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Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
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Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
One of my tacit resolutions each year is to experience more Naguib Mahfouz and Satyajit Ray. Such high hopes are often neglected and die in vain before Easter. I picked up The Search and a number of other lesser titles by Mahfouz and other Egyptian writers a few years ago and this week appeared ideal for at least a single sortie.The Search is noir, Egyptian noir and well worth anyone's time. A madame's son buries his mother in Alexandria. She had been released from prison the previous day, broken by her experience. She tells her son that the state is confiscating the brothel and all her assets, nearly all their assets. The privileged life he had previously enjoyed is now over except, she notes, there is a single unexplored development. His father is not dead, as she had previously told him and is living rather well in Cairo. Thus the novel begins with the son completes his graveside duties and then heading to Cairo where he discovers a trademark romantic triangle involving a Siren of sorts. A slippery slope ensues, one which John Garfield memorably strode. Well crafted, this isn't any simple genre exercise but rather an examination of the Cairo of 60s and its tensions and diversity.
