Palace Walk
Ratings17
Average rating3.8
One of the most popular books from the Nobel-winning author, this first book of the Cairo trilogy brings to life a culture and history which is incredibly unique and largely unknown to Western society.
Though the style of writing is very descriptive and the focus on character and custom over plot-line can make this a difficult read, it is definitely worth the time. The book wonderfully portrays the dissonance between the time's popular party-culture and radical Islam, both of which rule the society. It gives a personal view into family lives, individual struggles, and political strife all at the same time, with diverse and complex characters, strong and weak, hypocritical and devout. The book can drag, and the first half can be particularly slow, but it is worth the patience for the intimate experience it inevitably delivers.
Comencé el libro odiando a Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd Al-Jawad, terminé el libro compadeciéndolo. A través de los sentires y haceres cotidianos el autor consigue envolvernos y hacernos participes de contextos desconocidos y complejos. Qué lindo.
Detailed atmosphere and old school storytelling.
good describing life in Cairo in 1919.
Little boring pace but keep going until you reach the point of no return in the story.
Book one of The Cairo Trilogy, authored by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1988).
This is the story of the life of an Egyptian Muslim family living through the period between the end of World War I and the beginning of the 1919 revolution against British rule, a time of dramatic change in Egypt.
It isn't short book, but it is a relatively easy read. The chapters are short and loosely change from character to character. The character depth is engrossing and each characters story gets a hearing, and all are linked in the dynamic of the Al Jawad family. The characters are all accessible, and easy to identify with, despite being caught up in the conservative Muslim gender rules of the time.
The characters are interesting and dynamic, from the two sides of the patriarch Ahmad, who rules the family with an iron fist, controlling them with the most conservative interpretation of family modesty, yet lives his own debauched life outside of his home, to the other family members - subservient wife Amina, eldest son Yasin from his first marriage, eldest daughter Khadija, son Fahmy, blonde blue eyed daughter Aisha and youngest son Kamal.
Marriages, births, deaths, divorce. The occupation of Egypt by the British, the roles of gender, and family politics all feature heavily, although it stays relatively shallow on Egyptian politics, which is probably why this book stays so readable.
I enjoyed this book much more than I expected, and have the second and third parts of the trilogy on the shelf, so have no hesitation in keeping them on the to-be-read-list.
Retrospectively upgraded to 5 stars on completion of the trilogy.