Book Review

Book Review: My Journey: The Private Memoirs of Mohamed Abdel Wahab (رحلتى: الأوراق الخاصة جدا) edited by Farouk Goweida: Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab has always been a controversial and enigmatic figure. He has been described as an obsessive-compulsive, hypochondriac perfectionist, as well as a radical (and sometimes even a "criminal"), mainly because of his penchant for "westernizing" Arabic music. He was the first Arabic composer to incorporate "Western" String instruments into his arrangements, and he was the first to introduce Rock'n'Roll rhythms into Arabic compositions. His detractors loathed him, and his fans (all around the world) adored him. To this day, he is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century, for bringing Classical Arabic Music to the attention of the world, and because of his internationalist views.

My Journey: The Private Memoirs, gives Art Buffs, musicologists, Abdel Wahab's fans, and even his detractors a chance to know his "true" opinions, and, most importantly, to really get to know the man behind some of the most important musical achievements of the past century.

Abdel Wahab, in his own words, comes off as a complicated, obsessive man, whose only true love in life was his music, which, throughout the book, he calls his "mistress." He comes off as an intelligent, progressive thinker (for the most part, anyway), whose opinions - which, for the most part, he kept to himself - range from logical to shocking. His opinion of women, for example, is sure to ruffle the feathers of feminists, and his political leanings are sure to surprise many (he calls Nasser a deceitful liar who duped the Egyptian public). But, again and again, his love and respect for his art form is the thing that truly shines through. And his undying desire to modernize Arabic music and to merge it with the European principles of "harmony" and "melody," show him to be a true genius, whose passion for music is genuine and contagious. Some of his comments, especially the ones he wrote in his final years, have proven to be prophetic, as he describes the art scene in Egypt as chaotic, fueled by the need to make money not art. He also scolds both the Egyptian Government and the Egyptian public for letting the country's artistic product decline in quality, as he calls the relationship between the audience and the artist a "symbiotic" one: one can't survive without the other.

Although many of Abdel Wahab's comments and opinions are sure to ruffle some feathers, this is a fascinating read which gives readers a rare glimpse inside the mind of one of Egypt's most important artists and, arguably, its most important musician. A must read.

Beware The Stranger: Yes, it's a novel about vampires!

It seems that my plan, to keep the nature of my novel's villain a secret, has been foiled. The novel, Beware The Stranger, has been out since last Christmas, so I guess it was inevitable. The novel's official synopsis, which is available at the novel's website and which has been printed in several Egyptian magazines and newspapers, reads as follows:

"The novel revolves around the adventures of Ahmed and Amr (both 11 Years-Old), two best friends who love horror movies, love hanging out at the mall, but only like school. But their normal lives are turned upside down when one of them receives a warning from an old beggar, a man called Am Abdo, telling him that there is a killer loose on the streets of Cairo, and whom is out to get them. A killer who might not be human, but a monster who comes out at night, looking for blood!"

Yes. I know that the mention of a monster out looking for blood sort of gives a big clue. But, you see, I didn't want it known that the main villain of the novel is a vampire. Why? Because of a couple of things, really.

For one thing, the vampire fiction of late has been mostly awful, especially vampire fiction for Young Adults. You have manipulative, unimaginative dreck like the Twilight series, and numerous stories about teens turning into vampires and becoming tortured superheroes. To me, that's not the way vampires should be depicted. Vampire stories that I loved reading while growing up, the ones that stand the test of time - like Bram Stoker's Dracula, in which the grand daddy of all vampires is depicted as a monstrous, merciless creature of the night, whose nature is sadistic and who lacks any redeeming qualities - retain an ageless ability to haunt readers' nightmares decades, sometimes even centuries, after the novel is first published, mainly because of how memorably frightening the vampires/monsters in these stories are. Although I did like some of Anne Rice's novels about the anti-hero vampire Lestat, I could only bear them in small doses, and to me, they were never really frightening (well, maybe the first novel in the saga, Interview With The Vampire, was somewhat scary and disturbing).

