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The Yacoubian Building
 
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The Yacoubian Building (Hardcover)

by Ala Al Aswany (Author), Humphrey Davies (Translator)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 262 pages
  • Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press; New edition edition (30 Nov 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 9774248627
  • ISBN-13: 978-9774248627
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 522,637 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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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 'A powerful novel of corruption and fanaticism!Anyone with an interest in Middle East culture will find something refreshing here. Anyone else willing to lose their weekend devouring this absorbing novel shouldn't hesitate.' Waterstones Books Quarterly '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 'The colourful stories are interwoven seamlessly in a narrative packed with incident and inevitability. Inevitability, because in 'The Yacoubian Building' the corruption of the neo-colonial government is a natural consequence of colonial history, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is a natural by-product of the resistance of such corruption. Evocative and moving.' Sunday Business Post --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Sunday Telegraph

'...offers fascinating insights into a modern Muslim society.' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting slice of Cairo life, 25 Mar 2008
By Gordon Eldridge (Southport, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Yacoubian Building (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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars From corruption to impassioned devotion, a cross section of humanity, 4 April 2007
By Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Yacoubian Building (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.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A microcosm of life in a chaotic city....., 16 Oct 2008
By Wynne Kelly "Kellydoll" (Coventry, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Yacoubian Building (Paperback)
The Yacoubian Building is set in Cairo at the time of the first Gulf War. The building itself is a somewhat ramshackle apartment block which has seen better days. The diverse inhabitants reveal a microcosm of life in this chaotic city. In the apartments are shady businessmen and a corrupt politician (who has lodged his second wife there), a gay newspaper editor and an aging Lothario who keeps an office for the main purpose of seducing women. On the roof more people live in improvised shacks - the doorkeeper's family (including the son who becomes radicalised), a beautiful young woman who fights constantly with her employers to keep her virginity and a manipulative and scheming shirtmaker.

The narrative moves between all these characters (and more) as they all strive to find success and happiness within the corrupt social and political world in which they find themselves. It is written with great verve and imagination and all his characters come alive for the reader. Although much of the work is dark and depressing it is also sympathetic and humane.

However, I doubt very much that the Egyptian Tourist Office would recommend this book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "Some peoples are excitable and rebellious by nature, but the Egyptian keeps his head down his whole life long so he can eat."
Western readers coming to this novel will find it an exciting reading experience and a vibrant and descriptive primer illuminating the various forces in contemporary Egypt that... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mary Whipple

2.0 out of 5 stars corrie goes to cairo
Just interesting enough to read through, not really badly written, not in the least involving emotionally. The Yacoubian building as Rover's Return. Read more
Published 4 months ago by monica

4.0 out of 5 stars AN EGYPTIAN INSIGHT
When travelling I always try to read a book based on the country being visited ... this was a great insight into Egyptian society which gave our visit much "background colour"... Read more
Published 7 months ago by GGGWorcs

5.0 out of 5 stars Yacubian Building
The Yacoubian Building

A very interesting story of the lives of all living and past living in the building.
Published 7 months ago by reedar

4.0 out of 5 stars The Yacoubian Building
A rather slow start, but it builds into a fascinating portrait of life in Egypt, albeit with a lot of sexual themes! Read more
Published 9 months ago by R. Mclaren

4.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic writer
This is almost an old-fashioned book - like a family saga, except the family is the inhabitants of a the Yacoubian building. Read more
Published 10 months ago by giraffe23

1.0 out of 5 stars Muddled, unfocused...
The parade of characters who inhabit the building and the book are parodies, not characters, and this sets the tone of a novel which can't seem to make its mind up what it intends... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Livvy two

5.0 out of 5 stars A great success
This is a terrific book. Based on a real building lightly disguised, it follows the stories of some of the diverse inhabitants, It is fairly complex but not a difficult read, so I... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Baz Douglas

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing but fascinating insight into Egyptian culture
The Yacoubian Building is misleading easy to read, but the insights it unveils can be both bleak and enlightening. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Hooligween

4.0 out of 5 stars Egyptian society unveiled: disturbing, charming, enlightening and more
The threads of The Yacoubian Building twist together to create a compelling and easily digested story. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Hooligween

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