حدث ذات صيف في القاهرة

by Yasmine El Rashidi, أحمد شافعي (Translator)

تدور هذه الرواية في قيظ ثلاثة من أصياف القاهرة، تحكي فيها الكاتبة ياسمين الرشيدي، فتغري بما وراء الحكايات، وتعرض للسياسة فلا يعنيها إلا أثرها على البشر، وتنتبه إلى التفاصيل الصغيرة، لكنها أكثر انشغالًا بالبانوراما التي تتكون منها، ناظرة طوال الوقت عبر عيني بطلة صامتة في مدينة صاخبة، لتكشف صفحةً تلو صفحةٍ أن كلا الصمت والصخب قناع.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Egypt, Middle East, Africa, Coming Of Age, Literary Fiction

149 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

Yasmine El Rashidi is a Cairo-based writer. She is a 2015-2016 Cullman Center Fellow at The New York Public Library. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books as well as a contributing editor to the Middle East arts and culture quarterly Bidoun. She lives in Cairo and New York City.

Reviews

[PorshaJo · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, I won this book via a Goodreads giveaway. Thanks to Goodreads and Crown Publishing for this ARC copy.

I read 'A young girl in a sprawling family house. Her days pass quietly: listening to her mother's phone conversations, looking at the Nile from a bedroom window' and I was immediately intrigued. I wanted to hear more of the story of this young girl growing up and the summer in Egypt, a place that has always intrigued me. I wanted to learn more of this place and how people lived there.

The story is told in three parts by an unnamed narrator. When the girl is 6 years old, when she is a college student, and later in her life. The first part is the longest. It is done from a 6 years old perspective and I do not mean to be harsh, but it was as if I was reading a diary of a 6 year old. Very halting statements. Short, conversions that might go, he said, then I said, then he said. It was very difficult to push through to read this and I really struggled. It was *very* political. Very brief statements on Mubarak, Sadat, people disappearing, the revolution. Perhaps if I knew more of Egypt's history, this would be a more enjoyable read for me. I just felt a lot was missing.

On a good note, I give all my books that I read in print and own to my mother inlaw, who after she reads them, gives them to a church. So I hope that this book finds a home, and someone who will enjoy this one more than I did.

[Eliasdgian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Με τρεις διαφορετικές χρονικές αφετηρίες (καλοκαίρι 1984, καλοκαίρι 1998, καλοκαίρι 2014), μια (γηγενής μεσοαστή) γυναίκα αφηγείται επεισόδια της ζωής της οικογένειάς της στο Κάιρο, συνθέτοντας συγχρόνως (μερικώς) το παζλ της μεταπολεμικής πολιτικής ιστορίας της Αιγύπτου. Από την δολοφονία του προέδρου Ανουάρ Σαντάτ, που διαδέχθηκε τον Νάσερ, μέχρι την πτώση των κυβερνήσεων Μουμπάρακ και Μόρσι, κι από τον βίαιο αποχωρισμό της αφηγήτριας συγγραφέως από τον πατέρα της μέχρι την επανασύνδεσή τους τριάντα χρόνια μετά, σπαράγματα της ατομικής μνήμης της αφηγήτριας συνθέτουν το χρονικό της ζωής της, που δεν είναι ανεξάρτητο από την πολυτάραχη κοινωνική πραγματικότητα της πατρίδας της.

Τέσσερα αστέρια για τα μαθήματα (συγχρονης) αιγυπτιακής ιστορίας, δύο λιγότερα για τον ρυθμό της αφήγησης.

[Nikos Tsentemeidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Θα το χαρακτήριζα περισσότερο σαν αφήγημα. Η συγγραφέας μας μεταφέρει στην Αίγυπτο και τη σύγχρονη ιστορία της, με αναφορές στους Νάσερ, Σαντάτ, Μουμπάρακ, στις σχέσεις με τους Εβραίους.

