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Oct 25, 2011

Tyler rated it:

Narrators tell stories; protagonists tell them; characters in novels do, too. But in The Yacoubian Building, an apartment complex on a downtown street tells the story of a whole nation. This ten-story structure, I found, has a lot to say.

The building doesn't talk, of course, but it shelters the many people whose lives the book recounts. Brought together only by their place of residence, these very different people are, by the end, brought together in a second way, by the common exp More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

okyrhoe rated it:

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1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Shams Eddeen شمس الدين rated it:

لقد سمعت ما قيل عن هذه الرواية و لذلك لم اجازف و ادفع فيها مليم و استلفتها من صديقة لي

هذه الرواية لم تعجبني باي حال من الاحوال فتصوير المأسي شئ فطري في شعبنا الذي يعشق النكد و عمل وظيفة اسمها المعددة كي تندب الموتي !!!

و اري ان هذه القصة - كغيرها - لا يوجد بها اي ابداع و هو اختار نوع رخيص جدا من الادب و هو الادب الاباحي ان جاز التعبير ,فكمية الاسفاف في وصف مفاتن المراة قد فاقت الحدود المحترمة و لا اعتقد ان الفن يبرر الاسفاف

و لولا انه اقحم هذه التحبيشة الاباح More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Nojood rated it:

لا أعلم لم كلما كانت رواية ما مدججة بالجنس تأخذ الصدارة في عالمناالعربي. ما زلت أود التخلص من النسخة "القابعة" على رف
مكتبي. قالوا عنها و قالوا و لم أجد بها سوى عالم منحط تترفع عنه الأسر المصرية

15 comments like (7 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Huda Felimban rated it:

عن أنس -رضي الله عنه-قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم": "ماكان الفحش في شيء إلا شانه، وماكان الحياء في شيء إلا زانه"

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Fatima rated it:

بحماس من سمع أن الرواية "أعادت العرب إلى القراءة" وبلهفة من أذهلته استخدام أكبر ميزانية في تاريخ السينما المصرية لعمل فلم مقتبس منها بدأت قراءاتها , وياللصدمة ! بغض النظر عن الأحداث والاشخاص أود أن أتساءل:
كيف يطلق على من لغته بهذه الركاكة والضعف اسم "كاتب"؟
أمر جد مؤلم !
إذا غضضنا النظر عن اللغة لا أجد الكثير في الرواية, استفدت منها الكثير من المعلومات عن تاريخ مصر مرحلة ماقبل الثورة وبعدها وأعجبتني بعض الحوارات -العامية بالطبع!- بين أبطال الرواية خصوصاً ذاك ا More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Mohamed added it

أنهيت قراءة عمارة يعقوبيان وقد إستمتعت بها أيما إستمتاع وهذه خواطري حولها بدون ترتيب :
الفكرة رائعه عدة خطوط متوازية متباينة يربطها مكان واحد هو العمارة
أعجبت كثيرا بحيادية الكاتب فهو لا يحاكم أحدا فقط يعرض أفكاره وحياته حتى مع أحط الأفكار (كالشذوذ) وأخطرها (كالتطرف)
عندما يتحدث عن الشذوذ تخاله شاذا وعندما يتحدث عن المتطرفين تخاله متطرفا , قمة الحرفية والإبداع
المؤلف أظهر تباين وتهالك المجتمع المصري على كل مستوياته وإن كان لم يتعرض في أحد خطوطه إلى الطبقة الوسطى التى إعتراه More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2007

stephen rated it:

excellent long long sentences. colorful group of personages rendered as if balzac had never happened. which is not in itself a bad thing. it's just that balzac did happen and so doing straight descriptive work with reference to the social world seems, well, one-dimensional. there is enjoyable one-dimensional and not enjoyable one-dimensional: this is mostly in the former category if you pay exclusive attention to the male characters. the women do not fare so well. nonetheless i would recom More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

خالد rated it:

الراوية الاكثر مبيعا و شهرة فى التسعينيات فى مصر ....الشهرة زادت طبعا مع تحويلها لفيلم الذى أراه خطأ فى حق الراوية بتعديلات السيناريو..زعلى اىحال الرواية ممتعة حقا و تعطى تشريحا لبعض النماذج الاجتماعية فى مصر من خلال تطور حيوات سكان العمارة ...فقط يؤخذ الحذر لسن القارئ لان بها وصف جنسى قوى More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Meka rated it:

إختلفت الآراء عن تلك الرواية ، وفى نظرى يأتى هذا الإختلاف نتيجة تناول القصة لعدة جوانب إجتماعية يصعب التحدث فيها أو مناقشتها ، فنحن كثيرا ما نفضل غض الطرف عن المشاكل بدلا من تناولها ومحاوله إيجاد حلولا لها.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Azza rated it:

لم اندم فى حياتى على مال قدر ندمى على الثلاثين جنيها التى دفعتها فى هذه الرواية

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Emtethal rated it:

رواية رائعة لولا تحفظي على بعض الاجزاء الجريئة والدكتور علاء روائي متميز

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Ahmed rated it:

رواية جميلة جدا ..

