The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library)

Book Description

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Naguib Mahfouz’s magnificent epic trilogy of colonial Egypt appears here in one volume for the first time. The Nobel Prize—winning writer’s masterwork is the engrossing story of a Muslim family in Cairo during Britain’s occupation of Egypt in the early decades of the twentieth century.

The novels of The Cairo Trilogy trace three generations of the family of tyrannical patriarch Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, who rules his household with a strict hand while living a secret life of self-indulgence. Palace Walk introduces us to his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, his cloistered daughters, Aisha and Khadija, and his three sons–the tragic and idealistic Fahmy, the dissolute hedonist Yasin, and the soul-searching intellectual Kamal. Al-Sayyid Ahmad’s rebellious children struggle to move beyond his domination in Palace of Desire, as the world around them opens to the currents of modernity and political and domestic turmoil brought by the 1920s. Sugar Street brings Mahfouz’s vivid tapestry of an evolving Egypt to a dramatic climax as the aging patriarch sees one grandson become a Communist, one a Muslim fundamentalist, and one the lover of a powerful politician.

Throughout the trilogy, the family’s trials mirror those of their turbulent country during the years spanning the two World Wars, as change comes to a society that has resisted it for centuries. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, The Cairo Trilogy is the achievement of a master storyteller.

Customer Reviews:

A Window on Another Culture.......2007-09-12

Naguib Mahfouz's "The Cairo Trilogy" is a family saga set against the Cairo of the first half of the twentieth century, from approximately 1917 to the mid 1940s. It was (like Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings") originally written as a single novel, but published as a trilogy for commercial reasons. The three volumes into which it is divided, however, do read like self-contained novels in their own right. The first, "Palace Walk", covers the late 1910s, the second "Palace of Desire" covers the mid to late 1920s and the third, "Sugar Street", chronicles the events of the thirties and forties. The titles of each part are taken from three streets in Cairo in which the characters live.

The main character is the paterfamilias Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, a well-to-do Cairo merchant who leads a strange double life. To his family he is a devout Muslim, a stern husband and father who imposes a strict discipline. His wife Amina is virtually confined to the family home; when she courts her husband's displeasure by daring to go out to visit, a few streets away, the shrine of an Islamic saint whom she reveres, the incident nearly ends in divorce. Yet there is another side to Ahmad. Away from his family he frequents houses of ill repute where he enjoys the company of women (he keeps several mistresses), drinking alcohol and other pleasures forbidden to him by his religion. We also meet Ahmad's sons- the irresponsible playboy Yasin, Fahmy, an idealistic Wafdist (Egyptian nationalist) who loses his life during a demonstration against British rule, and the young Kamal- and his daughters Khadija and Aisha, who are also very different in character. Aisha is beautiful and gentle like her mother, but is fated to have a tragic life. Khadija is less attractive, sharp-nosed and sharp-tongued, and initially worries about finding a husband. In the end, however, she makes as good a marriage as her sister (they marry a pair of brothers).

In "Palace of Desire" Kamal, who was only a mischievous schoolboy in "Palace Walk", starts to emerge as a major character. He falls passionately in love with Aida, the beautiful sister of a friend, but the relationship is destined to end unhappily as her wealthy, aristocratic parents do not regard the schoolmaster son of a shopkeeper as their social equal. Disappointed by the failure of this relationship, Kamal, once as idealistic as his older brother Fahmy, becomes a disillusioned cynic, losing both his idealism and his Islamic faith. He becomes obsessed with the study of philosophy, which he believes will enable him to understand the meaning of life, but this goal eludes him; all philosophy seems to teach him is that such an understanding is unattainable.

Kamal remains an important character in the third volume, "Sugar Street"; he has the chance to marry Aida's equally beautiful younger sister Budur, but does not do so, largely because he has grown used to a bachelor existence and fears that, if married, he would have less time for the philosophical problems which have come to obsess him. His father, however, by now elderly and in poor health, fades into the background in this book. The third generation, in the shape of Abd al-Jawad's grandsons, starts to play an important role. Yasin's son Ridwan is a homosexual who becomes the lover of an influential politician. (This must have been a daring theme in the Egypt of the 1950s when the book was written). Khadija's sons Ahmad and Abd al-Munim are committed followers of two very different ideologies, the first becoming a Communist and the second a Muslim fundamentalist.

Of these two ideologies, Mahfouz tends to devote more time to Communism. In 1957, the future of Egypt and the wider Arab world may well have seemed to consist of a choice between Communism and the secular nationalism espoused by the likes of President Nasser in real life and Fahmy and Kamal in the novel. Mahfouz, however, was to have a long life, dying last year at the age of 95, and was doubtless surprised to see the resurgence of religious fundamentalism during his lifetime, while Communism never won widespread support in the Muslim world and eventually withered even in its Soviet and Eastern European strongholds. Had Mahfouz been able to predict these developments, he might well have paid more attention to Abd al-Munim and his ideas.

