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Palace Walk
Naguib Mahfouz Book Review

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Plot Summary of Palace Walk
"The Cairo Trologyk written in the years 1956-58,is a major work of the Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz. With the mystical, convoluted streets of Cairo as the background,the trilogy is divided into three novels: "Palace Walk, "Palace of Desire", and "Sugar Street".
    "Palace Walk"takes place during World War I with the story of Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abdal-al Jawad,married to Amina, and father of three sons, the amoralYasin, Fahmy and young Kamal, and two daughters, Khadija, an unattractive woman, and her younger sister Aisha, at sixteen, a beautiful, blue-eyed blond.
    At 45, Al-ayyid ahmad is still virile and handsome with hick, lack hair, blue eyes and an insatiable lust for women entertainers. His appetite for women is echoed in the escapades of his son, Yasin, who sometimes visits the same lovers.

Egypt's struggle for independence is told through the eyes of the family. The martyred death of Young Fahmy, the most promising of the sons, who is shot by a British soldier while leading a victory demonsration at the end of British occupation of Egypt."
Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Palace Walk
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story - 1900-1920's
Political/social activism Yes
Plotlet: - general liberal/left wing activism
Inside culture (main char) - Arab
Culture clash? - family young v. old guard - visiting a culture in other country
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society) - Arabic
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - artist
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 (a tremendous amount)
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Arabia
City? Yes

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of hetero sex - descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
Unusual Style: - a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books to Palace Walk
Staircase of a Thousand Steps by Masha Hamilton
The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems by R.B. Parkinson
The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz


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Naguib Mahfouz Resident Scholar Profiles

 TOP SCHOLAR:
  Matt Josey  

SCHOLARS: David Loftus  Tiziana Floretti  


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