Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz (1947, translated 1966)
Read: February 2012
Another classic that I think DaddyP picked up for me months ago and I've only just got round to reading. This was challenging at times, but I got on with it pretty well (helped along by the fact that our flight to the UK didn't have any in-flight entertainment!)and finished it within a few weeks.
It was great to again be reading about areas I knew in Cairo as the story is set off Mueizz / Muski near Midan Hussein. I can just imagine the narrow alleyways that you don't realise are there until you take a gamble and step between two shops, only to find yourself walking in a dark street (because the balconies of the floors above almost meet across the street) with small shops or businesses set back in the buildings, or, in the case of the ahwa's, spilling on to the street.
What this book revealed to me was more about the honours / loyalty / respect that women and families strive for, as well as the role of brothers and fathers in families and maintaining the public image. This was something that would come up again in the next few books that I chose to read; the Girls of Riyadh and then Playing Cards in Cairo.
Read: February 2012
Another classic that I think DaddyP picked up for me months ago and I've only just got round to reading. This was challenging at times, but I got on with it pretty well (helped along by the fact that our flight to the UK didn't have any in-flight entertainment!)and finished it within a few weeks.
It was great to again be reading about areas I knew in Cairo as the story is set off Mueizz / Muski near Midan Hussein. I can just imagine the narrow alleyways that you don't realise are there until you take a gamble and step between two shops, only to find yourself walking in a dark street (because the balconies of the floors above almost meet across the street) with small shops or businesses set back in the buildings, or, in the case of the ahwa's, spilling on to the street.
What this book revealed to me was more about the honours / loyalty / respect that women and families strive for, as well as the role of brothers and fathers in families and maintaining the public image. This was something that would come up again in the next few books that I chose to read; the Girls of Riyadh and then Playing Cards in Cairo.
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