Description

This novel revolves around Neema, a woman from a village named Nakhtai, during her last day on earth, but it doesn’t tell her story so much as that of a whole country, complete with challenging circumstances and difficult choices, from the arrival of the French in 1798 to the January Revolution of 2011. Many readers can relate to the changes occurring in Takhtai through Neema, her husband, colonel Othman Al-Fiki and her three children, Manar, Marwan and Somaya.

Neema’s decision to marry Othman over the love of her life Hamdi Badran is one key to her miserable life, the colonel being a vivid symbol of the patriarchal authority that tyrannizes her and her children. The novel thus also deals with generational conflict and historical disaffection. By these means Adel Esmat manages to eliminate the space separating the personal from the public and retell the history of modern Egypt through the intimate, relatable experiences of a typical family.

Soha Hesham , Saturday 11 Sep 2021

Ahram Online