Mark Rizk Farag > Recent Status Updates

If we are talking about positive representations of non stereotypical LGBTQ+ charafters, there is no better example that comes to mind for me than Omar from The Wire.

Knee deep in the second book of the series and only just used a dictionary to figure out what the 'Pirouette' means.

Maybe the real monster in this book is the male gaze 😂.

No female character can be introduced without us knowing about how attractive/unattractive she is.

That last short story.... Nothing short of profound...

So far the most positive thing I have to say about the book is that it mentions Tinariwen, who are amazing.

Otherwise it leaves much to be desired.

'Later when we were alone on the street, she asked me if An didn't want Muslims in Riche because his family was Coptic. Adorable. They don't hate Muslims, they hate the poor.'

Ahh Egyptians, we find so many ways to hate one another.....

I like the commentary on classism and islamophobia but why no commentary on discrimination against Copts. Does it cause Egyptian Muslims spiritual pain to admit how they treat us?

If there are in fact, as I suspect, two alternating narrators it would have been so easy to make this obvious from the outset...

So.... Antisemitism and stalking women were both very casually engaged in back then huh....

'There is nothing like a war in the south to convince young Israelis to stop protesting and go and protect the homeland. It has worked in the past and will work again.'

Well.... He called it...

As a good friend of mine once said 'there aren't many things as frustrating as watching someone argue a point you agree with poorly'

The overcoat is a brilliant story 😂. Gogol may have provided one of the first examples of magic realism and his version is wicked, witty and scathing 🤣.

Should I be killed by social hierarchy and classism, I pray my ghost also haunts the paper tigers who are so tyrannical in the workplace and so fragile elsewhere!

The author manages to immerse himself so deeply in the medieval worldview, that the narrative as well as the story is told from its perspective in a completely uncritical way.

It's shocking how religious medieval Europe was in comparison to how it is now!

The book makes you truly appreciate modern medicine, leprosy, plagues and infections run rampant.

Mystical, spellbinding and tragic so far.

I really loved the love story, irrespective of how short it was

Mystical, medieval, Orthodox, horticultural vibes so far!

The main character could end up being a lot like the characters from The Man from Bashmour.

I ran out of Dovstoyevsky to read, so I decided to read Gogol who may have inspired him.

I did not expect his work to be so funny and poignant!

The author notably fails to support his point that 'Jews were a people without a land'.

Instead he harps on about how beneficial zionism and the reclamation of Palestine was o western powers and zionist Christians.

Which isn't really the same thing. Both these things can be true.

A bit disappointed so far and feel that 'The Hundred Years War on Palestine' was a better book.

The book provides a scathing critique of both the PLO and Hamas.

The PLO are described as the only Liberation movement that collaborated with occupiers and acted as proxies with no tangible gains.

Hamas are described using violent and vengeful methods that made life worse for the average Palestinian and soured the international image.

Just so we are clear, the critique of the Israeli state is rightfully intense.

Factors that remain consistent

- Colonial and post colonial support of the Israel by the UK then the USA
- The attempts of both the UK and the USA to pretend to be neutral arbitrator when they are anything but
- labelling of Palestinians as terrorists, which then justifies their murder
- Israeli use of excessive force and collective punishment of civilians
- Israel claiming it is the only ____ in the region

Two events mentioned in passing that I will have to read more about:

- The Armenian and Assyrian geonocides
- The Lebanese civil war

I always thought that Pan Arab nationalism was a force to be reckoned with, before dying a slow neo colonial death.

It turns out it was almost dead on arrival and much like today, the Arab states could never really get along.

The Saudi Arabian government seems to consistently be on the wrong side of history and I had no idea Jordan was so complicit.

I wonder how many painful and bloody experiences of people of colour past and present begin with 'the British f#&£ed us'.

- I didn't expect the book to have such strong religious overtones 😅.

- Throughly enjoying the characters!

- The women in this book are very oppressed

- it seems to be mandatory that every attractive woman in the book be described as lighter skinned

'God I ask you to watch over my husband and children, my mother, Yasin and all the people: Muslims and Christians, even the English my Lord, but drive them from our land as a favour to Fahmy, who does not like them'

A brilliant prayer if I've ever heard one 😂

YESSSSSSSS GRANDMAAAAAA!

'The crisis facing men is not a crisis of masculinity, it is the crisis of patriarchal masculinity. Until we make the distinction clear, men will continue to fear that any critique of patriarchy represents a threat.'

Absolutely brilliant so far. A strong introduction on how patriarchal norms limit masculinity to unfeeling, stoical, emotionally unexpressive behaviours and forms of self expression.

Compassionate feminism with a strong empathetic feel.

Razor sharp political commentary, poignant satire and a fresh perspective.

Also as someone who is terrified of bees, these book makes them seem so sympathetic and makes beekeeping sound like such a beautiful career.

This book has moments of brilliance but could have easily been 400 pages shorter and lost nothing in the process.

'The British Empire is a huge heterogeneous organization held together largely by mutual consent'

Errrm, I'm not too sure about this one chief