Κάτι το οποίο δεν γνώριζα, η Ηνωμένων Αραβική Δημοκρατία, ένωση Αιγύπτου και Συρίας από το 1958 έως το 61, με πρόεδρο τον Νάσερ.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took nearly a month to read this novel even though it's under two hundred pages. The novel was gently okay to me, not bad, but at times I felt that the simplicity of the sentences covered the story in a gauzy veil of nostalgia and even sentimentality, where I wasn't engaged either in my mind or in my heart. The choice to begin the novel from the point of view of a six year old child--meaning from her actual point of view at six, not from the point of view of a wiser, older person writing about being six--made the introduction into this novel very child-like and shielded. Throughout the novel the tone was one of restraint rather than action. So you get sentences like "I gazed at Uncle and Mama that day and wondered about fate."

Also, I felt much too explained to, and in an overly simplistic way. As in:

They replay the documentary about Sadat. They show him with his wife and children. They show him meeting important people. They show him at the parade where he was killed. I was three and three-quarters when they killed him...Next they play the video of the new president, Mubarak. He was sitting next to Sadat when he was killed...

So the overall affect for me was a little bland and soporific. I should know a book isn't for me when the book blurb promises it's about "a writer considering the silences that have shaped her life." I don't care about silences. Give me more sentences.

[Yousra · Rating 5 out of 5]

لا أضع قيودا صارمة على الخمس نجمات ... لا احتفظ بها مثلا لكاتب شهير معين ولا أقارن إحساسي بالكتاب بقراءة القرآن والسنة مثلا فأقول كل ما دونهما لا يستحق الخمس نجمات ... فالتفكير في المقارنة بالنسبة إلي شيء لا يمكنني فعله وبناء على ما سبق فبكل أريحية أمنح هذا الكتاب خمس نجمات

دائما ما أتخوف من كتابات النساء ... النسوية المبالغ فيها أو البكائيات والرومانسية الزائدة أو الإسترجال المبالغ فيه فلهذا أحتفي بكل ما هو مختلف

قررت الكاتبة أن تصحبنا في ذكريات طفلة تكبر شيئا فشيئا ... في عمر أختي الوسطى هي أو اصغر قليلا ... حينما اقارنها ببنات العائلة من سنها أجدها مختلفة ... ذكية ولماحة وذاكرتها قوية ... ذكريات سياسية اجتماعية

شكرا ياسمين على ما ملأته من ثقوب في الذاكرة ... كانت الكاتبة فعلا عبر ذكريات راويتها مجهولة الاسم تملأ فراغات في رؤيتي للأحداث ... تضيف جزئيات للبازل المكون للصورة

نتشابه أحيانا في الظروف وطريقة التفكير ونختلف احيانا أكثر ... تستخدم كلمات بعض الأقرباء ... تحكي عن مواقف عشتها بشكل ما

مشكلة الكتاب الوحيدة أن الراوية تضع قناعاتها هناك دون تجميل :) لا اعلم عدد الذين قرأوا هذا الكتاب الصغير لكنني أخمن أنه سيكون له نادٍ كبير للكارهين :) :)

لا أعلم أيضا لم كتبته أساسا بالإنجليزية؟! لا اعتقد أن كثيرين من قرائها سيفهمون عن أي أحوال وظروف ومشاعر وحوادث تتكلم ... لكن عموما من الجيد الكتابة لأولئك المختلفين عنا لنخبرهم أننا هنا ونحن خارج دوائركم المغلقة فافتحوا تلك الدوائر ووسعوها

كتاب صغير ملئ بالمشاعر والذكريات :)

أعجبني كثيرا :)

[Occhionelcielo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Secco, secchissimo, come il vento che arriva dal deserto.
Chi, per qualche innocente pregiudizio, si aspettasse una narrazione finemente arabescata, impatterà su questo memoir più anglosassone degli anglosassoni.
Claustrofobico e inquietante, contiene tutti gli elementi che mi opprimono: caldo torrido, ambienti sovraffollati, stato di polizia, declino di famiglia borghese-illuminata con personaggi prigionieri delle proprie ossessioni.
Il popolo? Una massa di diseredati, mai presa in considerazione come possibile fonte di riscatto.