The vampire in my book, Nina, is a monster. She abducts women and children, and traps them to feed on their blood. She is conniving, ruthless and, beneath her guise as a woman, looks like something out of a really bad nightmare. She scared the hell out of me when I was writing the book, and, hopefully, she scared readers as well.

During my book-signing tour (Beware! The Tour), I never mentioned that Beware The Stranger was, to some extent, a vampire novel; mainly because I think it is much more than that. It is more of a dark fantasy novel than a vampire novel, but, according to readers' emails, it is scary, even too scary for some children.

After getting emails from readers telling me that the novel is, according to them, a scary, vampire/horror novel, and that that should be made clear to readers, especially since the novel is marketed toward Young Adults, I decided to do just that by writing this piece.

So, I declare that Beware The Stranger is a vampire novel. There. It's done.

So, if you are between the ages of 10 and a 110, and you would like to read a story about vampires that are scary, monstrous and might give you nightmares, instead of reading about heart-throb vampires who are torn between loving helpless maidens or drinking their blood, read Beware The Stranger, you might like it.

- Beware The Stranger is available to buy in Egypt from these stores. For readers outside Egypt, it is available to buy from from Amazon Kindle, or from the publisher.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Search (الطريق) by Naguib Mahfouz: Reviewing any piece of work by Naguib Mahfouz is a risky proposition. His work is both loved and over-analyzed; both cherished and reviled (yes, to this day, there are some people, especially Uber-Conservative Egyptians, who consider his work to be "immoral," due to Mahfouz's unflinching eye when it comes to describing some of the seedier aspects of Egyptian life). I have already attempted to review one of my favorite books of his, Midaq Alley (زقاق المدق). And I am going to try once more, with another of my favorites, The Search (الطريق).

The Search is, far and away, Mahfouz's most noirish work. The story of Saber, the son of a prostitute, who is forced, after his mother's death, to search for his absentee father, whom his mother claims is an "Egyptian gentleman" who will able to save him from an ugly life of pimping and petty-crime, is chock-full of all the main ingredients of livre-noir: The troubled anti-hero with a sordid past, the search for something elusive that promises salvation, the femme-fatale, and the overpowering sense of doom. Although Naguib Mahfouz's tales almost always have a norish bent, The Search is, arguably, his most obvious attempt at writing a piece of vintage noir. The sharp, hard-hitting dialogue, the descriptions of Cairo by night, the extremely complex character of Saber, who, throughout the tale, struggles with his own demons and penchant for violence and crime, the fast-pace, the downbeat, borderline nihilistic ending, all combine to make this a masterpiece of crime fiction, similar to the best works of James M. Cain.

A somewhat lesser-known part of his oeuvre, The Search is a fascinating novel that showcases Mahfouz at his most stylistically daring, and is a must for fans of livre-noir.

Book Review: Cities Without Palms (مدن بلا نخيل) by Tarek Eltayeb: Cities Without Palms by Tarek Eltayeb is an example of style over substance. The story (about a young Sudanese man who leaves his drought-stricken village and embarks on a journey to find money to support his family) is cliched, the plotting just about average, and the characters, although memorable, are not meticulously drawn. But its stylishness saves it. Author Eltayeb's style of prose and his superb command of pacing, turns this simple, ordinary tale into a compelling, fast-paced novella that is hard to put down once you start reading it. Also, Eltayaeb's masterful grasp of atmosphere and his ability to vividly describe a place with just a few well-chosen words, is in itself a marvel. And like all good writers, he makes it look easy, when really it isn't.

I for one can't wait to delve deeper into this writer's body of work (this is his first novel, originally published in 1992), which consists of several novels and short story collections, one of which is House Of Palms (بيت النخيل), a sequel to this novel. On its own, Cities Without Palms is a quick, enjoyable read, that promises great things to come.