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Beer in the Snooker Club

Waguih Ghali

3.96 · Rating details · 2,857 ratings · 440 reviews

This reissue of the late Waguih Ghali's only novel makes us mourn his loss all the more keenly. A plainspoken writer of consummate wryness, grace, and humor, the Egyptian author chronicles the lives of a polyglot Cairene upper crust, shortly after the fall of King Farouk, who are thoroughly unprepared to change their neo-feudal ways. This is the best book to date about pos ...more

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Paperback, 222 pages

Published November 2nd 1999 by New Amsterdam Books (first published 1964)

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Apr 06, 2014 Douglas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thanks to Goodreads and Vintage for ARC.

In 220 pages, Waguih Ghali manages to tackle nearly every important idea and struggle of his time.

On the surface, this is a coming of age novel and a story about the unrequited love between a Coptic Egyptian of communist beliefs and a Jewish woman living in Egypt. If that alone is not fascinating, I don't know what is. Time's have changed so drastically, these characters seem unfathomable now. While I’m not sure how much of this, if any, is autobiographi ...more

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Dec 03, 2017 ·Karen· added it · review of another edition

'If someone has read an enormous amount of literature, and has a thorough knowledge of contemporary history, from the beginning of this century to the present day, and he has an imagination, and he is intelligent, and he is just, and he is kind, and he cares about other people of all races, and he has enough time to think, and he is honest and sincere, there are two things can happen to him; he can join the Communist Party and then leave it, wallowing in its shortcomings, or he can become mad

...more

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Aug 27, 2016 Claire rated it it was amazing

Having an inoculation in mid-twentieth-century MENA (Middle East and North African) politics before spying through Waguih Ghali's novel Beer in the Snooker Club helped me in already having an understanding of what this author was saying without having to do extraneous research, though in this novel it is best to know specifically about the Egyptian turmoil between the rule of Nasser and Sadat, with more of a focus on Nasser, for that political background provides the setting in which the events ...more

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May 06, 2014 Diezer rated it really liked it

I'm depressed. And that ending is not fooling me. And this has stirred up so many questions about where I want to live, where I belong, what I want to do, what I believe in. And I have none of the answers to these questions. None. Not even the slightest clue. And I feel like crying. And I hate you Waguih, that ending is a lie. You should've written the end of it. Up to the day you left.. ...more

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May 13, 2014 Lastoadri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

The way Ghali touched the topic of identity, is like no other I've read before. It is indeed on top of my favorite novels of all times. ...more

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Feb 28, 2014 Ken rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-in-2014, world-literature

If you're looking for an unusual setting (Egypt -- with a brief stint in England) and an unusual time period (the unremarkable 50s -- unremarkable only when compared to the tumultuous 40s), Beer in the Snooker Club may be worth a look. Waguih Ghali was an upper-class Egyptian educated in England. The book's hero, Ram Bey, closely resembles the author, in that he is interested in England, Egyptian politics, gambling, drinking, girls, and life.

For some reason, the back of the book insists that Ram ...more

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Nov 04, 2015 Zeinab Gamal rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

At first, during the first and second part, I wanted to write one long review. I don't know how to put it right. It's not like I was enthusiastic at the start, there was nothing to be enthusiastic about, but something was fading, slowly. Or rather, was being understood.

Instead, I will write you a review on Waguih Ghali. Or what they seem to know about this man. If you google his name in English, you will find that they talk of facts, however, if you google his name in Arabic, his Wikipedia woul ...more

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Mar 24, 2014 Dina rated it it was amazing

One of the best novels I have read\yet to read in my life.

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Aug 01, 2017 reem rated it liked it · review of another edition

Before anything in the Middle East there was the Egyptian dream. Country clubs where the rich played crochet, lavish receptions and parties, French-speaking mothers and young men and women rolling through the nights in foreign-tongues bursting with intense political thought. This is a country so adamant about its culture and education, its expensive people and misrepresented 'fellaheen.' The theme of this book surrounds various elements of young Egyptian life that intersects with European influe ...more

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Feb 23, 2014 Melissa Coyle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: africa, c-b-2014-challenge, classic, the-genre-challenge, 2014-personal-challenge, around-the-world-2014-challenge, goodreads-first-reads, egyptian-lit, egypt

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. The young man, Ram, lives off of his rich relatives and likes his frivolous life, reading, drinking, gambling, and making love. His life turns for a while when he decides to add some meaning to it, but comes back to his senses to live his superficial life.