Ricapitoliamo: nel 1952 Nasser ascende al potere, l'Egitto conta 24 milioni di abitanti ed un ecosistema in condizioni discrete e due grandi città animate da una borghesia composita, con importanti componenti cristiane, ebraiche ed europee.
Oggi, 2018, la popolazione è quadruplicata, si sono succeduti regimi corrotti e polizieschi, si sono perse guerre e il delicatissimo ecosistema è vicino al collasso.
L'autrice ci introduce attraverso questa inarrestabile discesa, mediante le storie private dei protagonisti.
Ciascuno di essi rappresenta una particolare ideologia (monarchica, nasseriana, illuminista, marxista) ma tutti sono accomunati da un infausto destino sociale e personale.

Da leggere assolutamente per chi vuol conoscere dall'interno le primavere arabe.

[Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

الرواية دي طلعت لطيفة فعلا، وخفتها والحنين اللي في ثناياها يضاعف متعة القراءة، القاهرة عبر ثلاث عقود من الزمن المتباعدة، الثمانينات والتسعينات وما بعد 2011، ورغم قصر الرواية إلا أنها اتكلمت كويس عن كل حقبة وبتفاصيل مهمة هتفرّح الأجيال اللي عاشت في الفترات دي، واللي الكاتبة استعانت بالإحالات عوضا عن الصفحات، وإن كنت أفضل ان الرواية تكون اكبر من كدا بصراحة.

ترجمة أحمد شافعي كالعادة ترجمة رايقة ومسلية بطريقة خلت الرواية أحلى وأحلى.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.
I really wanted to like this book, really I did. I think I might have if the writing had been more than mere observation. The book spans 30 years of an unnamed narrator's life, but I never really felt as though I got to know her. I knew her routines and the people in her life, but I never truly understood her or her opinions on the life she was forced to lead. She seemed ambivalent to everything happening around her. And call me crazy, but if the character doesn't care about anything happening to her, I don't either. The ending really resolved nothing and seemed to make a point that some things never change.
The writing was okay. I usually strive to be a little more eloquent than “okay”, but that's the word that comes to mind. It was purposefully unemotional and to the point, bordering on boring. When I began reading, I had hoped that the lack of description was just in the first third of the book, when she was young. However it continued throughout the rest of the book and only really difference in each of the three decades was the size of the words and the mentions of certain technologies.
Overall, not really my cup of tea but I don't regret reading it either. It was an interesting read but one I wouldn't really recommend.

[Carol Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yasmine El Rashidi, an Egyptian writer and editor, tells what it has been like living in Egypt under its various regime changes.
The narrator is a girl who grows to be a young woman. It's hard to tell to what extent the book is autobiographical.
She grows up in a family that used to be aristocratic before the overthrow of the monarchy and still has more money than most people. Most of the talk is about politics. Her father apparently was imprisoned for his politics, which seems to be "no one since Nasser is any good." (For those who don't know, Nasser was a leader of Egypt who became a leader of the nonaligned world and died in 1972.)
Her cousin is a Communist who criticizes her for wanting to make films rather than focusing on activism. Then he wants her films to be more overtly political.
The narrator sees political developments from a slight distance, though it is almost impossible for her to avoid the uprisings of the current decade.
I liked the book. I knew about the political developments, but the book provided atmosphere and a view into the hopelessness that many Egyptians feel.

[Mohammed Morsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. A journey into the life of an educated Egyptian under the various regimes that Egyptians had during the last few decades. In the first part, the narrative is written through the eyes of a 6 yr old which means you have to to understand the world of the adults. If you don't know the modern history of Egypt it's a good time to read up it reading this book. The book is not only about Egypt. It is also about realising one is living in a dictatorship, albeit one that allows certain freedoms for those who can afford them.
I didn't give the reader 3 stars because the story itself is real and captivating, thus the 4 stars. However the narrative doesn't change much and goes through the book in a monotonous tone. Perhaps this worked for the author in an attempt to distance herself but perhaps a more personal approach would have been more powerful. And perhaps that wasn't even possible or the cost of that too high. That's what I was left thinking.

