The Yacoubian Building - Alaa Al Aswany

September 14th 2011; The Packhorse, South Stoke, Bath.

Generally this book was enjoyed by most of the group and in fact achieved some rave reviews from several members although at the end of the evening the scores did not quite tally with this.

The book centred on the lives of the residents of the Yacoubian Building in central Cairo at the time of the first Gulf War, from the most affluent living in their spacious apartments and working in its comfortable offices to the squalor of its rooftop residents living in cramped metal cages. The building has seen better times, being a sad reflection of its former splendour, and through the portrayal of the building and the intertwined lives of its residents Aswany depicts the decay of modern Egyptian life under the Mubarak regime. Given that this book was published in a predominantly Muslim country the story depicts in graphic but not distasteful detail issues such as homosexuality, sex, promiscuity, corruption, religion and fundamentalism - and does this in a humorous way but also with elements of sadness and poignancy. Nothing in the Egyptian way of life seems to occur without backhanders, baksheesh or an alternative motive and the author leaves you with a feeling that society in Egypt has become thoroughly degraded.

From my point of view I really enjoyed this book as it opened up an insight into a way of life which I knew nothing about and which had become particularly relevant given the recent " Arab Spring " and the subsequent revolutions taking place throughout the Arab speaking world. The frustrations of the Egyptian way of life which were depicted explained clearly why the younger generation particularly were being drawn to fundamentalism having no opportunity to progress their lives through hard work and where the amount of the bribe and your father's job were the only currency to achieve success. I felt the writing style was very readable and you were really able to get behind the characters in the book, and understand the dilemmas in their lives.

Going around the table at the famous Packhorse Inn in South Stoke (where the deep-fried chips were most appreciated) .......
Ras felt that the book explained how corruption will always prevail and that it was systemic within Egyptian society. He didn't like the writing style and consequently didn't find it an enjoyable read. It also contained too much sex!.
Neil thought it was an excellent book portraying Egyptian society and its scandals in a very authentic way and the fact that although this was a Muslim society the majority of its inhabitants were either aspiring to grasp Western culture or alternatively destroy it. (by means of appropriately positioned truncheons!) If there was any criticism it was the fact that the ending came up very quickly and seemed to be rushed towards the last couple of chapters.
Richard felt that it was an excellent book and that it captured perfectly the characters and beliefs of the people in the story with some good comic elements.
There was then a discussion about the female characters in the book and the fact that only the men apparently erred from their proper behaviour but this was disputed by Richard who felt that the women's behaviour was simply more subtle. Rob was interested to see how different the attitudes were between men and women in respect of unfaithfulness. The discussion then moved onto religion and how 80% of the Egyptian population might be completely uneducated and how easy it would be to divert somebody's beliefs from the usually peaceful tenets of the Muslim faith to a fundamentalist outlook - particularly in the absence of any prospects in life.
Steve considered the book a great read, skilfully written, although "a bit thinly spread" - more of an education than a literary experience.
Chris B. enjoyed the book and thought that it brought the characters and storyline alive and portrayed well the moral dilemmas of Cairo life. He felt the structure was somewhat formulaic and that there were recurrent episodes of optimism and happiness which were subsequently dashed over and over again.
Finally Rob's opinion was that he didn't think much of the book. He felt that it was written from only one perspective-more of an outsiders view of Cairo life than a genuine insight into what really goes on. He felt the author was rather "grinding his own axe" bringing up the same point over and over again and that ultimately the story ended inadequately and too swiftly.
CW
Average score 6.96
See August 2011 for list of all books and scores