One of the themes of the trilogy is the conflicts and contrasts between the Egyptian values and those of the West, especially Egypt's attempts to free itself from the influence of Britain (which remained pervasive even after the country had officially become independent in 1932). Westernised characters such as Aida and her family and contrasted with more conservative ones such as Abd al-Jawad. (Even he, however, becomes more liberal later in life, even allowing his wife to go out freely). It is notable, however, that apart from Abd al-Munim the most politically nationalistic characters are all strongly influenced by European thought. The philosophers who most influence Kamal are Westerners such as Bergson, Russell and Schopenhauer, and the Communism which inspires Ahmad was originally a theory developed by a German sitting in the British Museum in the mid -19th century. I felt that Mahfouz was perhaps too generous towards Communism; Ahmad and his equally radical girlfriend Sawsan are portrayed as attractively idealistic, and there is no attempt to contrast their idealism with the brutality of the Soviet regime which they uncritically support. ("Sugar Street" is set during the years when the Stalinist terror was at its height).

Reviewers have compared Mahfouz to a number of major writers; the two most often mentioned seem to be Tolstoy and Dickens. Both comparisons seem to me to be apt. The Egyptian writer shares with Tolstoy the ability to integrate political and philosophical themes into his work without seeming to preach and without interrupting the flow of his narrative. The tormented Kamal is a fascinating character even though, outwardly, little happens to him; the action is all internal as we watch the development of his character and his ideas. With Dickens he shares the ability to conjure up a vivid sense of a particular time and place, sharing with us the sights, sounds and smells of early 20th century Cairo just as the English writer did with those of 19th century London. With both writers he shares the ability to create a large cast of characters we can identify with and care about, however different their circumstances might be to our own. For those like me who are not familiar with Egypt or the Arabic-speaking world in general, "The Cairo Trilogy" acts like a window enabling us to see something of that culture.

Intricate and unforgettable.......2007-08-13

As it happened, I began reading "Palace Walk" as I boarded the plane that was taking me to Cairo on my second visit. The timing was impeccable, and the live city below my hotel windows provided a living breathing illustration to the rich tapestry of the story, thus making it even more unforgettable. In today's world, this book must be read and re-read by anyone who thinks, who questions current events, who struggles to understand and wishes to form his/her own opinions.

Great book for a long trip.......2007-06-13

Naguib Mahfouz relates a distant time in a far away place with simple sentences and rich details. He relates the breadth of human experience equally well, offering depth and understanding of women as well as men. For the first time I feel that I have some understanding of the daily life of Muslim men and women.

If you want to laugh, read this book. If you want to cry, read this book. If you want a page turner, read this book. The characters will feel like your own family before you're done.

Long, intense and worth every minute.......2007-06-12

I received this book as a Christmas present and when I saw the sheer size of it, I'll admit, I was frightened. For anyone who feels the same, don't let the fact that you could use this a weight put you off from reading it. You will be losing out on a magnificent work.
Mahfouz's trilogy pulled me into a world I know very little of and made me feel at home. I felt the fear the rest of the family did when Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad walked down the halls, banging his cane ahead of him. I read with anger and frustration, watching Yasin's transformation, or lack there of, and Kamal's.
Amina's growth and Aisha's destruction were an equally intriguing read. The fact that Aisha is unable to join her family and is forced to continue falling apart was a hard pill for me to swallow and ended up making me cry by the end of the novel.
Mahfouz is definitely a master storyteller who creates characters in one of the most realistic ways I have ever read. I will certainly be reading The Cairo Trilogy again.

A Treasure.......2007-05-11

This three-generation saga of a decaying Cairo family will totally envelop you. Mahfouz creates a complete and detailed world of characters, places, atmospheres and emotions that you will be reluctant to leave. Among the overarching themes is the contrast between the public face we present to society, and our private conduct and inner reality, a problem of universal significance. These books are a treasure and warrant every superlative.

Average customer rating:

Social Entrapment
A moving novel
See the movie
Great fiction from Egypt
You'll become a resident of this little street

Midaq Alley
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385264763
Release Date: 1991-12-01

Book Description

Considered by many to be Mahfouz's best novel, Midaq Alley centers around the residents of one of the hustling, teeming back alleys of Cairo. No other novel so vividly evokes the sights and sounds of the city. The universality and timelessness of this book cannot be denied.

