Format of Book Report
I. Introduction
During the winter vacation I read a truly marking novel entitled ‘’The Yacoubian Building’’ written by the renowned Egyptian author Alaa el Aswany. The novel exposes several aspects of our current Egyptian society, the writer introduces five different stories, linking them by a commune object, a historical building named ‘’Yacoubian Building’’ each apartment shows different characters with independent stories. We can note that the characters social status deeply affects the course of the story. We determine that the novel disserts crucial social dilemmas in Egyptian societies.
II. Body
The events of the story take place in the era after the 1970’s; generally the story occurs in the outmoded downtown Cairo, the luxurious Yacoubian Building and in various areas of Cairo. The novel envelopes a variety of characters such as: Zaki Bey an aged man endowed with French thought etiquette and the fancy of wine, women and sexual pleasures. Secondly, Hatim Rashid a wealthy homosexual newspaper editor, who maintains the image of a respectable man ,yet he reserves his questionable pleasures for the darkness of the night. He stops at nothing to maintain his forbidden relationship with a married young man named Abduh who losses his son and sees it as a reprimand for his sins thus seeking to escape this relationship. On the other hand, we find el Hag Muhammed Azzam, a hard working self-made millionaire with an ambiguous past who seeks by all means to acquire a seat in the people’s assembly seeing it as an opportunity to enlarge his fortune, not realizing that by relying on the people who helped him obtain this position he was signing a deal with the devil and is now at their mercy. On the roof, the guile shirtmaker Malak who is premeditating a dirty scheme to took over an apartment downstairs in collaboration with his brother Abaskharon the devoted servant of the owner of that estate. Taha, a bright young man, that solemnly aspired to become a police officer and serve his country but was rejected in deference to his low roots later on becoming a martyr in Jihad do to the manipulation and brainwash of islamists. Finally, we find Boussayna the mesmeric sweetheart of young Taha whom gradually both drift apart. In deference to her family’s circumstances she applies to numerous jobs in which she is repeatedly fired due to her refusal of the harassment of her employers that were bewitched by her beauty. Nevertheless, she gives in and lets the shopkeeper Talal play around with her body in exchange for extra money.
The Yacoubian Building was described as being one of the most prestigious and deluxe apartment blacks in downtown Cairo, it was by an Armenian businessman in 1934 and exclusively reserved to the elite of the society such as foreigners ,ministers and wealthy businessmen. After the 1952 coup d’état, most of the residents fled the country, the military then took over the building and empty apartments where given away to officers and their families who were often considered to be low class. On the other hand, the roof of the building was filled with little tin rooms no more than 2 meters in 2 that were later on in the 1970’s invaded by servants and rural residents that transformed it into some sort of rural society isolated from the rest of the building.
The book disserts a variety of themes including:
The main idea of the novel is to portray the epic change that has overcome Egypt, the once glorious and prestigious country that was known across the world for its beauty and its kind people has become a rotten tomato in which its people suffer daily from segregation, abuse, poverty, pollution and the list goes on and on...
Terrorism and its association to poverty and humility which is evident threw the character of Taha who was firstly humiliated in his own country due to his father’s low class job then tortured for being merely affiliated with islasmits thus rebelling against the government and joining Islamic brotherhood to take vengeance. The endless war for political power and the foul play who Hag Azzam portrays excellently as he relies on a political big shot to help him bribe his way into the people’s assembly, sexual abuse that was symbolized by Boussayna who sells her body to the touch of her employers to sustain her job and obtain extra money. The effect of poverty on an individual, such as Abduh. A man who needed cash in order to provide for his family, hence forth becoming a boy-toy, for the wealthy Hatim Rashid.
III. Conclusion
Personally, I profoundly enjoyed reading the book, it was truly worth reading. Each story is unique and captivating in its own way and the way the author divided the chapters makes sure that the reader does not get bored at any point on the contrary I simply wanted to devour the book. To evade, fiction the author presents very coherent and realistic names and locations in Cairo. Although the book is quite lengthy, every character and event is very significant to the course of the story. Moreover, each protagonist is symbolic of an aspect the author is trying to depict thus each character is peculiar and stimulating in his own way. Also, the novel exposes different aspects and dilemmas of today’s society which makes the reader able to relate to the book and reflect on the content. In addition, the novel gives a very vivid image of each social strata of the community and various social classes which is very
To be frank, I would only recommend this novel for serious readers who are in touch with their society. The novel is no fantasy story, it does not present happy endings and unrealistic events, it’s were sincere and harsh in its presentation of crucial social problems and thorough description and imagery of tragic, sensual and dramatic events. Hence forth, I only advise it for people who are mentally mature enough to comprehend certain things in addition to some ‘’inappropriate’ ’content thus I shall only recommend it for children over 14 years old.