تطرح مافعله الظباط الاحرار بمصر ..

من خلال تشبيه مصر بعمارة يعقوبيان ..

والتي تتشابه مع مصر بانها كانت متساوية الطبقات الاجتماعية

و جمالها الخارجي والداخلي .. وكيف انها احتوت بين ضلوعها

المصريين والاجانب واليهود والارمن ..

وكيف ان بعد ما وقعت الثورة .. خلت من الاجانب الهاربين

و انتشر فيها الضباط

والتي فسدت بهم العمارة ومصر ..

واتغيرت التركيبة السكانية والاجتماعية للاسوأ ..

وغاد More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Ahmed rated it:

من الصفحة الأولى تجذبك شخصيات الأسواني المرسومة بدقة وتفاصيلها الغنية. الشخصيات على تنوع اصولها و آرائها في الحياة الا انه يجمع بينهم مكان و احد و هو العمارة, عمارة يعقوبيان.

خلال احداث القصة سوف تعرف ان العمارة كانت آية في الهندسة والابداع في منطقة وسط البلد و التي في مع بعد مع مرور الزمن و الأحداث السياسية و الاجتماعية المتعاقبة على مصر, اصابها هي و سكانها الجدد و القدامى نفس التشوهات التي اصابة البلد كلها.

الروايه و الاحداث غاية في الابداع و تأخذك الى عالم وسط البلد الفر More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

A. rated it:

The writer has the ability to steal the reader and race him with his lines. He keeps firm grip on the reader's mind...even when you leave the book you keep thinking about the events and when will you go back to read more. You can live easily inside his story lines.

I have not seen the movie but I've seen some of the tv episodes, and i think the book is much much more exciting.

I'm thinking of buying the English version to compare it with the original Arab More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 16, 2010

Hagar rated it:

It was ok! Ok..he's got some style in writing..but he adores employing the sex motif...in such a disgusting way! Even such issues can be tackled gracefully...not in such manners! Plus, this is not a true mirror of the Egyptian society and its malaise..yes I agree that the societal diseases are symbolised in the pervert sexual acts whether : banned sex, pervert spouses, homosexuality, whores, rape... but still..what I argue for..does that novel deserve to be Egypt's modern portrayal all over the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 11, 2009

Sandra rated it:

The story was interesting as every day life, and I do not say that sarcastically. It is always interesting to read about a different culture however, I have no form of knowing its accuracy.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 18, 2009

Harriett rated it:

Boy. This is tough going. The writing is brilliant. The story is so dispiriting I had trouble divorcing it from my overall impression of the book. I was so depressed when I finished it despite the lyrical brilliance that is Alaa al-Aswany.

4 comments like

Feb 07, 2012

Osama rated it:

انا شفت الفيلم الاول وبعد كده قرأت الروايه
الفيلم صدمني جدا زي ما كان صدمه لكل مصر
لكن عاده الصدمه والانكار يتتبعهم القبول بالامر الواقع
يعني كنت رافض الفيلم لكن عجبني بعد ذلك لان هذه هى الحقيقه شئت ام ابيت
الروايه مختلفه عن الفيلم فى بعض تفاصيل عادل امام فى الفيلم مش زي الروايه خالص اختلاف مظهري وجوهري
انا معترض على مشهد فى الروايه هو معالج فى الفيلم بشكل افضل كثيرا كثيرا واعتقد ان المخرج مروان حامد لم يستطع ان يقوم باخراج المشهد كما هو فى الروايه
مشه More...

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2012

Sallie rated it:

Loved it! Amazing, how a book can transform the reader. I haven't been living in Bothell for the past two days: I've been living in Cairo!

The story really got under my skin with characters I very much liked, despite their horrific flaws. Aswany's portrayal of Egyptian attitudes and mind-sets, even though the story is set in 1990, are current enough for some real 'aha' moments for the reader, especially when it comes to Egypt's current events.

