The story does end on a happy note as two of the most unlikely people find love and marriage, and the Yacoubian building, itself a character in the story, continues to shelter its inhabitants. Almost no one has a happy ending in this story. The author must be an exceptionally brave man, since not many people like being told the truth about themselves. The Muslim power structure doesn’t come off well in this book.
The story shows how the best of Egypt’s youth are being led to fundamentalism and terror. One of the saddest characters is the young man, Taha, whose dreams of entering the police academy are destroyed because of his poor background. For me the corruption and how it destroys the lives of Egyptians is the main theme of the book. They dream, love, suffer betrayal, and endure a corrupt government and leadership class.
As the Yacoubian Building reveals in this thoroughly modern story, they lead lives as complicated as any of ours. All we see in the news are the screaming crowds of angry fundamentalist Muslims. Most Americans don’t know much about life in Arab countries today. Tragicomic, passionate, shockingly frank in its sexuality, and brimming with an extraordinary, embracing human compassion, The Yacoubian Building is a literary achievement of the first order. In the course of this unforgettable novel, these disparate lives converge, careening inexorably toward an explosive conclusion.
A corrupt and corpulent politician, twisting the Koran to justify taking a mistress.Īll live in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor slowly decaying in the smog and hubbub of downtown Cairo, Egypt. A roof-squatting tailor, scheming to own property. A cynical, secretly gay newspaper editor, helplessly in love with a peasant security guard. An earnest, devout young doorman, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism. A young shop-girl enduring the clammy touch of her boss and hating herself for accepting the modest banknotes he tucks into her pocket afterward. A fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed "scientist of women." A purring, voluptuous siren.
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