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Rating: 
Summary: Unique window into Arabic culture and Arabic weltanschauung.
Review: I do consulting in the refining and petrochemical industries and have, as a result, struck up several friendships with Arabs and Arab-Americans working in those facilities. Once I asked several acquaintances if there were are well-regarded Arab writers with good English translations available that could help me as an American better understand the modern Arab experience and worldview. Several recommended The Cairo trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street) by Naguib Mahfouz. It covers a time period that would provide an excellent overview into 20th century Arab experience both politically and socially, especially vis-Ã -vis Arab/Western interaction. It is a family saga and therefore provides a good view of modern Arab family life and the affects modernization has had on it. It's urban setting and action would be more familiar to Americans than a more rural tale. The books are written from a genuinely Arabic sensibility language-wise-a sensibility not overly degraded by translation. And, finally, it would be a "less difficult" introduction to Arabic culture than other possibilities. It should be noted that "less difficult" is not that same as "easy" or "easier". This marks an important distinction, one underscored by these books. Arabic language, society and sensibilities are colored much more by nuances and multiple permutations on a few basic themes than is true in Western society. Naguib Mahfouz is a Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian novelist who adeptly and adroitly captures these nuances and evokes a genuine feel for-if not true understanding of-their intrinsic roots within the Arabic weltanschauung. Clearly, based on the reviews to date for this book, there are many who have difficulty with this dynamic. These are the folks who probably are unable to split hairs and see the distinction between "less difficult" and "easier". If you are that sort of person I have to say quite honestly that you are going to be both frustrated and bored by this book or any of the series. If you are the sort who relishes a challenge, truly wants to try to get a feel for and understand Arabic social and political views and don't mind putting a bit of effort into that undertaking, you will find reading any or all of these books a rewarding experience indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: The conclusion and final disintegration of the formerly powerful patriarchal family. Brings one through the third generation of tradegy, loss, and spiritual transformation and leaves almost every individual in misery. I enjoyed the first and final books in this trilogy and feel I came away with a better understanding of the conflicting forces at work in Egypt as well as the impact of culture and morality on individual actions and spirituality.
Rating:
Summary: Breaking free of colonialism
Review: This is the last installment of the Cairo trilogy, a saga spanning several generations of a family in Egypt during the first decades of the 20th century. Of the three books "Sugar Street" is the most political with the pace moving very quickly, there are time periods of about a year and more between most chapters. After an intimate look into a Cairo family's life in Book 1 and Kamal's total stagnation in Book 2, caught between feeling and tradition versus rational thought and science, here there is much action in the outer world and larger political life. The three grandsons grow to maturity in a time when Egypt is breaking free of colonialism. One is a member of Muslim radical fundamentalist brotherhood, another a communist and the other, well...he too has followed his own path away from family tradition. The Cairo trilogy and especially Book 3, Sugar Street can offer a great deal of insight into how attitudes in the Mid-East have been shaped.
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