An interesting slice of Cairo life - Rated 
Al Aswany populates the Yacoubian Building with a set of socially diverse characters and then relates a set of stories involving various residents. This device allows him to create a portrait of life in Cairo; the injustices suffered by the poor, the corruption of the elite, the political and economic realities of a repressed society and the way religion is used by different players to achieve their purposes.
The main characters are each introduced in some detail and because there are a large number of them, this means that lengthy digressions into the background of characters are still taking place halfway through the book. This tends to almost bog the narrative down in places. The other disadvantage of having so many central characters is that it makes it difficult to develop them in any real way. Though a number of them do emerge by the end of the book as having the necessary depth to make them interesting, others remain close to being stereotypes. The novel is an interesting slice of modern Cairo life and as such is a rewarding read, but it doesn't quite ever become totally engrossing.
Uneven and somewhat Challenging - Rated 
I read this because it was recommended on The Book Show with Mariella Frostrup and it sounded interesting. It is a loosely connected series of stories following the lives of a group of people living in an apartment building in the heart of Cairo. It was represented to be sexy, funny and intriguing.
I enjoyed the book, but I would say that it wasn't at all funny, and the sex, although there is plenty of it is often complex, tragic and dark. The story starts off in a fairly pedestrian way, introducing you to the various characters and setting up their narratives. It then gets increasingly dark, tragic and at times horribly disturbing with issues such as torture, police brutality, rape, corruption and religious fundamentalism rearing their heads.
About half way through the book we are plunged headlong into the dark undercurrents of Egyptian society and emerge only in the last few pages of the book in what seems like a highly incongruous, and to be honest, given all that precedes it, unlikely, happy ending.
This book is well written and engaging but I found the rapid swing into the seamier side of life quite challenging at times.
Parts of the book recalled one of my favourite books of all time, Justine by Lawrence Durrell, the first book in the Alexandria Quartet, which also swings between the poetic and the horrific, so maybe this is just what life in Cairo is like. An interesting, but ultimately quite unpleasant read.
Not great, but still good - Rated
An interesting portrait of contemporary Egypt, there's not a define storyline as such but that's part of the beauty of the book. The story describes the lives of the residents of Yacoubian building over the course of the year, how some descend into depravity, others find redemption whilst some just get by. The book serves also as interesting commentary on the political side, we see the corruption of most politicians and the various factors that can draw people towards the more puritan but less corrupt Islamic parties. An interesting read, but the author still has some distance to travel before he reaches up the standards of Egypt's finest novelists.
Loved it - in a dark kinda way! - Rated
What starts out as a gentle grouping of character studies soon descends into a dark exploration of the underbelly of Cairo. I loved it even when it was icky!
Masterpiece - Rated 
This book is a masterpiece.The novel follows some inhabitants
of a Cairo apartment and office block,revealing a cross-section
of Cairo society,from an old playboy, a gay newspaper editor,
a religious zealot ,to a voluptuous shop assistant.Through
these inhabitants we see the corruption,fanaticism and eroticism
which is endemic.Marvellously written with wonderfully
vivid characters.
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