Customer Reviews:

Social Entrapment.......2007-05-29

Readers will sense the "darkness" that is "enclosed like a trap" as they turn the pages of Midaq Alley. Mahfouz exploits his characters through vivid descriptions. For instance, Uncle Kamil's "legs" that are "like tree trunks" and "his behind" is "rounded like the dome of a mosque" not only puts a physical image to the man, but posits him into the Muslim culture. Mahfouz is clever in his depiction of Midaq Alley, a small part of Old Cairo. He juxtaposes the reality of the British occupation in the bigger picture while focusing on the narrative of simple, middle-class Egyptians who struggle for their identity and hope for survival. Hamida desperately tries to escape her cage, claiming that "everyone in this alley is half dead;" however, she is met with a similar fate when she emerges into the outside world, entrapped into a prison of prostitution. Her "yearning for power centered on her love for money" and she pays the ultimate price with her dignity in "the streets of illicit love." The real genius of Naguib Mahfouz is evident in this novel; it invites the reader into a culture that depicts a social reality of mid 20th century Cairo.

A moving novel.......2007-02-01

In this novel, Mr Mahfouz chose to show simple characters living in an area similar to that of his own birth. The richly colourful life of these people is carefully drawn and the story crowds with minor charcters depicted with keen perception and great humour. There is Uncle Kamil the sweet seller, Abbas the barber, Kirsha the café owner, "Dr" Boosh the dentist, Radwan Hussainy the landlord, Sheikh Darwish the former English teacher, Umm Hamida the mariage broker, Salim Alwan the company owner, Husniya and Jaada the bakers, Zaita the cripple maker and Ibrahim Faraj the pimp.
We see how they are enticed away from their natural roles by the hopes of material gains chiefly through work with the British Army. The novel examines the problems of behaviour and morality: drug addiction, homosexuality, ambitions and dissatisfactions. Perhaps it is time itself which is the novel's principal character personified by the ageless Alley. The aspirations and tragedies of the inhabitants are witnessed with indifference by Midaq Alley. But in the Alley, as in life itself, there is also a lot of gaiety, colour and excitement to enliven the passing scene.

See the movie.......2005-07-26

This weekend I saw an adaptation of this book in a movie starring Salma Hayek. From the reviews I have read here, it is very similar, but takes place in Mexico. I was spellbound by the movie, and will therefore try to get the book.

Great fiction from Egypt.......2004-09-09

Regardless of the poor translation (the one I read by Trevor Le Gassick) this was still immensely enjoyable, the characters shone through and the scene descriptions are so rich I felt like I was there, it was just written (or translated) in such a stilted way that it felt like English was definitely not the narrator's first language. I had previously read the Cairo trilogy, the story of several generations of a family, Midaq Alley is quite different, a soap opera about the people of the alley set over a short period of time, fast paced and very funny at times despite the bleak lives of the characters.

The setting is WWII, a generally prosperous time for the people in this story, some content with life in the alley, and others more ambitious dreaming of nothing but escape. Strong characters with interconnected stories draw the reader into their lives - Kirsha the cafe owner with young male lovers, Hamida who is lured into prostitution, fat Uncle Kamil and his sweet shop, Abbas the barber who joins the army just for money to win a bride, Zaita the beggar and grave robber who performs surgery for a fee to create other beggars, Mrs. Saniya Afifi who will pay anything to a marriage broker to get herself a young husband, and several others with stories of their own to tell.

I enjoy books that expose me to totally different cultures and ways human beings adapt to what life throws at them. Midaq Alley was a journey to another time and the other side of the world.

You'll become a resident of this little street.......2004-06-09

This book was an excellent and not-too-difficult read. I say not too difficult because I read the entire thing on my morning and evening commute over two weeks. The narration really brings the reader into Midaq Alley, to a point where one feels like they too are peering at every character through window shades and evesdropping on conversations in the cafe. The plight of the main female character is reminiscent of Sister Carrie. Like Carrie, she is a character that one can neither like nor detest. I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more of Mahfouz's work.

Average customer rating:

The sad conclusion of this Egyptian family's saga. Wonderful!
Would Do Business Again
Not as good as parts one and two
The Anti-Dickens
Third part of "The Cairo Trilogy"

Sugar Street (The Cairo Trilogy, 3)
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Anchor
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385264704
Release Date: 1992-12-15

Book Description

Master storyteller Naguib Mahfouz crowns his best-selling Cairo Trilogy with this final chronicle of the Abdal-Jawad clan, climaxing the story begun in Palace Walk and continued in Palace Of Desire.

Customer Reviews:

The sad conclusion of this Egyptian family's saga. Wonderful!.......2007-06-02

This is the third book of the trilogy by this renowned Egyptian author. Originally written in Arabic in the late 1950s, many of his works have been translated into English. I'm very glad about this because his unique perspective is an important one, especially now, when everybody and his brother had an opinion about what is going on in the Middle East. These books were written way before Muslims were perceived as a threat, and male dominance in families was an unquestioned way of life. We see the politics of the time through the eyes of one family. And so we learn about the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s in Egypt through the eyes of very specific people.

