What do you think?
Rate this book
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz Summary & Study Guide
Palace Walk Study Guide by BookRags.com consists of approx. 108 pages of summaries and analysis on Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz.
This study guide, written by BookRags.com, includes the following Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, and Topics for Discussion.
This study guide, written by BookRags.com, includes the following Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, and Topics for Discussion.
Nook
First published October 27, 2010
7 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 4, 2015
The first book in the Cairo Trilogy, which was actually conceived as a single book, it begins somewhat slowly for two reasons: first, obviously, because it has to set up the characters and situations for the entire trilogy, but secondly I think because he wants to contrast the slow, repetitive nature of traditional time with the faster more linear time of the present. Each of the three books proceeds at a faster rate, covering more time in less space. The story of the Jawad family and of modern Egypt, the book has two parallel themes, two authoritarian regimes and two rebellions -- the main emphasis at the beginning is on the authoritarian hierarchy in the family, the absolute rule of Ahmad Abd al-Jawad over his wife and children, but there are also allusions to the authoritarian rule of England over Egypt, which becomes an equal theme later in the book. The diminution of the father's control over his family occurs in parallel to the rebellion of Egypt against the English, giving the novel a symbolic as well as realistic dimension.
The writing style is brilliant, even in translation -- I wish I know Arabic so I could read this in the original. Each of the characters is real, even though each also represents an aspect of life in Egypt they are never just embodiments of a type. They each garner our sympathy to some extent, but we also see their faults. The characters are not divided into "heroes" and "villains", but each has elements of heroism and of failure, of integrity and hypocrisy, in different combinations. This is especially true for the central character in the first book, Ahmad; according to the introduction to the edition I read, he was based to some extent on Mahfouz' own father, and despite the obvious difference in culture, he reminded me in many ways of my own father -- particularly the way in which he wanted the other characters to act the way he wanted not out of their own volition but solely out of obedience to him. Despite his dictatorial nature, which caused so many problems, he was clearly doing what he considered best for his family. His family always respected him even when they feared and resented him.
The "best" character, and the one I identified with most, was Fahmy; but I think he was the least successful character in the book, the one who comes closest to being a symbol rather than a real person, if only because he is not treated in the same detail as the others. Perhaps this was because he was not going to play any role in the later books, or perhaps what he symbolized -- the ideal Egypt which didn't come about -- was harder to make real. I identified with him because I spent my college days and many years after as a political activist, passing out handbills and marching in demonstrations, and felt similarly isolated from my conservative family. Kamal, who although the trilogy is not really autobiographical has many resemblances to Mahfouz (about two years younger than Kamal, who really seems to act younger than his stated age of 10 at the end of the novel) is not developed to any great extent here either, but he becomes the central figure in the second book. The least sympathetic of the major characters to me was Yasin, who is a weaker and less restrained imitation of his father, with his bad points but none of his good ones, showing the moral decadence of the patriarchy when it is separated from its conditions of existence. But even in the case of Yasin, we have to feel sorry for him rather than really disliking him, given the circumstances that made his character what it is.
One of the central points in the trilogy of course is the changing relations between husbands and wives, parents and children. The contrast is heightened in the Cairo trilogy by using the Jawad family, which is unusually rigid and patriarchal even for the time, compared to the Shawkats or even Muhammed Iffit, for example. I think for western readers, for whom the behaviors of Ahmad and Amina fit into stereotypes of Islamic mistreatment of women and submissive obedience, it is worth emphasizing that the Jawad family was not representative but extreme. At the same time, it is the ideal that the fundamentalists -- U.S. right-wing Christian as well as Islamic -- want to drag us back to. The later books show not only the breakdown of this system, but also the polarization between those who want to destroy it completely and those who want to bring it back; I think this novel makes it easier to understand the background to events in the Middle East which we see too often through the lens of government and media propaganda.
The writing style is brilliant, even in translation -- I wish I know Arabic so I could read this in the original. Each of the characters is real, even though each also represents an aspect of life in Egypt they are never just embodiments of a type. They each garner our sympathy to some extent, but we also see their faults. The characters are not divided into "heroes" and "villains", but each has elements of heroism and of failure, of integrity and hypocrisy, in different combinations. This is especially true for the central character in the first book, Ahmad; according to the introduction to the edition I read, he was based to some extent on Mahfouz' own father, and despite the obvious difference in culture, he reminded me in many ways of my own father -- particularly the way in which he wanted the other characters to act the way he wanted not out of their own volition but solely out of obedience to him. Despite his dictatorial nature, which caused so many problems, he was clearly doing what he considered best for his family. His family always respected him even when they feared and resented him.
The "best" character, and the one I identified with most, was Fahmy; but I think he was the least successful character in the book, the one who comes closest to being a symbol rather than a real person, if only because he is not treated in the same detail as the others. Perhaps this was because he was not going to play any role in the later books, or perhaps what he symbolized -- the ideal Egypt which didn't come about -- was harder to make real. I identified with him because I spent my college days and many years after as a political activist, passing out handbills and marching in demonstrations, and felt similarly isolated from my conservative family. Kamal, who although the trilogy is not really autobiographical has many resemblances to Mahfouz (about two years younger than Kamal, who really seems to act younger than his stated age of 10 at the end of the novel) is not developed to any great extent here either, but he becomes the central figure in the second book. The least sympathetic of the major characters to me was Yasin, who is a weaker and less restrained imitation of his father, with his bad points but none of his good ones, showing the moral decadence of the patriarchy when it is separated from its conditions of existence. But even in the case of Yasin, we have to feel sorry for him rather than really disliking him, given the circumstances that made his character what it is.
One of the central points in the trilogy of course is the changing relations between husbands and wives, parents and children. The contrast is heightened in the Cairo trilogy by using the Jawad family, which is unusually rigid and patriarchal even for the time, compared to the Shawkats or even Muhammed Iffit, for example. I think for western readers, for whom the behaviors of Ahmad and Amina fit into stereotypes of Islamic mistreatment of women and submissive obedience, it is worth emphasizing that the Jawad family was not representative but extreme. At the same time, it is the ideal that the fundamentalists -- U.S. right-wing Christian as well as Islamic -- want to drag us back to. The later books show not only the breakdown of this system, but also the polarization between those who want to destroy it completely and those who want to bring it back; I think this novel makes it easier to understand the background to events in the Middle East which we see too often through the lens of government and media propaganda.
May 27, 2013
excellent book. very different. written a long time ago in Arabic and translated. part of a trilogy.
June 10, 2013
This book was beautifully written. I'm glad I gave it a chance.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews