Alaa Al Aswany's latest novel, Chicago, is absolutely a must read. Not only is it gripping, fast-paced, witty, fresh and amusing, but also it is rich in characters that so down-to-earth.
Unlike The Yacoubian Building, his former bestseller, all the characters in Chicago are more types than individuals. You can swear you have met them before in your life, seen them face to face and dealt with them. You can name each character according to your own experience and knowledge. In this novel simplicity and stereotyping is found to be more shocking than what Al Aswany has yielded in Yacoubian. You won't find homosexuals, or a shoe sweeper who turns into a millionaire, or a former aristocrat, or any of these unique characters that you only meet in novels but you know they do exist in real life. Instead you will meet college students and professors, whose lives are exposed in a deeply analytical and shocking manner. Their sexual lives are described, sometimes in details, just to give you a look inside them and to expose a face they hide from society. And most important of all, the novel stresses that inspite all of our apparent differences, we are all human, sharing the same basic needs and surrendering to our weaknesses. Nobody is perfect, nobody sees themselves as bad, nobody cares to analyze his/her true motives, and every single one sees the world through his/her own eyes.
No work of art has reached perfection, and I believe it is unfair to demand perfection from the author just because his novels are bestsellers. Therefore, I consider much of the criticism that Chicago has been subjected to as unneeded exaggeration. I am not implying that we should praise the work anyway, but to come up with the conclusion that it is stereotypical and provides a deformed image of different societies makes people who haven't read the novel have preconceptions that would really spoil their reading of it. I particularly didn't like Abdel Monem Saeed's critical review of the novel. Click to read
Yes, it is stereotypical. Yes, it is all negative. Yes, it recreates the same images we have of the East and the West. But it is a very consistent work of art, that deserves admiration for its artistic quality and carefully woven characters. It makes the familiar so unfamiliar through its daring exposition and its smooth psychological surveillance.
The novel also raises the issue of the extreme polarity that exists in Egyptian society nowadays and how it affects the younger generation who are full of insecurities, as well as tackling the contradicting urges inside the older generation of Egyptian immigrants to the USA, which caused some of them to have an identity crisis. There is also the implication that due to the polarity between the East and the West, their marriage can never result in a healthy off-spring. (I liked Nousha's discussion of this aspect of the novel, and the awkwardness it reveals about the position of Egyptian girls.)
There are minor things I didn't like about Chicago, especially how some threads are suddenly cut in the end. But overall, I enjoyed reading it and I strongly recommend it.
For a summary of the plot you can check Baheyya's blog
Watch an interview with the author about the novel
6 comments:
Sounds like a very interesting book. All those you recommend do! Hope to get to actually read them some day.
In fact I generally agree with Abdel Monem Said's review abt Chicago. Although I have liked the novel so much and I highly appreciate the genuine talent of Al Aswani,I agree with Dr Said in that Aswani is deeply influenced with his own political views which made the novel sometimes resembles a party newspaper (El Karama or El Doustour for example - with my full respect and admiration of them).
Om Luji, as usual, impresses me with her critical talent and analytic ability. I liked very much the comparison you have done between the characters of Yacoubian and Chicago.
Alina:
Thanks a lot. I', glad you're interested in Egyptian literature. I don't know if this novel has been translated yet, but the author's former novel, Yacoubian Building, has been translated into some 30 languages and been made a movie too that participated in several international film festivals. It toured the world's biggest cities. So I believe you have a better shot on getting a copy of it. You can check it out on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building
and Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Yacoubian-Building-Alaa-Al-Aswany/dp/9774248627
Salama:
Thanks for all this praise. Ana ht3'ar fnafsy kedda :)
Now, concerning Abdel Moneim Saeed's article. I don't disagree with the bits and pieces he mentioned. What I disliked about it was its overall tone. He made the novel sound so empty. As if he is saying "Eih ya3ni Chicago di?" and he went along the characters as if nothing is worthy of attention except how they ended up. He didn't praise a single quality in the work. That's why I think if someone read his article before reading the novel it would be very misleading.
I have had the chance to read a part of Chicago while I was on a trip to Egypt.
Being an immigrant to the Us, I could relate to many of the issues that his character s represent.
I think he is a very smart sensitive novelist.
Sometimes I wonder too about his superimposed views , but I’m not sure if it is real belief system ,
or that he is just working within the allowed margin of freedom of speech from a society that still can be shocked by the existence of others who live in a different way.
Kamel Khairalla:
Thanks for adding your thoughts about the novel. I believe this work deserves commenting on. Chicago is of unique value, keeping in mind that it comes in a time when there are strong feelings of rejection towards the West, and the US in particular.
It exposes a lot about how Egyptians react towards this different culture. The examples chosen by Al Aswany are so telling and covers a wide range of different reactions according to character and cultural background.
As for the author's superimposed views, or stereotyping, there are two main factors to consider.
First, that Al Aswani himself has lived for several years in Chicago while studying at the same university he wrote about in his novel. Of course he could not have admired everything or hated everything about the American culture.
Second, that while he shows his admiration in an indirect manner, he criticizes very openly. And that is the factor where readers were put in mind.
I think that behind the open attack, there is lots of admiration hidden between the lines. Chicago exposes everyone who lives there, because it doesn't have the double morality we live by in our conservative society. And I believe this is the stronger message of all, even if it was not directly said.
Hope you would get to read the whole novel. The ending is very climactic.
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