This book takes place in Egypt with a stay in London and takes a look at life among the rich Egyptians. What I liked most about this book was the honesty of the young man and his view ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 John rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, library_books

My library had this one as an ebook, so thought I'd check it out to expand my world literature reading. References to the Suez conflict made the book seem rather dated, but otherwise no major faults. The portrayal of upper class Egyptian society reminded me of the Indian families featured in Rohinton Mistry's stories set in India. Interestingly, the story focuses on Copts and Jews, outsiders in their own land, but as much by choice (refusal to assimilate) than by prejudice. Expect an end-of-era ...more

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Dec 24, 2019 Moataz rated it really liked it

i didn't want to finish the book. i stalled in the last twenty pages for a week. yet i don't know how i feel about the book. in one way, it made conscious of being an Egyptian who speaks English all the time. even though i'm criticized for it, all the time, i was never as conscious or ashamed (i guess shame is a pretty strong word) of it as i am now after reading this book.
i guess the only difference between me and these bourgeoisie Egyptians is that i'm not aristocrate, my grandparents are fel i didn't want to finish the book. i stalled in the last twenty pages for a week. yet i don't know how i feel about the book. in one way, it made conscious of being an Egyptian who speaks English all the time. even though i'm criticized for it, all the time, i was never as conscious or ashamed (i guess shame is a pretty strong word) of it as i am now after reading this book.
i guess the only difference between me and these bourgeoisie Egyptians is that i'm not aristocrate, my grandparents are fellahen (on both side, mum and dad) and that engage in western politics or keep up with it for its influence in internal matters. (basically just waiting for congress to stop giving the government money and guns!)
i find the argument over defining what it means to be Egyptian very ridiculous. i don't believe in geographical contexts. you can be anything, anything literary, and be egyptian just because you were born there! but that makes me wonder if i'm saying that because i never felt really like an egyptian. i'm certainly told every now and then that i don't talk or think like egyptians and that my arabic is weird. i usually "evade" the argument and reply philosophically in three specific points i won't mention now. by all means, i didn't find it intelligent for Ram and Edna to argue who is more egyptian or what it means to be egyptian!
but i understand very well the loss of identity, the detachment from the surrounding society and the inability to fit in or integrate anywhere. i understand what's like to walk around, constantly out of place. but for me, humanity bugs me. i don't understand why ram had to belong somewhere other than himself? his mind and body and edna? i hate him, and i hate font, but i adored edna. i think this is the fifth egyptian book i read, where i hate the guts of the protagonist. i hate font because he decided to abandon everything and just do and be nothing. i hate ram because he doesn't seem to be able to take a grip on his life. and i think i hate him because he is so honest; he's aware of his flaws and he hates and loves them at the same time. he talked over and over about change but he doesn't really want to change.

ram is an arabic word that means a wild or a perennial plant. names are really strange in this book. why he didn't name the main characters with familiar egyptian names like corollos or aziz or mounir? no egyptians are called font or ram or amis (this last one is Pharaonic). was it for the english readers? i think it's logical to assume so.

i also have one last thought: it seems that "camps" is as old as the military. nasser maintained a system of brutality and oppression without the support of international community. it makes me wonder, that even without military aids, egypt or the military, will still maintain the same environment of fear and lack of freedom of speech. it's a scary and depressing thought. ...more

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May 25, 2014 Amany Selim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

There is something indescribable about this novel, something that kept me constantly and unknowingly intrigued and captivated. Perhaps it is its dialogue which unlike most of novels that I read so far, made the main element here. What I liked the most was Ram's conversations with Edna. They revealed many of his complexities and inconsistencies. He was seemingly communist, yet still led this life of luxury, consumerism, and drunkenness that characterized his upper class. He detested his mother's ...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Tibetan Mastiff rated it it was amazing

I've read this book three times and am currently reading it for the fourth time. It's funny because whenever I've reread books, I found that I liked them less. Not so with BitSC. This book is an emotional roller coaster: sad and hilarious, artful and frank, light and profound—all at the same time. It's an understatement to say that this book is about Egypt (although it is), because you will see yourself on its pages no matter where you're from. "Beer in the Snooker Club" is honest writing, which ...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Mona Mahfouz rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Everyone

The must read. One of the best novels I've ever read in my life.

