As good as the first part
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Every bit as good as the first volume in the trilogy. Mahfouz, like all great novelists, can make you care for characters that are, when viewed objectively, quite unsympathetic.
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Second part of "The Cairo Trilogy"
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In the second volume of "The Cairo Trilogy", we follow the progress of Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad's family after the death of Fahmy in a riot against the British. After more than one year, Al-Sayyid Ahmad resumes his visits to Jalila and Zubayda. The later is to become his private mistress on a houseboat on the Nile and later Yasin's wife! Kamal is now seventeen and to Al-Sayyid Ahmad's disappointment he intends to enrol at the Teachers College. His father would wish him to become a civil servant or an engineer but Kamal is more interested in literature and philosophy. He is indeed becoming an adult and his relation with his mother Amina is changing. He feels that he has nothing much to tell her except "meaningless chatter". Another disappointment for Kamal is his love for Aïda who never quite reciprocates his feelings for her.
What makes the second volume interesting is the evolution of the Egyptian society, the rules of which begin to relax as the country inexorably adopts more Western values. These values are difficult to accept for conservative people like those of Al-Sayyid Ahmad's generation. It appears that the family values suffer most from such a modernisation and in this respect Yasin is a good example with his three marriages. Like in the first volume, the reader can expect the highest literary standards in "Palace Of Desire" by one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
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Mahfouz a Master of Characterization
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While this book could be read on it's own, I highly suggest reading Palace Walk first, as it is a sequel. The reader really needs the background from the first book to fully appreciate this one. This book opens with the father, Al Sayyid Ahmad Abd al Jawad, in middle age. He,and his oldest son, Yasin continue their romantic escapades. Kamal is hurt terribly in love. This book absolutely deverves the Nobel Prize for Literature that it won, as you really feel with all of the characters. Naguib Mahfouz is a master of characterization, and of many different types of characters. If you have read and enjoyed Palace Walk, by all means, continue with Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street (third and last of the series of three). You will NOT be disappointed.
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Mahfouz a Master of Characterization
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While this book could be read on it's own, I highly suggest reading Palace Walk first, as it is a sequel. The reader really needs the background from the first book to fully appreciate this one. This book opens with the father, Al Sayyid Ahmad Abd al Jawad, in middle age. He,and his oldest son, Yasin continue their romantic escapades. Kamal is hurt terribly in love. This book absolutely deverves the Nobel Prize for Literature that it won, as you really feel with all of the characters. Naguib Mahfouz is a master of characterization, and of many different types of characters. If you have read and enjoyed Palace Walk, by all means, continue with Palace of Desire, and Sugar Street (third and last of the series of three). You will NOT be disappointed.
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