The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany takes place in Cairo in the 1990s during the first Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the U.S. attacked Iraq in return. But the war is not the focus of the book, it is pretty much background. The center of the book is the various stories of some of the people who live and work in the Yacoubian Building.
I wanted to the like the book but I just haven’t been able to. I read a few reviews in the book papers to try and figure out if I missed something. They mention how funny parts of the book are but I didn’t find anything funny. I found the book to be rather sad and depressing. The book portrays a society that gets along on corruption and bribes, where nearly everyone is using everyone else to get whatever they can to make a better life for themselves or gain power and influence.
There is Taha, a young man who has done well in school and scored high marks on all the entrance exams for the police force, he just has to pass the entrance interview. But at the interview he quickly learns that unless he has money to pay bribes, he is not going to get a job as a police officer. Disillusioned, he gets recruited into the Muslim Brotherhood and ends his life a martyr for the cause.
There is Busayna, a young woman engaged to Taha. Her father dies and the family has no money. She has to work in order to help feed her mother and siblings. But she gets fired from every job after only a few days because when the boss makes sexual advances she refuses to play along. A friend eventually tells her that if she wants to keep a job she has to go along and explains to her what to do, how to give the boss what he wants while still remaining a virgin and making a little extra on top of her regular salary. She quickly becomes bitter and resentful and says cruel things to Taha who tells her she needs to put her trust in God who will provide for her.
There is a large cast of characters I won’t go through them all but you get the idea from Taha and Busayna what the book is like. What I had a really hard time with, and why I didn’t like the book, is the way women are portrayed and treated as well as the way Hatim, a gay man is portrayed.
The women are all pretty much prostitutes in one way or another or they are older and angry. None of them want an education or look for any way out of their situation other than being attached to a man. Their position mainly is to provide sex on demand. Early in the book women are described as loving sex “enormously” but
They do not love it simply as a way of quenching lust but because sex, and their husbands’ greed for it, makes them feel that despite all the misery they suffer they are still women, beautiful and desired by their menfolkโฆ.Do these brief hours of pleasure not furnish her with proof that her wretched life is somehow, despite everything, blessed with success?
Being desirable makes everything ok. And Busayna, she gets a happy ending in the book because she gets to marry the old man for whom she is a “secretary.”
Poor Souad is not so lucky. A widow, she leaves her child in the care of others in order to marry Azzam, a wealthy heroin dealer and politician. She is Azzam’s second wife and a secret, even though more than one wife is legal. Souad’s only purpose is to provide Azzam with sex whenever he wants it, keep quiet, and don’t get pregnant. In return, Azzam pays for her son to attend school. But Souad gets pregnant and when Azzam finds out he demands she have an abortion. When she refuses he has her drugged and forcibly aborted.
Then there is Hatim, a successful journalist who is gay. But homosexuality is unacceptable in Egyptian society and picking up anybody is always risky. Eventually Hatim finds Abdu who is married with children. Abdu is probably not himself gay, but because Hatim pays for his family’s upkeep and buys Abdu presents and a small business, Abdu does whatever Hatim wants. The relationship ends, however, when Abdu’s small son becomes sick and dies. The reviews I read called the Yacoubian Building a groundbreaking book for portraying a homosexual character as being just like anyone else. And this is true and good. However, I could not help but notice that Hatim is the only one who gets a childhood backstory. And in this backstory he is molested over a number of years by Idris, the manservant who essentially raises him because Hatim’s parents are wealthy workaholics. While it is never said outright that Hatim is gay because of Idris, I have heard too much anti-gay rhetoric to be able to overlook the implications of Idris having sex with Hatim, who very quickly enjoys Idris’s attentions even though he suspects it is wrong.
I tried really hard while reading the book to take into consideration cultural differences but when it came down to the way women were treated and what their roles were assumed to be and to what Hatim’s backstory seems to imply, I couldn’t let it slide. I don’t require vocal feminists in my cross-cultural reading, but I cannot accept women being portrayed as good only for sex. Nor can I accept the implication that a character is gay because he was molested as a child.
Taha’s story was the most interesting and well-done part of the book but it was not enough. Even without the objections mentioned above, I found the dialogue to often be stilted and the tone flat. Whether this is Aswany or the translation, I don’t know, but it was at times distracting. A book not having a plot is generally not a problem for me, but somehow this book’s lack of plot made it feel more like a mash of stories with nothing holding them together other than a a setting.
The book was not a success with me. That happens sometimes. The Slaves chose this book for discussion and you can see what others thought of it at the Slaves blog and follow our discussion and even join in yourself at the forum.
Oh dear, this is a shame Stefanie … it sounds as though you didn’t find anything very redeeming at all in the book. And, interesting that you’ve also just read a book that some see as funny while others don’t.
Conceptually it sounds a little like Mistry’s Tales from the Firozsha Baag which is also about the residents of a building. I think it might hang together a bit better but I didn’t get to read all the stories as I was reading it while staying with my brother. Mistry is a great writer.