[Ghada Al-shakrabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

بداية عنوان الكتاب يبدو جذابًا وغامضًا. يفتح لنا باب أسئلة من قبيل: ما الذي حدث ذاك الصيف؟ وأيّ صيفٍ هو المقصود؟ أراه عنوانًا مُبهمًا لا يُبيّن القصة وراءه وهذا في حد ذاته شيء مثير للفضول. موضوع الكتاب هو ثورة جمال عبد الناصر ومن خلفه في تسلم دفّة الحكم، وما آلت إليه الأمور من بعد الثورة، تبعاتها واغتيال السادات وغيرها من الأحداث والشخوص التي برزت في تلك الفترة.

في هذه الرواية، الكاتبة تروي سيرة عائلة مرتبطة بسيرة الوطن، تحكي وتسجّل ما رأته بعين الطفل بطريقة حيادية. تمنح ياسمين الرشيدي لقارئها عبر بطلتها كل الإشارات والرسائل التي ترغب في إيصالها، كرأيها السياسي في مبارك وعصره مثلًا. بما أن الرواية مقسّمة لثلاث فصول كل منها صيف في عام معين، أرى البناء النفسي للبطلة كالتالي: في الصيف الأول صراع يتطور في عقل طفلة صغيرة في بداية الرواية، عن الممارسات الظالمة لرأس السلطة، ينمو سريعًا لأسئلة غزيرة تطرحها عن معنى الثورة. خلال الصيف الثاني بدأت شيئًا فشيئًا تظهر تساؤلات في رأس الطفلة التي أصبحت ذات أربعة عشر ربيعًا، عن أفكار مثل: الرأسمالية الأمريكية التي غلبت الوطن واستحوذت فضاءاته. في الصيف الأخير تمضي في حيادية الطفولة التي جاء بها سياق الصيف الأول لتبرز المناقشات التي كانت تنتقد عجز الدولة عن إنقاذ مواطنيها الأقباط، إزاء هجمات المتطرفين على دور العبادة.

باستخدام تقنية اللقطات السينمائية، تحكي بلغة سردية رشيقة غير متكلفة، قصة مخبئة في ثنايا عقل البطلة منذ كانت طفلة لم تجاوز الرابعة، طفلة واعية تتأمل في تعليمها الغربي، وتعيش مع أمها المنفصلة عنها عاطفيًا وغياب والدها غير المبرر. تقول ياسمين عن السياسة بأنها "في مقدمة وخلفية كل شيء، ومع ذلك ليست شيئًا يمكن أن يتأثر بأي شكل من الأشكال"، تتأمل الرواية، وفي النهاية تطرح السؤال المركزي للرواية: "هل صمت الموضوعية وكون الشخص مراقبًا، شاهدًا، هو الحال ذاته لو كان متواطئًا؟" لا يخبر "صمت الموضوعية وكونك مراقبًا" الجوهر الأخلاقي للرواية فحسب، بل أيضًا أسلوبها، الذي تم بناؤه بعناية للتأكيد على الموضوع السياسي للكتاب. تسجل الرشيدي تاريخ بلوغ الراوي السياسي مع ضبط النفس البسيط. يبدو أن نثرها، مصمم لمحاكاة الإحباط الذي تصفه بالجيل "المهزوم"، وبذلك، إعادة تمثيل تطور الأدب العربي بعد حرب 1967، عندما "كان كل شيء مجرد للأساسيات، عارية، مفرغة."

تصور الرشيدي المدينة وسكانها بعين تُحسد عليها لحصولها على التفاصيل المدهشة لزوايا مدينتها، وتوضح بدقة ثقافتها الملونة وتستخدم بمهارة تقدم المدينة على مدى العقود ليعكس التاريخ السياسي للبلاد. أثناء قراءتي للرواية مرّت بخاطري الكاتبة رضوى عاشور رحمها الله، أعتقد لتشابه أسلوبهما السردي في كتابها "أثقل من رضوى: مقاطع من سيرة ذاتية"، حيث تصف الحدث السياسي بدقة ثم تتوقف لتحكي حدثًا قديمًا بعيدًا عن الموضوع وترجع بعد قليل تكمل ما بدأت به. تمثل الرشيدي من خلال روايتها، الحياة في ظل نظام فاسد سياسيًا باعتباره مستهلكًا للجميع، غير أنه حجة معقولة تقيد روايتها. في نهاية المطاف، إن التزام الرواية الذي لا يتزعزع بتعليم القراء على تاريخ سياسي يمتد لعقود يحد من إمكاناته الإبداعية كعمل خيالي. وبالرغم من ذلك، تقدم الرشيدي صورة مدركة بشكل حاد ودقيق بحكمة للثقافة المعقدة في مصر. في أقوى حالاتها، ترسم روايتها لحظات من التوقف والوضوح والتي تسكت السياسة لتسليط الضوء على العزلة الشخصية التي، في النهاية، هي أكثر الآلام إيلامًا لجيل "خُدع من الحياة".

