This book is amazing on its own merits, but the circumstances surrounding my reading of the book are very fortuitous and worth mentioning. I spent the first 2 weeks of February in Chicago due to a medical emergency (not mine) and I ran out of books to read so I bought this one at Borders because it looked interesting. Meanwhile, during this time the historic events in Egypt were unfolding. As it happens, "Chicago" is a story of Egyptians in Chicago, and much of it concerns the discontent of those Egyptian citizens regarding the dictatorship. The book was first published in October of 2009, but it is perhaps even more significant today.
The author is more famous for "The Yacoubian Building" which I attempted to read and discarded before finishing. It was hard to believe it was the same author. This book is funny, sad, romantic, sexy, suspenseful, dramatic, and very interesting. The story follows several Egyptian professors at a prestigious university and several Egyptian students at that same school. Some of the characters have been in the States for 20-30 years, and other just arrived. The perspectives of each are so interesting. My rating is 4 instead of 5 only because I thought some of the characters' endings were contrived. It was as if the editors told the author that he had to close out each story without leaving any loose ends. Otherwise this was an entertaining and informative book which just couldn't be more timely.