The Yacoubian Building
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.70
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Yacoubian Building for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.70, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'You don't get many writers like Alaa Al Aswany in the West any more. “The Yacoubian Building” paints a marvellous picture of modern Egypt with all its hypocrisies and fanaticism – the gulf between rich and poor reminiscent of Dickensian London. Like the late Naguib Mahfouz, 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
‘A bewitching political novel of contemporary Cairo that is also an ‘engage’ novel about sex, a romantic novel about power and a comic yet sympathetic novel about the vagaries of the human heart.’ New York Times Book Review
‘Captivating and controversial…an amazing glimpse of modern Egyptian society and culture.’ New York Review of Books
‘Delves into a mix of power, currption, sex exploitation, poverty, and extremism…lucidly captures the varied aspects of Egyptian life: straight, gay, rich, poor, powerful, and powerless.’ Egypt Today
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Sunday Business Post
'The colourful stories are interwoven seamlessly in a narrative
packed with incident and inevitability...Evocative and moving.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
packed with incident and inevitability...Evocative and moving.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
The distance between Baehler Passage, where Zaki Bey el Dessouki lives, and his office in the Yacoubian Building is not more than a hundred meters, but it takes him an hour to cover it each morning as he is obliged to greet his friends on the street. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The distance between Baehler Passage, where Zaki Bey el Dessouki lives, and his office in the Yacoubian Building is not more than a hundred meters, but it takes him an hour to cover it each morning as he is obliged to greet his friends on the street. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Yacoubian Building is misleading easy to read, but the insights it unveils can be both bleak and enlightening.
The threads of The Yacoubian Building twist together to create a compelling and easily digested story. It's a series of individual tales set in modern Egypt, each offering a slightly different view of life in a modern middle-eastern city, where lives overlap in an old colonial apartment block. Once I'd read enough to keep the characters straight in my mind the pages absolutely flew by; I found it to be very engaging and absorbing.
We meet various characters whose lives are enhanced / overturned / damaged by the events which unfold as the plot weaves between them. The Yacoubian Building offers western readers like myself a fascinating glimpse at how life might be lived at different social levels in Cairo; you can almost get swept away in the deliberate bustle and hustle of the street life which the novel brilliantly evokes. The book also explains how a Muslim youth might come to be radicalised - but it is not a book about Muslim extremism. It also reveals political corruption, the reality of being a young working woman in Egyptian society, the nature of love and how it can be found when least expected, how a homosexual might struggle to find a permanent partner and any form of social acceptance, and how some folk still mourn the loss of grandeur which faded along with the old colonial influence.
There's plenty of sex in The Yacoubian Building, too; some of it is sensually delirious, some of it is graphically unpleasant and sordid, and most of it is honestly believable.
Not all of the plot threads come to a satisfactory end (I couldn't help wondering what happened to some of the minor characters), and if you're looking for an upbeat and positive conclusion then you may not be entirely happy with the way some of these stories are resolved. However, I'm glad the author resisted the temptation to neatly sew everything together and, despite some of the bitter endings, my overall impression of The Yacoubian Building is positive. I'll definitely look out for other books by the same author, and appreciate the very sympathetic and considered work of the translator.
If the themes of the Yacoubian Building interest you, then I can also recommend the author's next work, Chicago, which elaborates upon them and sets the action in the USA.
8/10
The threads of The Yacoubian Building twist together to create a compelling and easily digested story. It's a series of individual tales set in modern Egypt, each offering a slightly different view of life in a modern middle-eastern city, where lives overlap in an old colonial apartment block. Once I'd read enough to keep the characters straight in my mind the pages absolutely flew by; I found it to be very engaging and absorbing.
We meet various characters whose lives are enhanced / overturned / damaged by the events which unfold as the plot weaves between them. The Yacoubian Building offers western readers like myself a fascinating glimpse at how life might be lived at different social levels in Cairo; you can almost get swept away in the deliberate bustle and hustle of the street life which the novel brilliantly evokes. The book also explains how a Muslim youth might come to be radicalised - but it is not a book about Muslim extremism. It also reveals political corruption, the reality of being a young working woman in Egyptian society, the nature of love and how it can be found when least expected, how a homosexual might struggle to find a permanent partner and any form of social acceptance, and how some folk still mourn the loss of grandeur which faded along with the old colonial influence.
There's plenty of sex in The Yacoubian Building, too; some of it is sensually delirious, some of it is graphically unpleasant and sordid, and most of it is honestly believable.
Not all of the plot threads come to a satisfactory end (I couldn't help wondering what happened to some of the minor characters), and if you're looking for an upbeat and positive conclusion then you may not be entirely happy with the way some of these stories are resolved. However, I'm glad the author resisted the temptation to neatly sew everything together and, despite some of the bitter endings, my overall impression of The Yacoubian Building is positive. I'll definitely look out for other books by the same author, and appreciate the very sympathetic and considered work of the translator.