Very handy to Egyptian expats living in Europe and the States as well. Simply an easy read of 220 pages that you can pass on to any Westerner to keep them busy and save yourself time and nerve hearing about the "Egypt" they know about. ...more

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May 09, 2017 Amr Elshafei rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I wrote this for one of my classes. I think I still need to modify it a bit so it is a work in progress, and be careful because it has spoilers.

Insincere But Honest

Overview:

Ram’s name is followed by many adjectives: Egyptian, Coptic, aristocratic, and also communist, poor, sometimes revolutionary young man who is leading a precarious existence at the center of those seemingly conflicting adjectives. Beer in the snooker club is a highly autobiographical novel, and like his main character, aut I wrote this for one of my classes. I think I still need to modify it a bit so it is a work in progress, and be careful because it has spoilers.

Insincere But Honest

Overview:

Ram’s name is followed by many adjectives: Egyptian, Coptic, aristocratic, and also communist, poor, sometimes revolutionary young man who is leading a precarious existence at the center of those seemingly conflicting adjectives. Beer in the snooker club is a highly autobiographical novel, and like his main character, author Waguih Ghali had to deal with those adjectives and the different worlds and powers that controlled them: the military, the promise of revolution, the aristocratic class, and the people who are perceived and defined in different ways. Ram also has his own notions of the revolution and the people, of class, of Europe and the happy life. First, I will show the linear timeline of events although the novel was not ordered as such which can be another symptom of the main character’s perplexity and sense of estrangement. Ram and Font are two young British-educated friends who belong to the elite but they are not the elite per se. Ram’s father had died during his childhood after losing his money in the stock market which left his aunt, the matriarch of the family, supporting him and his mother, while Font is an orphan. They join the resistance in Suez and spend their days reading about colonization and third world sufferings and revolutions. They mock their class calling them parasites and long for change and restoring power to the people. Although they fight against British troops in Suez they are enchanted with Europe and it pubs, socialists, and cobbled streets. They dream of traveling to London which is both, feared and desired at the same time. They meet Edna, a Jewish, wealthy aristocrat, and together they find mutual passions. Ram finds love with Edna but also that remains elusive and uncertain. They all travel to London and there Ram experience himself splitting into two personalities: one that pretends and one that watches. This theme was expressed throughout the novel manifesting severe conflict and sense of helplessness. While they are in London, the Suez War starts which deepens his contradictions and makes them shockingly disturbing. The novel was published in 1964 and Ghali committed suicide in 1969 in London. While Ram also goes to London, he does not commit suicide, instead, he returns to Egypt and goes off to marry a rich aristocratic girl and calls his friends for a ‘good game of poker’ at Groppi’s by the end of the novel. So, what is ‘The Snooker Club’? It is the place where Ram and Font could lick their wounds and suspend their conflicts for a while, playing snooker and, of course, drinking beer. The novel raises important questions on identity, power, and ambitions of liberation in the postcolonial state. It explores changes and disappointments in the Egyptian society in the aftermath of 1952. More importantly, it puts exclamation marks next to questions of what is meant by the people and public good, and how such questions are interwoven into political and class struggles.

Analysis and Reviews:

Unfortunately, many reviews and academic studies have reduced the novel to a eulogy of cosmopolitanism in Egypt, drawing comparisons to other works such as “The Alexandrian Quartet.” Some of the reviews attempted to turn the novel into a mouthpiece to reinforce arguments for nostalgic representation of a cosmopolitan past, ignoring the penetrating insights in the novel. The very same reasons that make Beer in The Snooker Club a work of penetrating insight make these reviews extremely problematic and disappointing. The insights I found in the novel are not answers but rather questions. Despite his numerous monologues and speeches, I could not believe Ram. He could not believe himself either; “there is a gimmick in everything I do.” The insights in the novel are the outcome of a state of perplexity and frantic questioning marking the identity crisis of the protagonist. Some reviews attempted to extract answers from the novel but I think they only found another one of Ram’s gimmicks. I found it necessary after going through the reviews to state the following three points which I will use to help me assess the reviews. First, The questions posed in the novel regarding identity and individual agency remain pertinent and vital in present discourse . I think that any written text has the potentiality to display different layers of narrative and that is especially true in the novel genre where stories and styles are interwoven, away from the inhibitions of academic or journalistic writing. Moreover, an array of relations can be explored in Beer in The Snooker Club; relations that situate individuals in their respective contexts, outline the plain for their interactions, but does not deny their personal attributes and consequently their choices, actions and struggles. Second, the autobiographical nature of the novel makes questions about the author increasingly important. However, after going through the reviews I found equally important questions regarding who the reader is, and using what lens. While understanding more about the author can help us put the novel in context, it should not lead us to undermine the text itself and employ it along with the life of its author as a vassal for ready-made arguments. The novel can speak to the reader and it has something to say for itself. Third: Although we acknowledge the interplay between personal and public discourses, it is a difficult task to maintain the balance between the two without sacrificing the richness of personal narratives, or losing track of the underlying context and its relation to its different constituents. The exploration of these discourses was a major theme in Beer in The Snooker Club and a major source of anxiety for the protagonist Ram. The nature of Ram's concerns is different than, for example, the nature of the concerns of working class members.

The First review and the most problematic is by Deborah Starr. In her article, Drinking, gambling, and making merry: Ghali’s search for cosmopolitan agency, she claims that the novel “demonstrates a search for an activist cosmopolitanism from which to oppose the particularities of parochial nationalism and the universals of Imperialism." She proposes that Ram creates his own model of “Egyptianess” which is “drinking (beer), gambling (snooker) and making merry (jokes)” in order to undermine the notion of national identity. Furthermore, she claims that Ram’s model of Egyptians is made to accommodate for his “cosmopolitan desires.” She later claims that he excludes Edna from “Egyptianess” based on her lack of humor. Starr uses Ram’s inner monologues as evidence for her argument of a so-called “cosmopolitan agency.” Moreover, by using Ram’s thoughts and statements she has completely failed to grasp the two levels on which Ram operates: the pretender and the watcher. This failure has caused her to approach the novel from a purely academic concern using a popular topic that creates a binary between notions of national identity in postcolonial states and a perceived, lost cosmopolitanism. Such binary conceals the powers that operate in similar ways in both these notions. I think it is quite clear that a notion of “cosmopolitanism” cannot sustain the very same blows directed at notions of “national identity” in Beer in The Snooker Club. At heart, Ram’s dismantling of the question of “ “who are the Egyptians?” is not really about humor, ethnicity, or even language, it is about the ability of power to claim representation and subsequently define and construct categories of public good, language, and ethnicity according to its desires. In that regard, power for him exists in the cosmopolitan milieu of his social class, and in the authoritarian regime of the military with its definition of the people and national identity; that is the source of his disillusionment with the revolution. Starr only mentions Ram, Edna and Font in her article which views the novel with an extremely shallow lens. For example, Ram is extremely irritated by his cousin Mounir’s American education and considers it as alien to the prevalent British and French systems of education in his class. He keeps distinguishing between characters mentioning Font with his British education, or Didi with her French education which is a symptom of his extreme self-consciousness throughout the novel. For him, Mounir’s American education is alien to the configuration of his class, but it is also a disturbing mutation that marks the adaptive ability of the class and its continuity. It is disturbing in the same way that military officers are accumulating wealth, or the way members of the his class are starting to join the military. Ram’s predicament and the surrounding chaos cannot be ordered into a binary of “cosmopolitan agency” and “national identity.” The very same questions about national identity cut through the cosmopolitan milieu of his class.
In her review of the novel entitled A Whole Imaginary World, Anna Stanton proposes that the novel should be read in itself without comparing it to other texts or viewing it as a part of a so called “cosmopolitan canon”. She discusses how the dominant scholarly work on the novel has paid little attention to the novel itself, the text itself and confined it to a comparative framework on cosmopolitanism or post colonialism. She argues that Beer in The Snooker club has its own imaginary world that exist in the text and not outside it, even in the life of its author. Furthermore, Stanton notes how different accounts of Ghali himself either as representative of minorities, or a tormented gentleman, or even a lost bohemian have turned him into a “ character who only exists through the imagination.”. I find Stanton observations valuable especially that Ram has a lot to say and that it is unfair to imprison Ghali in the novel.
Ram only had questions and he was aware that he couldn’t give answers, or more accurately, he could not obtain the answers. Pankaj Mishra in the introduction to the novel argues that Ram is “aware that he must find a life for himself” but “ this basic task of self-definition is harder for him than the Egyptian people he seeks to represent”. Mishra argues that the key to the novel is in Ram’s confession “I’m insincere, but honest”. With the revolution and the trip to you Europe, realities and false promises were unmasked for Ram. False promises could have maintained the masks and allowed him to remain insincere and dishonest at the same time, but that did not happen. Mishra mentions that decolonization in Africa and Asia left “privileged and talented young men and women before the arduous challenges of revolution, nation building, and self renewal”. However, the political struggle that followed did not come close to achieving their hopes. For Ram, he remained out of the equation between two worlds sensing his imminent submission. Perhaps that is why he remained insincere but honest.