Even though the author has a tendency to be a bit flowery and wordy for my taste, I found it perfectly all right in this book. Specifically, in this and his other books, he gets into the thought processes of the character named Kamal, who he has followed from childhood to adulthood. In the first book he is a child looking at the world with wide-eyed wonder; in the second book we see him in love; and in this last book we meet him as a bachelor schoolteacher observing the world around him. The patriarch of the family, his father, is aging and so are all the other members of the family. There are births, deaths, tragedies and romances all told against the background of a changing world.

Reading this series of books somehow seemed to make me part of this family. I felt their joys and sorrows on a person-to-person level. It didn't matter that the world they lived in was different from mine. They came alive for me and I found myself thinking about them as I went about my day. Now that the series is finished, I will miss them.

This last book is perhaps the saddest. I would have liked the story to be happier. But this is the story the author told. I cannot change that. However, I do know that the time I spent reading this book left me richer.

Would Do Business Again.......2007-03-20

Shipped earlier than promised and in good shape. Great experience.

Not as good as parts one and two.......2006-01-30

Easily the most political and the least engaging of the three novels that make up the Cairo Trilogy, Sugar Street is a must-read only because you've read the first two installments and feel the need to finish what you've started. The focus of Sugar Street is more on the younger generation of characters -- the children of Yasin and Khadija and others. So the characters that you grew attached to in the first two novels, like the authoritarian family patriarch, take more of a supporting role in this one. That's disappointing. I felt like these new, younger characters were just thrust into the spotlight, and I was supposed to care about them automatically. And of course, it just doesn't work that way. I also felt like the political situation in Egypt received too much attention in this book, and that took away from character development and interpersonal relationships. All in all, Sugar Street was the least interesting of the three. I was glad when I finished it.

The Anti-Dickens.......2005-06-15

This was the least well-done book of the trilogy. It took me a long time to formulate into words my disappointment in this work. Mahfouz had great representation of everything that has happened in the recent history of Egypt, at the time when everything changed, with one family having a communist, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, *and* a man who advances up the ladder of increasing bureaucracy. Mahfouz continues to write vividly, with extremely real characters, that you believe, and that you are present with, within their heads. But the veiled references to homosexuality were unnecessary and distracting from the plot. And the book was too slice of life. The ending was far too sudden, incomplete, and unfulfilling. And in the end, this book, and this trilogy, becomes a writing of depression, sadness, and how lives are destroyed, lacking in hope, lacking in joy, lacking in truth.

One man, on patriarch, sets his family down the road of despair through his relentless despotism. He even warps their brains into thinking that what he does is a good thing, and his hypocrisy a virtue. This could be a great book in teaching the lesson of how we choose generational sins for our family- but it doesn't seem to actually try to teach this. This is the result of the work of the patriarch, but there is no foil to present for hope for the family. The only successful individual is the grandchild engaged in homosexuality who succeeds at bureaucracy. There is no redemption. The book becomes the anti-Dickens, a world without possibilities. And this is the greatest value of the book, perhaps- showing us the Egyptian culture, strangling it's citizens in red tape.

Great Expectations (Penguin Classics)

Third part of "The Cairo Trilogy".......2005-05-11

In the third part of "The Cairo Trilogy", life of the Abd al-Jawad family goes on. Amina's body now withered, her hair white, ill health and grief having altered her considerably. Her diligence and her capacity for running the household are now gone. She no longer pays attention to her home except for the services to her husband al-Sayyid Ahmad, once a vigorous man in full swing. He now suffers from high blood pressure and he had to give up many of the pleasures of life - drinks, women and good food. In fact, many months before dying, he is completely bedridden, a particularly humiliating situation for a man with such a strong ego.
Here Mr Mahfouz casts a compassionate glance at the irony of life which makes elderly people become utterly dependant on others, as they used to be when they were infants. For Kamal, now thirty-six, it is sad to see his family age, all the more since he refuses to get married and thus spends a lot of time aloof and lonely. Aiming at becoming a true intellectual, Kamal often collides with doubt and struggles with instincts and passions and is becoming "an emotionally crippled recluse". He often broods about his youth, his love for Aïda and the eternal loss of the enchanting past.
But there are also reasons to rejoice as the younger generation takes over and ascends in society. Marriages take place, careers are planned. Mr Mahfouz splendidly portrays this cycle of life in which the old generation gives way to the boisterous and cheerful young one. This is shown in the moving final scene when Kamal and his brother Yasin enter a store where the former buys several items for his daughter's baby while the latter buys a black necktie he will need when the mournful day of his mother's death arrives...

