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| Plot Summary of Midaq Alley |
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"Midaq Alley is a small, poor neighborhood in Cairo whose lives and doings are chronicled here during the Second World War. Among an array of characters are Salim Alwan, a young barbershop owner; Umm Hamida, bath attendant and marriage broker; Hussain Kirsha, a middle-aged cafe owner who ignores his wife to spend time with young men; and even Zaita, a dirty street person whose specialty is creating other beggars (even if that means breaking a limb or blinding them) and living off a portion of their take. Several males covet Umm Hamida's lovely young daughter, who is engaged in turn to several men but ends up an exotic dancer and prostitute after being sweet-talked by handsome and wealthy pimp Ibraham Faraj. Eqyptian writer Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize in 1988, presents this rich and strange milieu with calm, nonjudgmental objectivity and subtle humor. The 1947 story inspired a 1995 Mexican movie starring Salma Hayek."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Midaq Alley |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- upbeat
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Kind of romance:
- love triangle/polygon
Life of a profession:
- prostitute/stripper/porn
Inside culture (main char)
- Arab
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- Arabic
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- small businessman
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- eccentric
- deluded
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Arab
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- thief/con artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 4 (a fair amount)
Africa
Yes
Kind of Africa:
- Arabic Africa
City?
Yes
City:
- dirty, grimy (like New York)
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- male homosexuals doing their thing
Unusual Style:
- No single main character?
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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