Mellan de två slotten

Read the word "Cairo" and I had to read this, but was expecting the usual audiobook, but this is presented like a radio play, with multiple voices. Didn't feel like such a presentation, so have delayed my listening. I hadn't read any reviews below, but now I have glanced at the few reviews immediately below, I doubt I'll get back to this unyielding, pious, hypocritical father! ( )

What a hypocrite
a pious terror at home
whoring around town. ( )

Well-plotted book with Mahfouz giving life to the main characters. He spends time describing them, making you feel that you know them intimately. I can't help feeling that he is biased towards the patriarch of the family, granting him too much allowance for his behavior. Nevertheless, he does portray him very well, especially in how he shows his love and concern for his daughters and his wife. Ahmad's main thought upon knowing Fahmy's death is the heartbreak that this news would bring to his wife. Also, this book is an eye-opener into another world - the strict purdah that the Egyptian women have to abide by. ( )

Having enjoyed some of his other material and considering the praise for the Cairo Trilogy, I'd expected this to be better. It was neither terrible nor noteworthy. The writing is weighed down by such a prolific amount of detail that I found myself skimming on occasion.

The story (family life in an Egyptian household under a tyrannical, hypocritical, deeply sexist father) is moderately engaging. The novel was probably a bolder social critique at the time of it's publication than it may be today, though it probably remains relevant.

If they weren't so long I'd be more inclined to give the rest of the trilogy a try. ( )

Unfortunately I couldn't finish this one. I loved the sound of the book from the blurb, but the slow pace and intensely irritating male characters have left me reluctant to read any more than 100 pages. I think I'm also generally just not in the right mood for this book at this time! ( )