Average customer rating:

A family saga, a view of Egyptian culture, and a history lesson. I loved it!
One man's family . . .
Worthy of the Nobel Prize
A book of desire
Another Great Mahfouz

Palace of Desire (Cairo Trilogy II)
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385264682
Release Date: 1991-12-01

Book Description

The second volume of the highly acclaimed Cairo Trilogy from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Filled with compelling drama, earthy humor, and remarkable insight, Palace Of Desire is the unforgettable story of the violent clash between ideals and realities, dreams and desires.

Customer Reviews:

A family saga, a view of Egyptian culture, and a history lesson. I loved it!.......2007-05-20

This is the second book in a trilogy by Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz. I loved the first book and enjoyed this one equally well. Of course, by now I'm acquainted with the characters and the time and place - shortly after WWI in Cairo, Egypt.

This is a family saga. Each character is scrupulously drawn. Sometimes I thought the author used a few too many words to make his point however. That's because he goes into the thoughts of his characters. It does seem real as he describes what they say as well as what they don't say. At times I thought I would like to edit it a bit and make these musings a little shorter, but I soon just accepted it as the author's style and let myself be enveloped in his world. And I must say that this technique made me feel I was inside their heads, viewing their world as they experienced it. I found this very impressive.

The family has been mourning the death of one of their sons during a demonstration several years before, and this sadness is something they live with all the time. The father and patriarch of the family is now in his fifties. He hasn't been womanizing for a while but is ready to go back to his former pleasures in life. The oldest son compromises the family's honor by choosing the wrong bride. And the youngest son is in his late teens and insists on going to a teacher's college instead of studying law. He falls in love and we share his despair when it is not returned. The two daughters are married and have several children each. We get a glimpse into their lives too, and the conflict that one of them is having with her mother-in-law.

One of the best things about the book was the understanding I got about another culture. I perceived it all naturally, through the eyes of the author. He described Egypt at the time he was living it. He didn't try to give me a history lesson. This book was writen in the mid-1950s. It was written in Egyptian for Egyptian people. Later it was translated into English. I couldn't help but contrast it with a best seller I read recently which tried to pack a history lesson into the narrative. Reading this trilogy however, gives me a history lesson without really trying. I liked that.

I totally enjoyed this book as I did the first book, Palace Walk. I would recommend reading that first if you are interested in this trilogy, however, because understanding the background of the characters really enriches the whole story. I have the third book, Sugar Street, waiting for me to read on my bookshelf. I am looking forward to it.

Definitely recommended. And I can certainly understand why Naguib Mahrouz won a Nobel prize for literature.

One man's family . . ........2006-01-18

Although published as a trilogy, Mahfouz' story of a Cairo family was originally written as a single novel. "Palace of Desire" is one-third out of roughly the middle of it. The time is now the 1920s, and the focus is chiefly on three characters, the father, Al-Sayyid Ahmad, and his two sons, Yasin and Kamal. Desire as a theme runs strongly through the entire trilogy, and it emerges here in three very different ways. The older man feels the beginnings of age interfere with his extramarital dalliances and his life of nightly good fellowship with friends and female company. The older of his two sons is a heedless Don Juan, bored with his wives soon after he marries them. The younger son experiences his first true love and is tormented night and day, first by her teasing interest in him and then in the discovery of her real feelings. Meanwhile, there is a kind of high comedy in the ongoing conflicts between the father's two daughters and their mother-in-law.

Mahfouz also explores class differences in this part of his story, where Kamal, the younger son, is introduced through a school friend to a wealthy, westernized family. His coming of age, loss of innocence, and discovery of a world very different from the sheltered life he has known make this part of the story especially poignant. References to the changing political climate in post-WWI Egypt reflect the theme of national independence from British dominance that Mahfouz has followed from the beginning of the trilogy. Altogether, Mahfouz' family saga, with its interwoven threads of related storylines is a joy to read.

Worthy of the Nobel Prize.......2006-01-15

It's tough to think of Palace of Desire as a stand-alone book. It wouldn't make any sense outside of the context of the trilogy that it's a part of. A reader would be lost if he simply picked this off the shelf and started reading without having read Palace Walk. And likewise, you would feel unsatisfied if you stopped at the end of this book instead of continuing on with the final installment of the trilogy.

Of course, no one (least of all the author) would argue that point. This was all meant to be one book from the start, and that's pretty obvious. But since there aren't all that many people out there with the patience to read an eleven-hundred-page book....well, that's why this is three books and not one huge one.