بعض المشاهد أثّرت فيّ حقا، كمشهد تحكي فيه البطلة:
"ولما سألت ماما لماذا هي غاضبة هكذا، أخذتني إلى الشباك وقالت لي تفرّجي. شارعنا طويل وممتلئ بالشجر، فيه شجرة واحدة فقط ذات أزهار بنفسجية لكن أزهارها قليلة. شجرة الجاكرندا، نتعلم في المدرسة أن البريطانيين جاءوا بها إلى مصر ليجعلوا شكل مصر أجمل." أرى بأن هذا الاقتباس يُمثل استهزاء المستعمر بجمال ووقار البلاد التي قدم إليها مُبتغيا الاحتلال.

بصدق، لقد حزّ في نفسي أن تكون ثورة جمال عبد الناصر التي سمعت ولا زلت أسمع عنها، بكل هذا الظلم والاستبداد. ربما لأنني قرأت عنها من جانب واحد حتى الآن، وهذا ما يجعلني أود معرفة المزيد لأتبيّن موقفي. والرواية لا تختص بفترة عبد الناصر فقط، بل تروي على امتداد طول الفترة الزمنية من أيام نكسة 1967 حتى 2014 ما يعني حوالي نصف قرن من البؤس.

أُحَيي الكاتبة على جمال أسلوبها الآسر وترجمة أحمد شافعي.🌟🌹

[PennsyLady (Bev) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chronicle of a Last Summer: A Novel of Egypt (Jun 28, 2016)
by Yasmine El Rashidi

Our narrator is unnamed and this debut novel recounts three critically important summers—1984, 1998, and 2014—spent in her family's Cairo home.
Her name isn't necessary. because we're speaking of the consciousness of her generation.

We begin our view of Egypt through the eyes of a six year old in 1984.
This then proceeds as her personal familial history and a continuing vivid account of the political arena unfold.
Her personal coming of age is intertwined with turbulent political transformations.
The final segment, the aftermath of the overthrow of Mubarak, she continues to thoughtfully consider, as the author describes, the"silences that have shaped her life."

I left the novel feeling uneasy but more knowledgeable about those who had experienced this period of Egyptian history.

Perhaps, for those of us accustomed to freedom, this read should be a requisite sojourn into history.

My copy is an ARC received from LibraryThing.
Publication date is set for June 28 2016. 3.5 ★

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consigliatissimo!!!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully and in a way simply written, this powerful novel washed over me. It was a sensory experience with snapshots of how the narrator takes in life around her. We see through her eyes political and civil unrest, the beauty of her city and culture and most touchingly, the love for her family.

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

There isn't a language for what we are living. 79

This would be the language of chronic trauma, as universal as it is unspeakable.

With austere lyricism and meticulous detail, YER gives a sober account of the strange lassitude at the heart of the turbulent years that marked her coming of age in Cairo. Not one last summer, but three lost summers, turning points for a curious and wary child, woven in with the dramatic history of the modern Egyptian nation.

What were the chances of anyone surviving here, and even if they did...the chaos, the nonchalance-showed the value of a life in a country unable to accommodate or contain those it already hosts....This is the type of bureaucracy so far gone there is no one left to argue with, no one to turn to for grievances. p167

It may have been a toxic combination of fear and regret that extinguished the warmth of her mother, who remained an enigma rather than a source of comfort. Her transformation to community activist is never fully explained, but perhaps she was inspired by her daughter, who quietly went about designing her own life while still being attentive to those in need.

