The most recent book by this brilliant Egyptian author/dentist.
Another biting look at a cast of mostly Egyptian characters - sycophantic religious, pious Islamic, exploitative males, government cronies, western worshippers, naive revolutionary and idealists, and more.
This time, though, as the book is set in Chicago, he also gets to look at people who have turned against their own culture, characters who have tried to assimilate american values but hit a breaking point. In addition he also turns his gaze on some american characters - 60s leftist profs., academics who live and value only their area of expertise, naive westerners in search of the exotic ( also a theme in Season of Migration to the North).
This book is a big step for Aswany - his comments on human nature and on culture go beyond Egyptian society to become more universal. A kind of Decameron approach, where the caricatures and satire intersect with a bigger tradition of this genre.
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