Part two of the trilogy is just as fascinating as part one. Each of the characters is up to his same old tricks. Yasin is getting married, and divorced, and married again, and still visiting prostitutes - sometimes the same ones that his dad is visiting. Kamal is enrolling in the Teachers' School, against his father's wishes, and starting to lose his faith in religion as he learns more about science, philosophy, and the world around him. And throughout it all, Egypt is portrayed as a country very much in transition. The traditional elements of society are precariously juxtaposed against the liberal forces of change. And this inevitably causes sparks to fly.

It's easy to see why Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize. He's more than just a great writer; he's also an eloquent voice speaking on behalf of a fascinating country in a fascinating time.

A book of desire.......2005-09-25

Palace of desire truly lives up to its name. The book however has a slow start,an almost screen play of endless conversations, fallowed up word by word. Within a short time one soon realizes that the author is giving away in detail a beautifully written perspective into the lives of Egyptians in the early 20's era, all through these casual conversations. Surly, There is no other way to describe and understand the state of mind of the people of that time, both religiously, and non-religiously. It is both shocking, and interesting to witness desire interwoven in the lives of the people who on the surface and their daily lives pretend to live as though they are void of desire. This book retains religious, historical, and political entities. It is a broad but personal perspective that will be a surprise to its reader.

Another Great Mahfouz.......2005-05-13

Like the first in the trilogy, this was excellent writing, alternating between telling and describing, but with the most vivid description, and somehow the telling is the most desirous writing as well. Yes, Kamal's long-winded poetic idealistic love gets...long-winded at times. But it builds to the a very appropriate conclusion in his life. It is amazing to watch a family crumble- but not at all unexpected. You see the seeds of destruction from the first pages of Palace Walk. Al-Sayyhid Ahmad Abd Al-Jawad desires to have such strong control over his family, he ends up building it's destruction. He wants to live a double life- and those live half as long. He sees no hypocrisy in his actions, for he lives the unexamined life. And he reaps his harvest. This is the message interwoven throughout both the first two books.

I keep on feeling that Naguib Mahfouz is the Dickens of his culture. Characters are consistent with themselves, yet constantly changing, evolving, to become something greater, or worse, and unexpected, yet somehow we always knew it had to be that way. He writes with such realism of the lives of people, and the changing lives over generations of the people of the large city. It is dirty, intimate, and full of pathos. It is life.

Average customer rating:

Egypt after WW1 through one family's eyes. A sumptuous read. I loved it!
We're not that different
Wow!!
A lovely story
Life with Father----Egyptian Style

Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy)
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385264666
Release Date: 1990-12-01

Book Description

Volume I of the masterful Cairo Trilogy. A national best-seller in both hardcover and paperback, it introduces the engrossing saga of a Muslim family in Cairo during Egypt's occupation by British forces in the early 1900s.

Customer Reviews:

Egypt after WW1 through one family's eyes. A sumptuous read. I loved it!.......2007-04-08

Naguib Mahrouz won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988 and bears the distinction of being the only Arab writer who has ever done that. He recently passed away at the age of 94, having published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts and five plays over a 70-year career. "Palace Walk", published in 1959, is the first of his books I've ever read. It will not be the last.

Possibly based on his own Egyptian family, the book is set in 1917, as World War 1 was just ending. Egypt was then a British protectorate but wanted its independence. Yes, this book is about the politics of the time, but mostly it is about one family. The father ruled the family, the wife and daughters never left the house, and the sons were educated in strict Islamic tradition. I particularly related to the wife, who was married to the husband at age 14, bore him four children, and not only had she never left the house in all that time, she could only look out on the street from a through latticed shutters so that, with the exception of the immediate family, no person could ever lay eyes on her. She accepts this, of course. She lived in a culture where there were no other choices. It was me, the reader, whose feminist streak was ignited. However, I soon realized that the author was only describing the culture.

In the tradition of the time, the father, who was a prosperous merchant, kept his family protected. However, he went out every single night to drink wine and hang out with his friends, telling jokes and engaging in pleasant conversation. He also had no qualms about romances with women. He, as well as his family, became very real for me. In fact, I found myself thinking about these people constantly. How did they feel? What would they do next? What conflicts did they have? Soon, I was even thinking like them. This certainly added to my deep enjoyment of this book.

It's all there - the culture of the time through the eyes of each member of the family. There is the oldest son from a previous marriage and his relationship with his real mother as well as his father's wife. There are the two marriageable daughters, one of them with blue eyes and golden hair, and the other with an unattractive ugly nose. There is the son who is completely into politics and wants to go on demonstrations against the English. And then there is the young boy, who might have been modeled on the author himself, who was born in 1911. Through this boy's eyes, the reader grasps the big wide world in which he lives.