I greatly enjoyed reading the novel with all the witticism and striking self-consciousness which I believe is the reason why Ghali was able to spot contradictions and turn them into jokes. The combination of characters in the novel makes it extremely rich, and the relation between Ram, Edna, and Font was a catalyst for the evolution of the three characters. The novel starts after his return from London. By the end of the novel that non-linear order of events seemed like a scar, a symbol of profound change or trauma he had experienced in Europe. Ram stated that he lost his natural self there, and in answering why he had returned to Egypt he said: “Probably because of Font. I kept seeing his eyebrows going higher and higher in amazement at this world around him.” I think Ram perceived two options: pushing forward or retreating with dignity, Font and Edna were essential in both these options. He perceived his love for Edna and friendship with Font as acts of self-redemption, but they all found themselves in a crucible and the two options became invalid. Edna as a Jew was getting more distant from him as the definition of being Egyptian started to move away from being Jewish. Ram was aware that unlike himself, Font was able to be both sincere and honest; a combination that he deemed catastrophic. He didn’t tell him of the pictures of torture in prisons because Font would have run in the streets and distributed the pictures. The snooker club was a remnant of the old plan of retreating, but now without Edna and the bitterness between him and Font, he cannot find solace even there. The novel is packed with characters representing different segments of society at the time: Armenians, Jews, Fallahin and others. The contestation over the meaning of being an Egyptian was the struggle that enveloped all these different groups. The idea of an egalitarian definition that would include all of them seems overly romantic. Ram was aware of that. He perceived the nuances in meaning before and after 1952. While he could not relate to the common Egyptians, his readings and socialist ideas inclined him in their favor. Nonetheless, witnessing his class mutating and surviving in the new structure shattered his ambitions of self-definition, and the oppression of the regime made him more aware of his place between two worlds, unable to belong to any of them, and unable to perceive a third one where he could belong and for that he keeps acting but he is making jokes and saying the truth between the lines. Waguih Ghali committed suicide in 1969 stating in a note that it was his only authentic act; an incredibly harsh judgement. However, I think other developments in his life after writing the novel may have led him to that decision. The power of Beer in The Snooker Club lies in the corrosive nature of its questions. It is a novel of doubts, fears, and questions suitable for the past and the present. ...more

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Nov 22, 2015 Nicolien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-east, english-literature

"It is strange. A man gets to know a woman. For a long time they are one. They have mingled their thoughts, their bodies, their hopes, their odours, their lives. They are one. And then a while later they are strangers. They are not one anymore. Just as though it never happened, as though looking at oneself in the mirror and seeing a stranger instead of one's reflection.
I fetched a glass. What do people who do not drink do on such occasions? Face the facts perhaps. But facing a fact is one thing, ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 F rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to F by: Zaina

4.5

I read this book based on Zaina's fervent recommendation. I loved this book all on my own.

It's a book that makes you think without waving its intellectualism in your face. It recognizes that you need intellectualism and theories as part of growing up, and developing your own political identity... but that academia and the academese language used by an intellectual class to separate itself from the masses (or the fellaheen) is superfluous, overdone, dumb, unnecessary.

Waguih Ghali's Beer in the ...more

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Jul 19, 2015 Noha rated it it was ok · review of another edition

2.5

what is the point of this book really? There were these glimpses of history (which I really liked); I wish there were more of it.

Rami, the main charterer, was written in a way that made me hate him and judge him for his irresponsible behavior and selfish choices. Rami was really smart but he used it for manipulating people's feelings. I was thinking about when your mind (way of thinking) turns against you and Rami is a good example for that. I loved Edna.

