dismissed to her own room whilst he hums the songs that he has been listening to and laughs at the memories of jokes and experiences that he denies to his wife because she is a woman.

With the commitment of a devout muslim he cares for the souls of his wife and daughters by keeping them confined to his house, uneducated in any activity not directly related to managing a home. He terrifies his whole family into submitting to his will in all areas of life. But this fear excludes him from any intimacy with them. They love and admire his will, religious faith and zest for life. It is only after he has left in the morning for his shop that family life begins and his three sons and two daughters can reveal their true selves, gossip about their neighbours and bicker with each other.

Their daily lives are predicated on their gender. The two girls stay at home and through their lives we see a lost world of domestic life. Many boring and arduous tasks must be completed each day. They fight and complain but with no real will to change their destiny. They exploit the power that their domestic position gives them when fighting with their brothers. The age range of the boys allows for detailed descriptions of the old Egyptian way of life outside the home. Kamal is the youngest son and still at school. Yasin, the eldest, is a young bachelor of independent means who is beginning a life of dissipation that mirrors that of his father.

Although carefully planned to demonstrate how life changed over the middle years of this century the novel is not contrived. Each member of the family has a fully rounded character which drives their actions. This is one of those rare books where fictional characters and real events create a coherent whole.

In the past, I have tried to read some other books by this author, and just couldn't get into them. These books are different. They really do merit the Nobel Prize. Reading them now, after being immersed in the Arab culture for 12 years, I see so many more things than I would have noticed had I read the books first. But living in this culture, I can see how accurate they are, and how the men really DO behave and think like the characters in these books! Aside from the all this, the story line is wonderful, too. I had trouble putting the book down after having read the first few pages. I recommend these books to anyone who would really like to understand the Middle Eastern culture.