I am reading...

Something tells me that starting this post by telling you that this book was suggested to me by a very dear friends whose literary taste seems to be irremediably opposite to mine may not be the smartest thing to do.

A little too late.

However, we can turn this around and just say that now that you know the background, it will help put things really into perspective when reading what follows. The Yacoubian Building was written by Alaa al-Aswani and was a total hit with my dear friend. I had to find out more, you see... More about the book and more about our opposite book taste which is something I still cannot seem to accept after all our years of undisturbed friendship. A bit stubborn, am I?

And there it is, the exception! The book starts rather slowly by setting the background of the story in a building called Yacoubian (the name of the original owner and contractor, if my memory serves me right): from one apartment to the other, we push the doors open to find out, little by little, about the inhabitants. The regular, everyday routine of everyone's life is slowly enlarged to cross personal borders and depict Egypt's true profile. The characters meet and reveal their true selves, their stories, their past and future for better...or for worse. What seemed like a clearcut existence in Cairo turns out to be an intricate game of hide and seek, official and unofficial moves - the final picture may even reach the grotesque and absurd. Try again, this is the social, religious, political, economic and historical reality of Egypt described rather bluntly by the author.

This is a fascinating and scary microcosm. What is even more fascinating is that the novel was a top seller throughout the Arab countries.

Thankfully, there is hope too, a ray of light that I will let you discover. A must read that will help you understand many of the issues of today's Arab world - and inevitably ours.

Credit: TheDaydreamer (via iPhone)