Rating: 
Summary: Richly Deserved Nobel Prize Winner
Review: "The Palace Walk" is the first book of the Cairo trilogy, Mahfouz's family saga set in Egypt post WWI during the British occupation. The family's story is woven into greater events in the larger world as the Egyptian nationalistic movement grows in opposition to British rule.The author's style of writing includes rich character descriptions, humor and great attention to detail without ever being tedious. The characters became very real to me and "The Palace Walk" leaves me very eager to start reading Book 2. The family patriarch is the central character of the first book, a tyrant that has bullied & terrified every member of his family but has a totally different private life away from the home. As well as being a great family saga, this is excellent historical fiction, showing the beginnings of change in the 20th century in this part of the Mid-East.
Rating: 
Summary: An intimate story
Review: An intimate story of a family and a community in early twentieth century Cairo. Mahfouz has a gift for vividly portraying the wide spectrum of human emotion. The intricate familial relations were captivating, though the historical developments and crises were less convincing.
Rating:
Summary: An intimate story
Review: An intimate story of a family and a community in early twentieth century Cairo. Mahfouz has a gift for vividly portraying the wide spectrum of human emotion. The intricate familial relations were captivating, though the historical developments and crises were less convincing.
Rating:
Summary: "How Do I"
Review: How do I pronounce those Egyptian proper names? Which word is the given name;which word is the surname;what do the other parts of the name mean? What do the various courtesy titles represent? I could have used a glossary or a general background esaay.
However I enjoyed the family and its diverse circle of buddies and confidants. The introspection on the "feelings" of several members was fascinating too! That the story takes place eighty-four years ago is worth noting.
The writing especially in several chapters was beautiful and certainly deserved the Nobel prize. I thought the translation to have been a good one.
Rating:
Summary: An honor to read
Review: I don't know if I've ever seriously used the word "sumptuous," but if I were to tag something with that adjective, it would be the writing of Mahfouz. This story of a middle class family in post WWI Cairo informs, entertains, and astounds. The leisurely pace and skillful translation allows the culture and its figures to slowly spread through your mind and provide you with a singular, immersing experience. This is virtual reality the old-fashioned way.
Although not a quick read (and it shouldn't be), the simple story of a family's internal power struggles and its members finding their places in a modernizing world is compelling. This is a family you may not particularly admire or enjoy getting to know, but by the end you feel as if you are a silent partner in their exploits.
My exploration of Nobel laureate authors has led me in the last two years from Naipaul (astounding) to Coetzee (not quite sure he belongs in this company) to Saramago (god-like), and finally, to Mahfouz. I'm not sure I've saved the best for last of that group, but The Cairo trilogy is exactly the type of work the Nobel Institue exists to reward.
Rating:
Summary: The Heart of a Family, the Soul of a Country
Review: I have had a copy of Palace Walk in my book pile for about 10 years, but finally got around to reading it. What a fool I was to have waited so long to enjoy such a perfectly written work of literary art! I suppose I was intimidated by the fact that it was about modern Egypt, but Mahfouz is such a good writer that his reader is brought into this world and; aside from a few confusing allusions here and there, the book is accessible to the Western reader as well as to a Middle Eastern reader. The characters are universal and at the same time, purely Egyptian. This is a story of a family whose lives and fortunes mirror those of the country they live in. Egypt, in the years following World War I, is in turmoil, undergoing historical transition, moving painfully toward independence. In the home of the Jawad family, the father, Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, a merchant, rules with stern, unrelenting dominance, while enjoying a secret, separate life of complete, selfish, sensual enjoyment. His obedient wife, Amina, on the other hand, serves him and her family as a whole in every capacity, unquestioningly, selflessly. His children, three sons and two daughters, fear and love their father and worship their mother. They live the life of a upper middle class Egyptian family. But they, like their country, teeter on the brink of change. The black and white, unquestioning religious and social faith of the past is being replaced by a new world, one in which all the rules of the past are being called into question. This new world, with its turmoil, will exact a tragic price from this family. Time passes, change occurs. Each member of the family reacts in his/her own way, reflecting the change in the country they live in. The characters are each interesting, completely human, the story a tale well told. I am now 2/3 of the way through the second book in the trilogy, Palace of Desire, and my interest in the story and its characters has not flagged. I have no doubt that I will continue on the finish the trilogy, for I find this a fascinating read. I'm just sorry I took so long to get around to it!
Rating: 
Summary: Long and drawn out story
Review: I only finished this book because I had chosen it for my book club, based on all the wonderful reviews it had received. It was a painful and long read though--and the lives of the women were so depressing, which made it even tougher going. I must be fair though--out of the four members of the book club, two loved it, while two of us didn't like it at all.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most satisfying novels I've read
Review: In fact, I immediately picked up the next two books in the trilogy, just so I could continue my enjoyment of this wonderful saga and the beautiful writing that conveys the story. It's rare that I love a book so much that I wish I could meet the author....but this is one of those books. I'd love to sit down and have a conversation with Mr. Mahfouz, just for the pleasure of listening to such a brilliant writer talk about his thoughts behind the story. This book drew me in from the first page with its evocative picture of a wife waking in the middle of the night to wait for her husband's return from his nightly habit of entertainment. From this first scene we are told volumes about her character, her motivations and given our first glimpse of the powerful patriarch that both inspires admiration and fear from every member of his family. This is a family saga, but it is also a stirring portrait of a country living under "occupation" by foreign forces and the struggle for independence that ultimately brings tragedy to the family. I can't wait to read the next two volumes and other novels by this wonderful author. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A classic novel
Review: Naguib Mahfouz's wonderful novel Palace Walk was originally published in Arabic in 1956, and not translated to English until 1990. Why the publisher waited so long to make this beautiful and sad novel available to a wider audience is beyond me. At least, better late than never!! In broad outline, this is the story of Al-Sayyid Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Cairo during and after World War I, his wife, Amina, and the lives and courtships of their several children. The novel offers profound insight into a different culture and religion. Al-Sayyid has literally a dual personality -- petty tyrant at home, with his wife and children; bon vivant and man-about-town with his friends. Because of the harsh sexual segregation in his traditional Arab home, his wife is none the wiser, but his older sons learn of first hand then come to emulate their father's lifestyle. Although the subject matter is "small" -- a middle-class family's domestic issues -- this is unquestionably a "big" book, raising issues of religion, class, gender, and integrity. Mahfouz is also a wonderful writer, and conveys his characters with humor, insight, and clarity. Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and it is easy to see why.
Rating:
Summary: The Cairo Trilogy - Between the World Wars
Review: The Cairo trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street) tells the story of a middle-class Egyptian family. The story opens during the allied occupation of Cairo during WWI and continues through Cairo of WWII when the Germans were defeated at El Alamein. Although the story can be read at several levels, the most interesting is its exposition of the lives of the family members. The father and his three sons enjoy the public life of school, work, and the clandestine life of coffee shops, bars, and brothels. The mother and daughters pass their days enclosed within a comfortable but emotionally stifling walled home and the internal life. The background of this family tale is set against the ongoing political struggles of the period, when Egypt was ruled by the British. Unless one is familiar with the political history of modern Egypt, much of this context is difficult to comprehend. Reading in English translation and in the context of a foreign culture, it is quite difficult to assess this work. I can only say that it reveals a culture and mindset which is quite foreign to me as an American reader. It is this alien atomosphere which is one of the work's main attractions. Nothing happens as one expects it to ... just like life itself. It also goes a long way to explain why the British occupiers didn't get it either. In conclusion, the writing in translation is sufficient to make us care about and suffer with the characters. Ultimately, that is reason enough to read.
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