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I really wanted to find something redeeming about the book you know how when you’re reading and things aren’t going well and then it kind of starts to snowball so that even when something good or interesting does finally pop up it’s just too late? That’s what happened. I think if the book had been written as short stories all set in the Yacoubian Building rather than a novel, that would have gone a long way towards making the book work better. I’ve heard good things about Mistry. I will have to look him up at my library and see what’s available and then add him to my list!
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Yep, know what you mean. As for Mistry’s, his a fine balance has been in my top ten for some time now. A long book … But I loved, loved it.
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In your top ten? That says a lot. I will have to get myself a copy!
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You wil, because, really, you have nothing else to read! (Seriously though it is a good book, and I think I’ve seen many others listing it high. It’s not an innovative book but it’s just one of those books that gets you!)
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I read Yacoubian Building must be 3 or 4 years ago and agree with you that it was a bit depressing though perhaps an accurate enough portrayal of Mubarak’s Egypt. It isn’t a book that has really stayed with me and it seemed at the time a book that didn’t have much depth. Mahfouz’s Palace Walk trilogy has been on my TBR list for ages and i’m wondering if that is a better sample of Egyptian fiction.
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Ian, I do think it is an accurate look into part of Mubarak’s Egypt. Until recently I had a coworker who is from Egypt and his family still lives there and while he spoke of a lot of corruption and bad things, he also said that it wasn’t like that everywhere and that it was possible to live a decent life without laying down bribes everywhere you went. Aswany’s book does seem to lack a bit of depth. I’ve heard both good and bad about Mahfouz’s trilogy, but I do think it has more depth to it for sure.
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I am interested in knowing about the Slaves. How are the books selected? I suppose you don’t have to read all the selected books or blog about all the ones you read either. Am I wrong.
This is the problem I’ve always had with book groups. I find it difficult to read a book that I really don’t care about. It’s difficult enough to read all the books you want very much to read or read again.
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Richard, the Slaves are a loose group. Anyone can join in the read and no, you don’t need to read every selected book. A list of 5-6 books is put together by one of the group and then put out to the group to vote on what book from the list most of us would like to read. The next book will be chosen after the discussion of the current book runs down. The person who will make the list is selected by the person who made the list from which we chose the current book. The next discussion will be set for the last day of July. You can read the book and not write a blog post about it, just comment on other’s posts or in the discussion forum. When the next list is up for voting it will be posted on the Slaves’ blog.
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I once again overextended myself last month and didn’t get to the book, which is a pity as it is one I really wanted to read. It sounds like it is almost a loose set of stories, which I didn’t realize. Sorry to hear it didn’t quite work for you, but that certainly happens–I’ll be curious to hear what the general consensus was. I do still want to read it as I am very interested in Arabic literature, but I’m glad to know ahead of time what I’ll be getting into. Definitely one for the right mood I think!
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Danielle, sorry you weren’t able to get to the book. I was wondering if you had since you hadn’t mentioned it much at all. Maybe next time!
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I’m having a rocky reading time with the Slaves this year. Maybe the next book will work better–I mostly just tried to do too much last month and will try and make the next slave book a priority!
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I hope the next one will work out for you. I do miss having you as part of the discussion ๐
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Hmmm. “Older angry women”? I get enough of that at work! (Only kidding…all the older women there are pretty darn happy.) This one doesn’t sound like something I would have liked and probably would have put it down without finishing. But I really have missed reading with the Slaves. There’s just always so little time and the stacks I already have are so high. Good post, Stef
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And this is Grad…not graddikins! Why is that happening? Grrr
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Ah Graddikins, I know who you are ๐ Yeah, there is an older woman whose husband is dead and her children have all left Egypt for a better life and so she terrorizes her brother, kicking him out of their shared apartment and trying to steal his office, among other things. You are welcome to join in with the Slaves whenever the mood and time are right. I miss having you if that helps you feel guilty ๐
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I’ve had this book on my list for years now but never got around to it. I’ve heard such good things about it, so it’s a shame that you didn’t like it. Coincidentally, I read A Fine Balance recently and loved it, so would add to the recommendation of whisperinggums!
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Oh good Andrew, it’s always great to have someone else corroborate a recommendation.
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You and Andrew seem to be ganging up on me! I will add A Fine Balance to my library list immediately! ๐
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That’s a good start!
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Andrew, the others in the group liked the book, so hopefully you will too when you get to it.
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I didn’t like it actually…just writing up a short review now.
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Pingback: A much overdue post on The Yacoubian Building « Jam and Idleness
What this book did make me think was how incredible the revolution was. After so much corruption and bloodshed, to create change in a mostly peaceable way must have been something like a miracle. I’d be interested to read a novel by Ahdaf Soueif now, just for some comparison.
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Litlove, yes, the revolution was really incredible in light of the book. I frequently found myself wondering what might have changed as a result.
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