Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy is the 3-generation saga of a family spanning several decades, from 1917 to the 1950s. Palace Walk, set against the backdrop of the British occupation of Egypt right after the first World War, introduces us to the tyrannical patriarch, al-Sayyid Ahmad, his gentle, oppressed wife, Amina, and their children. We get an intimate view of an ultra-conservative household in a society that has resisted change for centuries, whose cocoon is buffeted by the sweeping changes in the country as it struggled for independence from the British.

The story drags for a few hundred pages, but through an exhaustive portrayal of the character of each of the family members, their daily routine, their relations with their neighbors and friends, we begin to have an understanding of the deep cultural and religious bonds that tie Egyptian society. The father is deeply feared, but loved and respected, in his family whom he keeps in a very tight leash. The women follow the strict tradition of being cloistered, restricted from stepping outside their doors unless in the company of the husband, and covered whenever that very rare chance occurs. Amina and the 2 daughters have never gone outside their home except to visit the grandmother, they are ignorant of what lie beyond the walls of the house. The men are different -- the father is a totally different person as soon as he is outside and unseen by his family -- he is a charming, sociable person, reveling in the company of friends, a womanizer, a drinker, a lover of pleasures. His nights are spent in abandonment and pursuit of these delights. Nobody at home knows this side of his character.

The story unfolds slowly until halfway through, allowing the reader to fully absorb the mindset and outlook of each family member, and then events unfold -- secrets are revealed, realizations occur, changes take place in the family structure, and the events outside parallel the turmoils going on inside each individual member as all these changes impact the relative calm and peace they have known so far. The father's authority is challenged by the rebellion of the sons, expressed in their own different ways. Amina witnesses all and suffers silently. The political events breeds violence and the family is not spared.

The story is captivating, although it tends to be repetitive in the character portrayal. Perhaps because the story was first published in serialized form in a weekly magazine that some description is necessary every time, which in a novel can drag a bit. It seems that it's also for this reason that the prose is very easy to read, to make it accessible to the widest range of regular readers.

Overall, a wonderful book, opening to us a world that's rarely glimpsed and understood. ( )

Well written look into life in Egypt in the 1900s. ( )

Fascinating account of an Egyptian family.

This was a fascinating insider view of a patriachal family in Egygt in the early twentieth century but I found my enjoyment of the narrative severely curtailed by the flowery, poetic language. Whilst this is probably an accurate translation from the Arabic, it was so far removed from current styles that I was constantly aware of it and it took me well over a month to finish the book.

The family at the centre of the book is headed by the autocratic Al-Sayyid Ahmad. Amongst his friends he is the life and soul of the party, laughing, joking, drinking and womanising. At home he is overbearing, severe and unforgiving. His submissive wife and two daughters are confined to the home as is deemed appropriate for middle class Egyptians of the time. His three sons are growing and watching, absorbing this way of life to pass on to their subsequent families.

In many ways it's quite a frightening scenario, still maintained by some cultures. We discussed it in our book group which includes several Arabic speaking Muslims and they confimed that such fmilies still exist, although many have moved into a more tolerant version of Ahmad's family.

The book was also rooted around the time the British had control of Egypt and following an uprising, soldiers are camped on the streets to maintain peace. They provide and interesting backdrop - befriending the young Kamal whilst showing an agressive front to the adult members of the family.

All in all a fascinating account, severely affected for me by the style of writing.

Your Tags: egypt, historical ( )

"Palace Walk" is one of those stories that, while it is reasonably well-crafted, makes us wonder what the Nobel committee is about.

This is a passably interesting family story set in a traditional Muslim Cairo in the early part of the 20th century. The head of the household keeps to an authoritarian pattern of all-powerful paterfamilias in the home and tireless philanderer outside of it. A series of shocks hit our hero, Mr. Ahmad, and he is hardly ready for them. These culminate in the needless and capricious death of a grown son, and the father's world collapses utterly. The idea here is that change is inexorable and that fighting against it only makes it worse.

