I just got War in the Land of Egypt in the mail Saturday (thank God, no mail on Columbus Day!), and finished reading it this morning. It was an easy read, and pretty interesting. I liked the idea of each progressive character tell a part of the story, it was a neat way get all the perspectives without being in third person. Sometimes at the beginning of new chapters I would have to remind myself who was speaking, but after a page or two it wasn't a big deal. I also liked how the characters talked to the reader, but not that they were aware of being in a chapter in a book. It kind of reminded me of 9 Parts of Desire, but the play made it seem like you were a witness to the events, the characters didn't know that they were actually in a play. Whenever they would say something like, "As the author of this chapter..." I would become annoyed that they were taking me out of the story. For something so emotional, I don't want to be constantly reminded I am reading a book, I want to use my imagination! Isn't that what we learned on Reading Rainbow?
The story itself was quite good; original and heartbreaking, while still being relatable and at times even ironic or comical. I found myself at first understanding the umda, but then later hating him. I was astonished at the watchman for allowing his son to go in place of the umda's son, then heartbroken when I saw him struggling with his son's death and with a force larger than himself. The Friend makes us see Masri as a human being, struggling with his ideas about family, country, duty, and self. One can feel the Officer and the Investigator's stories make us feel their frustration as the powers that be rule over everyone and make the final decisions.
The government and the bureaucracy surrounding it are so ridiculous it is hard not to find comedy in it's dark topics. The satire at times drips from the pages, as we see the auther, Yusuf Al-Qa'id writing a dark critique of the Egyptian government around the time of the 1973 October War between the lines of the novel. In fact, it is mentioned on the back of book that it was banned in Egypt.
More to come.. break time!
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I was pretty much on the same emotional roller coaster as you were through the book. I will say that I didn't like the Umda from the beginning -- I knew he was a sleazeball(to use the technical term) when I saw how many wives he had and how he treated them.
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