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By Lynn · 3 posts · 36 views
By Lynn · 3 posts · 36 views
last updated Jun 25, 2025 08:25PM
What Members Thought
The blurb on the inside jacket copy says, "neither a parable nor an allegory." I've been puzzling over how they could say that. I thought it was allegory early on when Gabalawi throws Adhem and his wife out of the mansion with the beautiful garden they loved so much. Later in the book there’s a Cain and Abel parallel, too. Allegory all the way. Most Egyptians are not Christian. I kept reading this as almost parallel to many Christian bible stories, and wondering if Islam has similar stories or i
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I was initially enchanted by the dreamlike recitation of ancient events and the portrait of another world in the first sections of this book. But after a while, I "got" what Mahfouz was doing -- retelling stories of seminal figures in the Qu'uran -- and the narrative grew repetitious to the point of tedium. The picture of the alley is static -- that is Mahfouz's point, I realize -- the gangsters and their clubs, the poets' evening songs in the coffeehouses, the women's alternate wailing and tril
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May 28, 2011
Melissa
rated it
liked it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
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I only read about a third of the book before having to stop and move on to other things. I enjoyed some of the writing quite a bit but found the repeated allegorical story line somewhat wearisome. I may return to the book someday or (more likely) try another of Mahfouz's books.
I assigned no rating of 1-5 stars since I didn't read enough for a fair evaluation (using my own eccentric system). ...more
I assigned no rating of 1-5 stars since I didn't read enough for a fair evaluation (using my own eccentric system). ...more
May 25, 2011
Stacie
marked it as to-read
May 25, 2011
Pang
marked it as to-read
May 30, 2011
Linda
marked it as to-read