The style of writing is good and sm ...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Iva rated it really liked it

This compelling novel gives a picture of 1950's Cairo that gives a background for understanding the current situation in Egypt. That is only one reason to read it though. Highly readable because of the dialogue and great characters who seem to be a combination of idle rich kids and the lost generation. Those who are educated in England are rudderless when back in Egypt. Ghali's writing has been compared to Camus, Salinger and Walker Percy. It is clearly a book that stands on its own. (Hard to fi ...more

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Oct 05, 2008 Wendy Brafman rated it really liked it

Shelves: egypt, fiction

Mr. Ghali seesms to be the Egyptian Hemmingway. I don't know whether or not he intended this, but I enjoyed his terse writing style. I also found it fascinating to learn that Egypt had its own "lost generation." Some of the depictions of Cairo and its society and undoubtedly still true today, such as Gezeira Club, of which I am a member. ...more

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Apr 27, 2014 Jeanne rated it did not like it

Good Reads giveaway. Thank you.
Set in the 1950's, Egypt as a location and yet I learned nothing about either. The main character is a lazy, self absorbed human who leeches off everyone else. I couldn't wait to finish and move on to a more interesting book. ...more

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May 23, 2020 Brianna Beesley rated it really liked it

Really well written. Ghali captured the day to day life occuring alongside with political turmoil in a beautiful way. I do wish that I wouldn't have read the forward before though as although it was really insightful it sort of spoiled the ending of the book. ...more

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Dec 11, 2009 Zainab Magdy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-that-move-me

I've never read a book this beautiful about Egypt. I am obsessed with Ghali and Ram and Edna and Font. I think its brilliant; every Egyptian who can read should read this book. ...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Zak Zak rated it it was amazing

one of those books which are talking about your-fucking-self, with every single detail, fuck all the world, am that poor Ram.

P.S : don't read it's translation, it's fucked up in Arabic ...more

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Apr 30, 2012 ohradiogirl rated it really liked it

Incredible read. Vibrant and descriptive and fun and complex.

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Nov 10, 2013 Amira rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I can't believe I knew about it for so long and only got to read it now. ...more

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Mar 04, 2015 Iskandar Ahmad Abdalla rated it it was amazing

A masterpiece of a forgotten Egyptian "exile literature". ...more

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Oct 22, 2015 Kobe Bryant rated it liked it

Crazy to think that being rich is pretty great no matter who you are

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Dec 26, 2019 Mish Middelmann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Set in the 1950s and 60s, against a backdrop of one of Egypt's great hopeful revolutions. Looks balefully clearly at the patterns and structures of privilege in the Egyptian elite and their dreams to be as super-privileged as their colonisers.

Yet the story is so much about young people everywhere, with their frustrating and endearing passion, quick back-and-forth between blind spots and crystal clarity, and the apparent casualness of falling in and out of affairs, with all the deeper energies th Set in the 1950s and 60s, against a backdrop of one of Egypt's great hopeful revolutions. Looks balefully clearly at the patterns and structures of privilege in the Egyptian elite and their dreams to be as super-privileged as their colonisers.

Yet the story is so much about young people everywhere, with their frustrating and endearing passion, quick back-and-forth between blind spots and crystal clarity, and the apparent casualness of falling in and out of affairs, with all the deeper energies that go along with the surface chaos. Ultimately there is a compassion towards young people not always being PC:

I wanted to live. I read and read and Edna spoke and I wanted to live. I wanted to have affairs with countesses and to fall in love with a barmaid and to be a gigolo and to be a political leader and ...

The foreword by Diana Athill is a beautiful expansion of this compassionate perspective.

I think Egypt is still working on its old love-and-hate affair with the west. Certainly it was in the time of this novel, and our author is well tuned into its complexities:

All he knew was that he had spent three years in America, had picked up their pet phrases and had been given a degree. He was all set to be given high office, and what sickened me was the knowledge that he would get it.

Along with this growing awareness comes a hopefulness:

Gradually, we began to see ourselves as members of humanity in general and not just as Egyptians.

This hope sits uncomfortably on the lap of the pain of Egyptians' alienation:

Cairo and Alexandria were cosmopolitan not so much because they contained foreigners, but because the Egyptian born in them is himself a stranger to his land.