If the themes of the Yacoubian Building interest you, then I can also recommend the author's next work, Chicago, which elaborates upon them and sets the action in the USA.
8/10
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Set in Cairo around the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, The Yacoubian Building covers the lives of the varied assortment of residents of the decaying Art Deco apartment block of the title. The residents range from the wealthy who live in the apartment building proper to the poor who inhabit the cabins on the roof. The wealthy include a self made business man who courts political success, a gay editor in chief of a French language newspaper passionately in love with a policeman, and an aging yet virile playboy. The residents on the roof include young devout Muslim who as a very able student who aspires to join the police, his attractive and initially naïve girlfriend who lives with her mother, and a shirt maker who eventually sets up business on the roof.
One or another of this varied collection of humanity engage in or suffer deceit, corruption, illegal dealings, domestic strife, rejection, fundamentalism, torture, and sexual desire, harassment and fulfilment. For some the outcome is frustration or even tragedy, for others unexpected joy and satisfaction. Altogether this provides a very colourful picture of life in Egypt during a difficult period. An engaging and revealing read.
One or another of this varied collection of humanity engage in or suffer deceit, corruption, illegal dealings, domestic strife, rejection, fundamentalism, torture, and sexual desire, harassment and fulfilment. For some the outcome is frustration or even tragedy, for others unexpected joy and satisfaction. Altogether this provides a very colourful picture of life in Egypt during a difficult period. An engaging and revealing read.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Al Aswany populates the Yacoubian Building with a set of socially diverse characters and then relates a set of stories involving various residents. This device allows him to create a portrait of life in Cairo; the injustices suffered by the poor, the corruption of the elite, the political and economic realities of a repressed society and the way religion is used by different players to achieve their purposes.
The main characters are each introduced in some detail and because there are a large number of them, this means that lengthy digressions into the background of characters are still taking place halfway through the book. This tends to almost bog the narrative down in places. The other disadvantage of having so many central characters is that it makes it difficult to develop them in any real way. Though a number of them do emerge by the end of the book as having the necessary depth to make them interesting, others remain close to being stereotypes. The novel is an interesting slice of modern Cairo life and as such is a rewarding read, but it doesn't quite ever become totally engrossing.
The main characters are each introduced in some detail and because there are a large number of them, this means that lengthy digressions into the background of characters are still taking place halfway through the book. This tends to almost bog the narrative down in places. The other disadvantage of having so many central characters is that it makes it difficult to develop them in any real way. Though a number of them do emerge by the end of the book as having the necessary depth to make them interesting, others remain close to being stereotypes. The novel is an interesting slice of modern Cairo life and as such is a rewarding read, but it doesn't quite ever become totally engrossing.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant book... Part of the path to Tahrir Sq
I was reading this on holiday in Cairo and was so taken by the book that I tracked down the real life Yacoubian Building (easy to find at junction of Talaat Harb and Aldy streets,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tom Doyle
An amusing tale, which people with experience of any Arab country will...
The Yacoubian building is a cleverly interwoven tale which tells the stories of a variety of colourful individuals, their daily lives, their dreams for the future and the incidents... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Rich Slater
Lively portrayal of characters and their environment
This book is beautifully written and really brings the characters, and a part of Cairo, to life. Whilst not the most profound, the stories of characters are impactful and the book... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Bugsy
Enjoyed it
Just finished reading this book - very interesting and thought-provoking. Was not exactly how I had imagined it reading its back cover etc but still worth buying.
Published 11 months ago by FizaUK
Sets the scene pre "Egyptian Spring"
Great insight into the life and times of the Egyptian people pre the 2011 Arab Spring. Once started I could not put it down.
Published 12 months ago by Wildflowers4Wildlife
Very nice, and highly informative
Just finished this lovely little book, and can highly recommend it. It features a Robert Altman-like panorama of characters, who play out their lives against the backdrop of Hosni... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Paul Hofheinz
Insight into Egypt
This was a very enjoyable book which made the recent demonstrations very understandable - only surprised it took so long!
Published 14 months ago by Areader
A wonderful book
Having read a lot about Egypt, both ancient and modern, I have only now discovered this author's writings. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Keen Reader
Yacoubian Building
I just received the book today, one month after I ordered it......but on the upside, the book was in great condition.
Published 15 months ago by Perhaps
A portrait of Cairo without perspective
"The Yacoubian Building" is a novel about modern-day Cairo, using the residents of the building as a broad cross-section of Egyptian society. Read more
Published on 22 April 2010 by Sofia
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
