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The Yacoubian Building

Highly acclaimed upon its initial publication, Alaa Al Aswany`s The Yacoubian Building is a mesmerising and controversial novel that is at once an impassioned celebration and a ruthless dissection of a society dominated by bribery and corruption. The Yacoubian Building -once grand, now dilapidated- stands on one of Cairo`s main boulevards. Taha, the doorman`s son, has aspirations beyond the slum in the skies, and dreams of one day becoming a policeman. He studies hard, and passes all the exams, but when he is rejected because his family is neither rich nor influential, the bitterness sets in. His girlfriend, Busayna, finds herself unable to earn a living without also providing sexual services for the men who hire her. When Taha seeks solace in a student Islamic organisation, the pressure mounts, and he is drawn to actions with devastating consequences. The Yacoubian Building follows Taha`s trajectory from innocence to tragedy. The people whose lives orbit his — the inhabitants of the building — are also facing their own difficult choices. From those living in squalid and cramped conditions on the rooftops, to the homosexual editor of Le Caire newspaper and a womanising aristocrat, all of the contradictions in Egyptian society are here. Religious feelings live side by side with promiscuity; bribery and exploitation alternate with moments of joy and elation; modernity clashes with the vision of a more ancient society. Alaa Al Aswany`s mesmerising novel provoked cries of anger and social rebuke when it was published in Egypt. Provoking, controversial or astutely realised, The Yacoubian Building is without doubt an impassioned celebration and a ruthless dissection of a society dominated by bribery and corruption.

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