At 498 pages the book is a slow and sumptuous read. The author uses a lot of words to describe and then re-describe the characters, their feelings, their observations, their conversations, they upsets and their pleasures. But instead of being bored with the repetition, I found my experience of the book intensifying. I was right there with each member of the family, feeling as I was living their lives.

Palace Walk is the first of a series of three books. I have purchased the other two books in the series and look forward to reading more.

I cannot say enough good things about this novel. I loved it and highly recommend it.

We're not that different.......2006-10-06

Palace Walk, Bayn al-Qasrayn, is a street in Cairo, Egypt, where Ahmad Abd al-Jawad lives with his second wife, three sons, and two daughters. At the beginning of the book, World War I is winding down and Egypt is still an English protectorate.

PALACE WALK is written in omniscient point of view with shifting viewpoints. Ahmad Abd al Jawad, however, is the main character. He rules his household with an iron fist. His wife is forbidden to leave the house; his daughters must never be seen by a man until after their marriages are arranged. However, Jawad has a hidden side to his personality. After working all day at a kind of grocery store he owns, he spends his nights partying with his friends and cheating on his wife. He is the "life of the party," the direct opposite of the way he behaves around his family. His sons have never even seen him smile.

Yasin, Jawad's adult son from his first marriage, is the spitting image of the old man. He spends his nights drinking and carousing, but he suffers from an almost total lack of self control. Fahmy, the second son, is a law student. His story line focuses on Egypt's fight for independence once the war is over. Khadija is the older daughter, who, unfortunately, has her father's nose and little prospects for a husband; she also has a biting sense of humor; Aisha is the beautiful second daughter who shames Khadija by marrying first. Kamal, is a mischievous ten-year-old.

Much of Jamal's dialogue consists of quotes from the Koran; Jawad also attends mosque with his sons and has a prayer rug in his bedroom. Still, religion seems to be rather low on Jawad's list of priorities. Much of the narrative includes internal monologues where Jawad congratulates himself on what a good father, businessman, and patriot he is. He sees absolutely no problem with his carousing as long as he meets his religious expectations.

The real worth of PALACE WALK in my mind is Mahfouz's employing the Arab family to show that there isn't a whole lot of difference in families the world over. Yasin, Fahmy and the girls meet during coffee hour, during which time they tease each other unrelentingly, just like brothers and sisters in America. They gossip and spy on their neighbors; they argue about how to deal with their father.

For me, the real star of the novel is Kamal. He doesn't have a problem with making friends with the British soldiers, despite the fact that his brother Yasin is called a traitor for doing the same thing. He's the only one in the family who has the courage to stand up to his father's bullying, although he gets his "ears smoked" in the process.

The ending is definitely ironic. It has to do with Jawad's ambivalence toward his son Fahmy's "freedon fighting." Jawad hates the idea of his son's defiance (Fahmy wouldn't swear on the Koran to stay away from the demonstrations against the protectorate), but he wouldn't mind having a patriot son to brag about to his carousing friends.

Wow!!.......2006-10-05

Palace Walk is among the best novels ever written. Mahfouz transports you into the streets and life of Cairo, and the minds and hearts of al-Sayyid Ahmad and his family, and by so doing into your own life. I could hardly put the book down. When it ended, I lost a friend.

A lovely story.......2006-09-02

It was a sad coincidence that I finished reading this book on the very day that Naguib Mahfouz passed away.
Badly influenced by the Arabic textbooks in school, I assumed Mahfouz's works boring, philosophiocal and too heavy without even bothering to read them.
I was wrong!

Mahfouz's Cairo is a colorful, lively and fascinating place to be in, torn between strong religious forces and a fast pace of modernization and caught between two world wars. Religious, political and historical information is well woven into the lovely story of one family in Cairo and the many changes and upheavels it goes through.

recommended!

Life with Father----Egyptian Style.......2006-07-18

Al-Sayyid Ahmad bestrides his family like the Colossus of Rhodes: in complete domination of the scene and brooking no opposition. His wife Amina serves him meekly, offering no opinions, and never leaving the house for twenty five years. He has five children---three boys and two girls---who look upon him as a tyrant, but one whom they must love and respect. Al-Sayyid Ahmad himself runs a shop by day but by night carouses with a group of friends, indulging in wine, women, and song. He comes home in the wee hours---his wife is always there to help him undress and fall into bed. Mahfouz, over nearly 500 pages, describes how changes occurred in the secure, comfortable life of all these individuals in 1917-19. The eldest son is married off and then divorces because of his uncontrollable appetites. The two girls marry and leave home. The middle son gets involved in revolutionary politics against the British occupation of Egypt, while the youngest, just a kid, becomes a favorite of the British troops stationed in the street outside the family home. One by one, each family member defies the given order, presenting 'the master' with a quandry---how to handle the situation and maintain his self-respect and authority. Due to tragedy and family complications, Al-Sayyid Ahmad himself is forced to confront his behavior, to question his lecherous self-indulgence at home and away.