Mahfouz is directly on target when protraying human nature - this is very much a strong suit. But the story seems plain, sort of pedestrian and not very remarkable. I don't necessarily object to the Nobel Prize for this author and his book, but I'm curious about what the trigger might have been. Was it the depiction of human nature at a time of wrenching social change? Was it the tragic ending? Was it the theme of the helplessness of (mostly) virtuous individuals in the face of the force of Empire?

This is a long book, and while I didn't grudge the time I spent on it, I came away feeling bemused over the critical gush that accompanies it. ( )

Mahfouz rewards patience.

Naguib Mahfouz, the Arabic language writer ever to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, begins Palace Walk with Amina, the devout and devoted Muslim wife of al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad patiently waiting for her husband to return home from another long night of drinking, music, and carousing with his male friends and pursuing illicit sexual relations in Cairo’s clubs and cafes. Mahfouz thus immediately establishes Amina’s willing and absolute subservience to her husband. Mahfouz takes the next several chapters to develop al-Sayyid Ahmad’s position as the unquestioned head of a family of two daughters, Khadija and Aisha, and three sons, Yasin an adult son from a prior marriage, Fahmy a law student, and young Kamal.

A central theme of the book is the absolute obedience, love, devotion, and fear of each member toward al-Sayyid Ahmad. The father is a towering figure who dominates their lives. They seem only to live and breathe in his absence. Al-Sayyid Ahmad insists upon a strict familial discipline and obedience that strikes even his close friends as extreme. The women in particular are subjected to isolation so extreme as to prohibit even a trip to a local mosque. Yet, as Mahfouz languorously unwinds his tale it becomes entirely clear that the family’s devotion to him is sincerely heartfelt.

At the same time, as the reader has already learned, al-Sayyid Ahmad retains to himself the right to live a virtual double-life. He goes out on the town for wine, women, and song every single night without fail (the cliché fits al-Sayyid Ahmad too well to abjure). He even ‘officially’ allows himself these indulgences . The family remains almost entirely ignorant of these activities, except for his wife Amina who knows only about the wine and song. With this juxtaposition of al-Sayyid Ahmad’s guiltless pleasures with his strict demands on his family and their abject obedience, Mahfouz patiently builds to a thunderously powerful sensation when al-Sayyid Ahmad’s pronounces his stunning punishment upon his wife for her guilty, secretive, and accidentally disastrous trip to the Mosque of Sayyidna al-Husayn.

While Al-Sayyid Ahmad often dominates the pages of this novel much like he dominates his family, Mahfouz nonetheless manages to patiently develop each family member’s individual story. Khadija is the homely strong-willed older daughter with an incisive mind and a cutting tongue while Aisha is the passive, but beautiful and sought-after younger daughter. Yasin has inherited his father’s taste for the forbidden pleasures, but not his discipline. Fahmy is the serious law student and secretly active nationalist. Kamal is a young boy whose poignant love for his family is so palpable and his understanding of the world so undeveloped that the reader desires nothing more than for Mahfouz to shield him from harsh reality. The wife and mother Amina remains largely an enigma perhaps because she has entirely submerged her sense of self into her husband.

About two-thirds of the way into the book, the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 breaks out against the British occupation and draws the family into its vortex. Much of the final third of the book is taken up with the family’s interactions with the British occupiers. The revolution provides an important historical background and Mahfouz masterfully recreates the sounds, sights, smells, and tastes of Cairo’s streets, but his greatest triumph is the creation of the complete life of this urban yet intensely Islamic and Egyptian family, a family that is perhaps remarkable in some ways, but well within society’s accepted bounds.

Take the time to savor Palace Walk. Mahfouz rewards the persistent reader by patiently building the remarkable depth and completeness of his characters. Once the last page is turned, the reader can rest secure in the knowledge that Palace Walk is only the first book in Mahfouz’s great Cairo Trilogy. Highest recommendation. ( )