After a couple of visits to Egypt in the last year, I am glad to report signals of a growing identification with Africa and more willingness to take responsibility for Egyptian solutions to Egyptian problems. Again, this willingness struggles to emerge from the weight of despair after all the failed revolutions and repeated reincarnations of military rule.

Not entirely an easy read in the 21st century, but well worth the effort. And although it would be good to know all the ins and outs of the Suez Crisis and other political events of that time, I am living proof that you can still get value from the book even when a bit ignorant about the history of that time. ...more

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About Waguih Ghali

Waguih Ghali

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Not much is known about Waguih Ghali. Ghali was born and raised in Cairo. His exact birth date is not known, but it is guessed he was born in the 1930’s to a upper class Coptic family in Egypt. Ghali’s family spoke English and French more than Arabic something he mirrors in his character Ram. When he was young, Ghali’s father passed away leaving Waguih behind as the poor relation to his mother’s r Not much is known about Waguih Ghali. Ghali was born and raised in Cairo. His exact birth date is not known, but it is guessed he was born in the 1930’s to a upper class Coptic family in Egypt. Ghali’s family spoke English and French more than Arabic something he mirrors in his character Ram. When he was young, Ghali’s father passed away leaving Waguih behind as the poor relation to his mother’s rich family. Once he grew up he funneled his outrage at the poverty in Egypt towards the Communist party. As an adult Ghali left Egypt to study and work in Britain, France, Sweden and Germany.
“Beer in the Snooker Club” was his only novel which now appears to be an exaggerated dictation of his life. Waguih Ghali committed suicide in 1969. Much of his life in London and up until his death is described in "After a Funeral" by Diana Athill.
In "After a Funeral" Dianna Athill describes how she meet Waguih Ghali, whose alias in the novel is "Didi". According to Diana Athill, Waguih Ghali was a sweet and intelligent man. He was an Egyptian exile though and through that information she discovered a darker side to the talented writer. Ghali was an intense gambler, drinker, and womaniser. He committed suicide in the flat they shared in London. When he died he left behind a set of notebooks. In these notebooks Waguih Ghali wrote that his death was the "one authentic act of my life."
كاتب مصري، له رواية وحيدة هي بيرة في نادي البلياردو والتي كتبها أثناء إقامته في أوائل الستينيات بين برلين ولندن، ترك غالي بلده مصر في أوائل الستينيات وسافر إلى أوروبا ليعمل في وظائف غير مستقرة، منها عامل في مصانع ببرلين وعدد من الوظائف الأخرى، وهي الفترة التي بدأ فيها بكتابة روايته الأولى والوحيدة، كما عمل كمراسل صحفي وكتب تحقيقات لمجلة صنداي تايمز بناء على زيارته لإسرائيل في الستينيات، انتحر وجيه غالي في شقة الكاتبة الإنجليزية ديانا آتهيل عام ١٩٦٩

لوجيه غالي رواية وحيدة هي بيرة في نادي البلياردو والتي نُشرتْ عام ١٩٦٤ عن دار بينجوين الإنجليزية. ولا توجد معلومات حول إذا ما كان هنالك أي إنتاج أدبي آخر لوجيه غالي. وعادة ما يشار إليه كأول كاتب مصري تكون له مطبوعات بينجوين. ...more

Books by Waguih Ghali

An Egyptian in the Swinging Sixties: The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: Volume 1: 1964-66

The Diaries of Waguih Ghali: An Egyptian Writer in the Swinging Sixties Volume 2: 1966--68

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Of Women and Salt, the debut novel by Gabriela Garcia, has the feel of a sweeping family saga that’s hard to reconcile with the fact that it’s...

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Quotes from Beer in the Snook...

“أنا لست "جديراً بالحب" ولا "لطيفاً" ولا "ودودا"، على العكس تماما، أنا مخلوق مغرور، ومتعجرف، ومُدّعي معرفة، وغير مثير للإعجاب.” — 28 likes

“الواحد يدرك مدى حبه فقط عندما يظن أنه فقد الشخص الذي يحبه، وللتعاسة، في اغلب الأحيان يبدأ الواحد في أن يحب فقط عندما يشعر بأن حبه من طرف واحد” — 22 likes

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