PALACE WALK is a masterpiece, an intimate portrait of an Egyptian family of the particular period, not a fast-paced novel with a great sweep of events. Still, the psychological depth of all the characters makes it one of the great novels of the 20th century, the one which fills in an otherwise-missing gap in our knowledge of humanity. [At least I have never found any comparable novels about Arab family life.] Mahfouz describes life about 90 years ago in Cairo for a middle class family, provides examples of how people thought and behaved at that time, and even (though it must be watered down in translation) shows how they spoke, their conversation shot through with sayings from the Holy Qur'an and proverbs. On another level, PALACE WALK can be seen as a criticism of certain failings in Egyptian society, for example, the failure to allow women any place outside the home, the tradition which allowed a man to do anything he liked, while a woman just had to bear whatever he dished out. Mahfouz also contrasts the burning patriotism and sacrifices of the young with the lip-service to liberty paid by their elders. He never speaks directly about issues, however, letting the readers come to whatever conclusions they can. Some may say that PALACE WALK is a "slice of life" novel, but it is much more than that. Just as in every part of the world, Egypt has changed a lot in nearly a century. Even so, reading this novel may erase a lot of the simplistic nonsense about Islam and Arab culture that fills the media today. The motivations of Egyptians are every bit as complicated as those of others. If you read the book, you may understand why religious fanatics (who want everything uncomplicated) condemned the author and even tried to kill him. If they had succeeded, they would have killed one of the great writers of our age.

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Mostly for Naguib Mahfouz fans

The Cairo of Naguib Mahfouz
Gamal al-Ghitani
Manufacturer: American University in Cairo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Cairo: The City Victorious

ASIN: 9774245261

Book Description

For Naguib Mahfouz, Cairo has always been a place of special resonance, a city he loves passionately and has revisited in his writings. Photographer Britta Le Va, a longtime admirer of the novels of Mahfouz, guides us through his pages and treads his streets to produce a collection of visual images of the city. Each complements a verbal image selected from Mahfouzs writings. In his introduction, novelist Gamal al-Ghitani describes a walking tour with the novelist through the streets of Gamaliya, the heart of the old city where both of themmore than thirty years apartwere born and raised. Mahfouz reminisces and remarks on what has changed and what has not in eight decades

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Mostly for Naguib Mahfouz fans.......2007-09-13

I am not such a fan of Naguib Mahfouz's stories. I have read some of his books and I liked them, but I am not crazy about him. However, this book offers his fans a chance to look through pictures at the most usual places described in his novels and this makes the book interesting and worth looking at. But it is not a photo-guide book of pictures as I have imagined it was before buying it. On the whole, if you have read many novels of this writer and are familiar with the Cairo shown in them and want a glimpse at real buildings and streets, I recommend this book.

The Cairo Trilogy (Everyman's Library Classics)

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Amazing Portrayal of Egyptian Life
A lover of dickens and trollope

The Cairo Trilogy (Everyman's Library Classics)
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1857152484

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Amazing Portrayal of Egyptian Life.......2005-10-06

With this trilogy, Mahfouz became my favorite writer. He brings far away people to life by including amazing detail about their daily lives. My son was once having trouble in an English class. His teacher kept telling him to use adjectives and adverbs to add detail to his stories. I used the first chapter of this work to show him what she meant. By the end of the three books, I loved these people!

A lover of dickens and trollope.......2002-05-05

I was mesmerized by this family living under British rule. It is evident that Mahfouz was much influenced by 19th century British writers, but he applies this influence with a delicate touch. I was a member of this family by the middle of the first volume, and would happily still be following them from then until the present day.
The people in these volumes are solid,very much for real.
The author grabs his readers and holds them facinated by a great story of a time and culture few of us know much about.

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Children of Gebelawi

Children of Gebelawi
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Three Continents Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 0894106546

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Children of Gebelawi.......2000-06-09

The Children of Gebelawi is a must read for anyone who dares to look at religion beyond traditional interpretations. Maohfauouz takes all of the major world religions and retells the stories of the prophets in a modern day context set in India. The retelling of the prophets allows one to examine the actual stories of the religions in a way that encourages critique and in some cases acceptance. It is a fabulous read - especially for those who enjoy challenging and clarifying their own beliefs.

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El Cairo Nuevo/ The New Cairo
Naguib Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Alianza (Buenos Aires, AR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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PALACE OF DESIRE: THE CAIRO TRILOGY II
Naguib (translated from Arabic by William Maynard Hutchins, Lorne M. Kenny and Olive E. Kenny) Mahfouz
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J3QIKY

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