Miramar

This book revolves around a pension (boarding house) within a building named Miramar, in 1960s Alexandria, Egypt. The Pension is run by Mariana and aging Greek woman, who like the building, clings to her former glory. Her one great love was killed in the war, but his portrait hangs in the lobby where she gazes on it often.

At the commencement of the story the pension is empty. Chapter one is told through the eyes of Amer Wagdi, a former journalist and an old acquaintance of Mariana who has sought her out in his old age to ‘spend the rest of his life with her'. We see the entire story of this book in the first chapter, including the arrival of Zohra, the beautiful peasant girl, who has run away from her village to avoid an arranged arranged with an old man, and whose relationship with each guest is the subject of the book; the arrival of each of the other guests; and the conclusion (and departure of most from the Pension too). Tolba Bey Marzouk is the second guest to take a room. Again a former friend of Mariana, who had been Undersecretary of the Ministry of Mortmain Endowments and a former landowner who lost his money and whose land was subject to sequestration after the revolution. Interestingly, he doesn't get a chapter for us to see his side of events.

Chapter two is narrated by Hosny Allam, the frivolous young notable and landowner, looking to invest in a business; Chapter three by Mansour Bahy, the broadcaster and former revolutionary who was forced by his brother, a high ranking police officer, to leave Cairo and his friends; Chapter four by Sarhan al-Beheiry, an accountant of the Alexandria Company.

Chapter five, the final chapter, we return to Amer Wagdi for the conclusion of events. I am not big on spoilers in fiction, so the basic outline above is all for plot. I understand there is also a symbolism for the political situation of Egypt, but this, of course is mostly lost on me.

In each chapter we gain more depth with the story, we become party to another conversation, we gain some insight that the previous character didn't have. It is very cleverly woven, with a great unexpected reveal to conclude.

I really enjoyed Mahfouz' Cairo Trilogy, and this doesn't disappoint. At 181 pages it is only a short read, in this case published by the American University in Cairo Press.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

9/2/23