Don't worry . . . the book isn't More...

0 comments like

Oct 27, 2011

Ismail rated it:

This is Egypt. Its past of glorified and often lamented early 20th-Century grandeur as well as its present of turbulence and increasing desperation and repressiveness are artfully laid out for the reader to analyze, contemplate and invariably pity in this impressive literary work. This is Egypt that everyone knows well but rather not talk about.

The book captures the collective moral and physical destitution of the post-1970s Egyptian society like no other book has; at least none that More...

0 comments like

Jul 12, 2011

Andrea rated it:

I have no capacity to judge this on its relevance or relationship to Egyptian reality, but then authors can only ever offer up one possible vision of 'reality' anyway. I think it is too often the fault of Westerners to go looking for special insights into another culture from a handful of books in translation, demand a few authors represent another tradition but judge them on the basis of our own. Arrogant, some of the English reviews are just arrogant.

For myself, what matters most is More...

0 comments like

Jul 08, 2011

Kenny rated it:

I am grudgingly giving this book 3 stars. The beginning and middle of the book show Al Aswany to be an excellent, if not profound, storyteller and as I approached the final third of the book I found myself delaying sleep to continue reading. The characters are vivid and complex, their stories are compelling and woven together (both with other storylines and with the context, Egpyt in the 1990s) well, and author gives an excellent blend of their inner thoughts and actions. This book is at its More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2011

David rated it:

I read this novel, received as a Christmas gift, shortly after returning from a business trip in the Mideast. I was moved by its poignant sense of perspective, the elegant beauty of both the writing and the translation and the heart-wrenching grief that I found within its modest number of pages. The words leapt off every page as the tragedies emerged of characters whose chief links among each other had to do with their various and sundry connections to their dwelling place, an old building in Ca More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Nicolas rated it:

The Yacoubian Building is a great read for anyone seeking a greater understanding of modern Egyptian society, or any place where people must cope with daily frustration and repression.

Set in the streets of modern-day Cairo, this novel portrays the sometimes intersecting lives of residents of the Yacoubian Building. The building itself serves as a metaphor for the modern Egypt of the story: once grand and exciting, it has decayed over years of neglect. Its residents, in turn, must cope More...

0 comments like

Jan 13, 2011

Nathaniel rated it:

Al Aswany prefaces his novel by explaining that it is a novel about place, about the Yacoubian Building and what it reveals about Cairo over time. I am pleased to report that this claim is misleading: "The Yacoubian Building" may contain brief forays into the past and various asides about certain establishments and customs; but it is primarily concerned with the nuances of infatuation, courtship and transactional sex in age disparate Cairo relationships.

Three affluent and i More...

0 comments like

Dec 08, 2010

Dave rated it:

The Yacoubian Building is an interesting read and the characters are crafted well, very true to life and interesting to observe as they wind their way through this horribly corrupt existence. The building is a microcosm of Cairo, containing the extremely wealthy and very poor but one finds that all of them are prostituting themselves to greater forces in the attempt to escape from their demons. The most intriguing characters were Taha, the picture of integrity, and Busayna, a beautiful maiden tr More...

0 comments like

Nov 07, 2010

Anastasia rated it:

I'd heard so much about this novel that I expected more--not more in terms of story, because there's lots of meaty story in this book--but more in terms of imagery, lyricism, and in-depth character portrayal. The single character who truly stole my heart is the old swain Zaki Bey al-Dessouki, who reminds me warmly of the endearing and penniless old Prince Yakimov in Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy. An Egyptian acquaintance who reads a lot of literature in English and Arabic told me that Egyptian More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2010

Kitty rated it:

The Yacoubian Building is a book that crawls under the skin,
boils the blood and makes you wonder about human nature.
By starting the story with Taha and Busayna, both of whom so filled with hope, both of whom seem young, able to love, followed by the mosaic of Cairene life with the other people in the building, the cruel twists which transform them make you realize there is always a story behind a character which humanizes -- no matter how awful the situation. No matter More...

0 comments like

Nov 09, 2009

Carolyn rated it:

I really enjoyed this! I read it shortly after being in Cairo and wish I had read it beforehand so I had some interesting context on the political and social intricacies of Egyptian life. My only criticism is that the end seemed somewhat abrupt, but I think that was a combination of wanting to find out more about the characters, and that the book ends with a (very helpful) glossary of terms for those unfamiliar with Muslim or Egyptian references - this made me think I had several pages left.
More...

1 comment like