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Review
‘A superbly crafted feat of storytelling.’ Sunday Telegraph
'An intriguing and highly charged novel…Alaa Al Aswany's eponymous structure is a microcosm of modern Egyptian society…Al Aswany manages to capture the challenges facing much of the developing world…a superbly crafted feat of storytelling.' Tash Aw, Daily Telegraph
‘A sharp, humorous novel.' Caroline Moorhead, Spectator
‘Addictively readable…The most emotionally compelling Egyptian novel published in English since Naguib Mahfouz’s “Cairo Trilogy”.’ Indendent
'It's not hard to see why this Egyptian novel has created a furore in the Arab world…It's a fabulous, acutely observed story of human foibles, full of vivid scenes and extraordinary characters.' Mail on Sunday
‘The stories in this novel are beautifully, simply told – the characters are alive from page one.’ Sunday Times
'There are many stories here. The book is elaborate to bursting point, but always controlled, always whole. It is as juicy and satisfying as a shiny apple, its taste both strange and familiar, compassionate and bitter.' The Times
'In its affectionate portrait of feckless and flawed humanity, this is a rich and engaging book; in its analysis of the Islamist threat, it is a brave and indispensable one.' Daily Mail
'With its parade of big-city characters, both ludicrous and tender, its warm heart and political indignation, it belongs to a literary tradition that goes back to the 1840s, to Eugene Sue and Charles Dickens…The plotting is neat, the episodes are funny and sad, and there are deaths and weddings aplenty.' Guardian
‘Bewitching.’ Scotsman
'Al Aswany is excellent on the bitterness young Egyptians feel towards a country where hard-won qualifications are worthless unless backed with money…an absorbing portrait of the struggle to survive in the Arab world's “best friend of the West”.' Observer
'You don't get many writers like Alaa Al Aswany in the West any more. 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
‘As chock-a-block with vivid characters, diverse storylines and moral and social indignation as a Victorian novel, it is as readable as it is courageous.' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
‘This bestselling Arabic novel is an engaging series of stories, peopled with wonderful characters, that builds to a passionate climax.' Daily Telegraph
'A restless human drama and a resonant history lesson.' Sunday Times
'If only every encounter with the dentist were this enjoyable.' Observer
'Each flawed character in this beautifully woven tale embodies a facet of modern Egypt, painting a picture of a country struggling with its principles and squandered promises, while seeking solace in Islam.' thelondonpaper
Sunday Telegraph
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Customer Reviews
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
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.
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.
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