The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street; Introduction by Sabry Hafez

This book was, frankly, a revelation to me. Naguib Mahfouz is the only Arab author to ever win a Nobel Prize for literature, and it's easy to see why he won, if you base your judgement on this volume. This book is a compilation of his best-known and best-regarded work, three books which together are referred to as the Cairo Trilogy. Originally, the author had planned the whole work as a single novel, but after he finished it the publisher told him that a 1300 page novel wasn't possible in the 1950's Arab world, so they split it into three separate novels, with the original title of the whole book serving as the title for the first of the three novels: Palace Walk. Palace of Desire follows it, and Sugar Street concludes the trio. Mahfouz is a remarkable writer. The book spans 30 years at the beginning of the 20th Century, in Cairo of course, and follows the lives of an extended family during this time. He spends an enormous amount of time at the beginning of the book establishing character and setting. The opening 100 or so pages follow the various members of the family through a single day in their lives, starting with the mother getting up to start the day, and following in turn her, her husband, and their children as they perform various tasks during the day. The narrative then takes off and follows these individuals through various calamities (one of the sons gets killed in a demonstration, the father is briefly pressed into service to help with fortification construction, and so forth). He reserves judgement as far as the characters are concerned, tells you how they rationalize their actions when they do something less than perfect, and lets the reader see the warts of each of the characters individually. This is a long, involved, carefully written book. Frankly it invites comparison with almost any other epic novel that covers a generation or two like this, and it's actually better than more than a few of them. It also has, as a sidelight, insight into the character of the nation of Egypt, its people, and especially it spends a great deal of time discussing the character of the city, who lives their, and their attitude towards their neighbors. It's intensely interesting, frankly pretty well written (the translation is very easy to read) and I enjoyed it a great deal.

This is probably the best novel written in the Arab world . Writers who tried to mimic it later on like El Aswany in "The Yacoubian Building" were cheap, inexpressive and failed. Mahfouz offers a profound exploration of his characters; their struggles, inconsistencies, turbulent thoughts and actions. Desire can force them to act against their will and conviction. Their weaknesses compel them to act tyrannical under a vague definition of tradition. And the hardships they face change them beyond their comprehension forcing them into abodes of disturbed philosophical thought. The novel is perfectly interrelated marking the beginning, end, and evolution of each character, place or event mentioned. The book starts by recounting the mature and established life of Ahmed Abd El Jawad and his wife Amina. He is a tyrannical patriarch, exerting full domination over his family, drawing strict restrictions over their lives while enjoying a sexually corrupt life on his own in prostitute houses. Until the last pages of the first book the Abd El Jawad family is only suffering from domestic problems that stem from the casual daily life, like Khadija's fear of spinisterhood due to her ugly nose, Fahmy's political life and his love to his neighbour, Mariam,Abd El Jawad's cruelty and compassion to Amina etc... However towards the end, in the last few pages the family is stricken by its first major tragedy: Fahmy's death. This tragedy had major everlasting implications which changed their lives forever. The second novel marks the eventual changes that occurred to the family. The father's tyrannical image is diminished gradually. Kamal's friends are members of the educated elite society. He falls madly in love with his best friend's sister. His platonic adoration reminded me of Florentino Ariza in "Love in the Time of Cholera". They both almost worshipped their beloved who belonged to an upper middle class and ignored them. The description of the lovers' feelings at the wedding night is also highly parallel. Kamal's personality was formulated by two major incidences that took place in his life: his failure in love and his brother's death. His ideological confusion and abnormal life and behavior stemmed from them. In El Sokariya the old Abd El Jawad hierarchy entirely falls apart and each of the grand-children formulates his own life. It reflects the political segmentation, ideological changes and the corruption of the time. "Time" as a theme is wonderfully discussed in the Cairo trilogy. Former centers of authority lose their respect gradually and become objects of humiliation and disintegration. Kamal carries his father like a child in the last day of his life, participates in Aida's humble funeral and chooses not to marry her sister. She who used to be once adored and unreachable. The last part is particularly interesting when Yassin goes to buy things for his daughter's upcoming baby and a black tie for his stepmother's upcoming funeral. Politics also form

I agree with everything said by the reviewer "imperato", he beat me to the chase. That might tell you something as a reader -- Mahfouz's literature transcends the personal. Again, his writing has qualities that surpass any of the great classics I have known. A soft, yet stimulating style, rich with detail and full of emtotional involvement. You might become enamored with Mahfouz, as I did, and read every last drop he has written. It is no exxageration to say that the ease of familiarity in his writing even surpasses Hemingway. Palace Walk in particular is an intriguing, emotional read. The quality diminishes with each volume, but after Palace Walk you will need to find out what happens next, for this reason you might as well buy the full set of three novels.

Don't let the size of this book scare you off. The chapters are short and are themselves self-contained stories: they make for perfect nighttime reading installments! And the plot, characters and wisdom of the book are consistently illuminating from the first pages to the very end. It is staggering how effortlessly Mahfouz feeds us the richest possible detail without ever allowing the energy of the story to flag. In the wake of war in Iraq, an American reader will be particularly enriched from experiencing this novel. It tells the story of three generations of an Egyptian family between the two World Wars and reveals much about daily life in a Muslim family and the manner in which Western geopolitics impacted Arab life and culture. The pull of Western values and ideas on traditional Egyptian culture is so clearly and persuasively presented that the politics, resentments and even opportunities for understanding in today's Middle East suddenly seem much more discernible.What makes the book a real standout is the way it presents profound life lessons and experiences in such a highly entertaining fashion. Serious political and social issues are explored beside the very real, sometimes ugly and often hilarious foibles of each character. The sincere quest for holiness seems as important and genuine in the lives of characters as the unquenchable thirst for pleasure. Mahfouz never preaches about the "correct path", but rather shares the complicated lives of his characters without sentimentality, prejudice or judgment. The Cairo Trilogy is a breathtaking, uplifting and deeply affecting achievement. The prose is luminous, the incredible evocation of the sights and smells of Egypt unforgettable, the believability of the characters complete. Readers of Mann, Tolstoy, and Henry James will find in Mahfouz a similar command of grand architechture and epic sweep but unlike those writers Mahfouz's prose is light and airy and full of a master storyteller's ease. Throughout the book you marvel not only at the author's command of his craft, but also the clarity of his vision in showing us what matters. In the end, what may make The Cairo Trilogy the most compelling for Western readers is that the family at the center of the tale is so very different from us and yet so like us. As modernity encroaches upon the family of the forbidding Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad and his dedicated wife Amina, you feel the same sense of loss and melancholy that they feel realizing that in the age of television and instant communication and mass marketed culture, the simple splendors of the family coffee hour may be forever behind us. If politicians and religious leaders around the world have shown themselves consistently unable to bridge the gaps between cultures, Mahfouz the novelist must be read if only to reconnect us with the essence of our shared humanity.

I am so happy to see the Cairo Trilogy finally presented in one volume instead of the three separate books that it was previously issued as......this single volume will really allow the reader to appreciate the scope and continuity of this epic about the struggles of a country and a family, tracing the struggle of each toward independence and in the context of a rapidly changing political and social environment.All of that said.....let me encourage you to read this wonderful book, which is so beautifully written, a story that pulls you in from the first page and captures your imagination. I always through Tolstoy was my favorite author in terms of character development.....but it's clear to me that Mahfouz is equally talented in rendering characters that seem as real as friends.I cannot wait to read more by this important author!