BookkooB : The Yacoubian Building - Alaa Al Aswany : Compare Book Prices

	title:	The Yacoubian Building
	author:	Alaa Al Aswany
	format:	Paperback
	publisher:	HarperPerennial
	released:	September 3, 2007
	isbn:	0007243626
	isbn-13:	9780007243624

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Blackwells
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Base
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Customer Reviews
corrie goes to cairo - Rated Just interesting enough to read through, not really badly written, not in the least involving emotionally. The Yacoubian building as Rover's Return. I read the book two months ago and the only bit I remember well is my surprise, upon finishing it, that there had been neither Richard and Judy nor Oprah book club sticker on its cover. Yacubian Building - Rated The Yacoubian Building A very interesting story of the lives of all living and past living in the building. The Yacoubian Building - Rated A rather slow start, but it builds into a fascinating portrait of life in Egypt, albeit with a lot of sexual themes! I read this as part of a book group and it led to very interesting discussions. A fantastic writer - Rated This is almost an old-fashioned book - like a family saga, except the family is the inhabitants of a the Yacoubian building. The story line is fast-paced and sweeps you along a panorama of Egyptian lives. It is amusing, entertaining and deeply tragic, without ever losing a sense of optimism. A great novel. Alaa Al Aswany is a talented and respected writer, who portrays all his characters with so much empathy and insight that you find yourself caring about even the more despicable ones. An easy, enjoyable and educational (for those of us in the West) read. Muddled, unfocused... - Rated The parade of characters who inhabit the building and the book are parodies, not characters, and this sets the tone of a novel which can't seem to make its mind up what it intends to be. The place is real, the setting is real, but the people are not strongly drawn, and are difficult to conjure up in the mind. Most disappointing are the female characters. Women in Egyptian society are second-class citizens, having to use their 'feminine wiles' to succeed and only relating to men as a way of getting on and improving their lot in life. Al Aswany writes like a man who has not spent much time around women, is uncomfortable with female company and therefore unable to get into their heads, see what makes them tick and turn them into fully-fledged characters. The novel has very little structure, and I found very unsatisfying. I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters, they were not fleshed out enough as characters for any degree of sympathy.

Customer Reviews

corrie goes to cairo - Rated 2/5
Just interesting enough to read through, not really badly written, not in the least involving emotionally. The Yacoubian building as Rover's Return.
I read the book two months ago and the only bit I remember well is my surprise, upon finishing it, that there had been neither Richard and Judy nor Oprah book club sticker on its cover.

Yacubian Building - Rated 5/5
The Yacoubian Building

A very interesting story of the lives of all living and past living in the building.

The Yacoubian Building - Rated 4/5
A rather slow start, but it builds into a fascinating portrait of life in Egypt, albeit with a lot of sexual themes! I read this as part of a book group and it led to very interesting discussions.

A fantastic writer - Rated 4/5
This is almost an old-fashioned book - like a family saga, except the family is the inhabitants of a the Yacoubian building. The story line is fast-paced and sweeps you along a panorama of Egyptian lives.
It is amusing, entertaining and deeply tragic, without ever losing a sense of optimism. A great novel.

Alaa Al Aswany is a talented and respected writer, who portrays all his characters with so much empathy and insight that you find yourself caring about even the more despicable ones.
An easy, enjoyable and educational (for those of us in the West) read.

Muddled, unfocused... - Rated 1/5
The parade of characters who inhabit the building and the book are parodies, not characters, and this sets the tone of a novel which can't seem to make its mind up what it intends to be. The place is real, the setting is real, but the people are not strongly drawn, and are difficult to conjure up in the mind. Most disappointing are the female characters. Women in Egyptian society are second-class citizens, having to use their 'feminine wiles' to succeed and only relating to men as a way of getting on and improving their lot in life. Al Aswany writes like a man who has not spent much time around women, is uncomfortable with female company and therefore unable to get into their heads, see what makes them tick and turn them into fully-fledged characters. The novel has very little structure, and I found very unsatisfying. I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters, they were not fleshed out enough as characters for any degree of sympathy.