Palace of Desire

En esta segunda parte tiene más protagonismo la voz interna de los personajes. Es una historia de florecimiento, de desencanto y sobretodo de cambio.

Igual mero drama.

The second of the Cairo Trilogy, picks up around 7 years after the end of Palace Walk, [review here]in 1924. The Al Jawad family is moving on from the death of Fahmy, and the ageing patriarch Ahmad is slowly losing control over his family as they move into adulthood.

These books are named for the street where the action mostly occurs - book one for the family home on Palace Walk, this book is named for the house of Yasin on Palace of Desire Alley. The third book is named for Sugar Street, where the families of Khadija and Aisha live.

This book largely focusses on the three male members of the family - Ahmad, the hidden and hedonistic lifestyle having to slow with his age also being discovered slowly by his sons; eldest Yasin, who furthers his ‘pursuit, marriage and divorce' cycle; and youngest Kamal the young scholar who is in pursuit of his beloved Aida, seeking to determine his career choices, and growing from boy to man. The central plot themed by the fact that each of these men make fools of themselves in their pursuit of women who were not good for them. I have tried not to illustrate the plot more than general themes, as there is no reason to spoil it for future readers.

There is enough side story and background to keep us up to date with the progress of Khadija and Aisha, who are both married and have children, and the ever subservient Amina, trying to keep her family together, and at peace.

The writing style changes a little from Palace Walk in that the quick-fire short chapters I enjoyed so much, swapping from character to character are gone. The chapters are longer, and sometime subsequent chapters stick with the same character. With Kamal in particular we are subjected (on purpose, to demonstrate his torment) to his long, torturous inner monologues on his unrequited love, his religious thoughts, and his changed philosophical viewpoint. These changes make this book a little less readable for me, interrupted as my reading time often is by an 8 month old baby competing for my attention/supervision.

As with the first book, there are dramatic events left open in the last few pages to whet the appetite for more.

Overall, I still really enjoyed the second in this trilogy, and I look forward to getting to the third. Four stars for me, the same as Palace Walk although perhaps that should have been five stars, as it is still slightly superior to this one.