De ja vu.....

Alaa Al Aswany is a dentist by profession but since publishing his first novel, The Yacoubian Building, he has been hailed the new Naguib Mahfouz of Egyptian literature.

Pakdokter read his second novel, Chicago, during the flight from Kuala Lumpur to London and finished it in one sitting. Not often could pakdokter accomplish such a feat but this was a reflection of what an interesting read this book was.

It tells the story of a hijab-wearing student from an Egyptian countryside who went to Chicago for postgraduate studies and fell in love with a fellow Egyptian colleague with whom physical relationship gradually developed. The book was severely criticised by Egyptian readers with extreme religious views contending that he had insulted Muslim women who wore head-scarves and had insulted Islam as well. Other characters in the book, mostly of Egyptian emigres of Chicago who have become academics at the Chicago university also gave a preview to the history of Egyptian politics, its authoritarian and corrupt establishment which affected the lives of these individuals.

Upon returning to Kuala Lumpur, pakdokter went to the usual bookshop with the hope of buying and reading the highly acclaimed first book, The Yacoubian Building. But it was sold out at that store and pakdokter found instead the newly published third book by Alaa Al Aswany which was made up of a collection of short stories compiled in the book titled Friendly Fire. It was an equally interesting read, each of the stories depicting (fictitious) personalities from different classes of the Egyptian society, exposing the corrupt, authoritarian and sometimes brutal ways of the establishment!

Not satisfied, pakdokter scoured another book-store in KL and finally managed to get hold of The Yacoubian Building.

This first book told the stories of the residents of the building, some of Egyptian Coptic backgrounds as well as Muslims who were corrupt and immoral in many ways, and in their bitter struggle to survive it was not beyond them to resort to lying, cheating or stealing, which the author revealed had not pleased some of his Egyptian Coptic friends who felt as if he was generalising that the Egyptian Copts were all corrupt and immoral.

Alaa Al Aswany stories that gave a picture of what it is like to live under an authoritarian, brutal and corrupt regime can be quite 'chilling'!

The frustrations of the oppresed lower class citizens became fodder and fertilisers to the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and militancy..........

It felt frighteningly close to home and pakdokter sincerely hopes that our beloved country will not be allowed to degenerate to the alleged condition of Egypt.