I felt deceived too, cheated out of a life , but I wasn't sure why, or what. p81

Of all her observations, it is the obscured view from her window, once open to the lushness of the Nile River across from their house, that emphasizes the insidiousness of the changes the city has endured. In the opening section, in 1984 when she is six:

There were people rowing boats in the morning. You could see them through the fence along the river. When mama was little there were no fences. She would take her book and beach chair and walk down to the water. She would sit reading with her toes dipped in . The Nile was blue. Then it became green. Mama would never dip her toes in now....p21

Practically inaccessible, by 2014 the banks of the Nile were smothered with layers of barriers, the loss more piercing than the fading away of childhood, which is after all inevitable.

Is the silence of objectivity and being a witness, the same as complicity? p152

By articulating her experience, YER manages to chart another way, and by her objective witness the chain of complicity is broken.

May the banks of the Nile recover their fecundity.

[Kathryn Berla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate it when people say "I really wanted to love this book but it fell short" but that's exactly how I'll start this review. I suppose I was hoping for a modern version of "The Cairo Trilogy" by Naguib Mahfouz, which is really saddling a novel with too high expectations. For that reason, I'm giving it a 3.6 which I'll round up to 4.
The book held my interest although the choppiness of the writing in the first third made it very difficult at times to read. I know the author was trying to mimic a child's thought process by doing that. I just didn't care for it.
I also had difficulty with vague references that made me stop and try to figure out what was actually happening. I tend to prefer novels where things are clear, and interpreting the action behind the words doesn't seem like such a tough job.
But I did truly like this novel in spite of what I've just said. The author shows a great deal of promise and I'll be watching out for her in the future.

[☕Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very well written but I think it would have made more of an impact on me if I had a better understanding of Egyptian political history.

Ratings:

Writing 4
Story line 3
Characters 4
Emotional impact 3

Overall rating 3.5

[Georgiana 1792 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un romanzo autobiografico di reticenze, e di una bambina che fa troppe domande perché vorrebbe poter comprendere cosa sta accadendo al proprio paese, alla propria famiglia. Dopo l'estate del 1984, che sconvolge tutto per lei (il padre va via misteriosamente e nessuno è disposto a dirle perché), Yasmine farà meno domande, ma ciò non le farà ottenere più risposte. Il suo Egitto sta cambiando sempre più, e non è facile per lei, donna con una forte curiosità e con dei progetti artistico-giornalistici, riuscire a esprimere ciò che non si riesce a comprendere, perché tutto cambia da un momento all'altro.
Tutto quello che abbiamo sempre visto sparirà. Qualunque cosa rechi tracce delle storie passate. Era il lascito che la mia generazione avrebbe ereditato, un lascito di distruzione e perdita. Era triste per la situazione in cui ci ritrovavamo. Tadmeer. Tadmeer. Significava distruzione.
Fino a quando, nell'estate del 2014 (quell'ultima estate), dopo gli scontri del 2011 che hanno portato l'adorato cugino Dido in prigione e hanno segnato il ritorno del padre, il suo documentario, il suo film, diventerà questo libro, un libro che lascia un sapore di incertezza nell'anima.

[Josie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I staggered my reading of this book, therefore it possibly didn't have the impact it would have had I given it a little more focused attention.
Told in three parts by a girl at 6 years old, at college, and then in her later years. Overall I found this short novel of under 200 pages, a little "too brief" in detail to give the reader a good understanding of Egypt's history and the events the book touches on.
The book overall failed to fully engage me, and didn't leave too big of a lasting impression.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

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I was captivated from the start. The intricate political views and opinions from the inside, the pauses of ambiguity contributed to my fascination. Purely political driven, conflicting views create interest.

Having a privileged young girl serve as narrator as she comes of age including her politics is insightful. She's observant, knows when not to ask questions, a sponge soaking in all she hears, sees and is told, she is aware of much more than realized. Not easily influenced as her cousin Dido discovers.

A country and its people changed through the revolving door of power, politics and imprisonment. How life is in a constant state of flux and the days of permanence missed. You definitely feel as if you're looking from the inside out, a privy intimate glimpse into the political upheaval of this complicated and controversial country through the eyes of a young girl cum young adult.

[Tara Rock · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-1/2 Stars. Very informative as the story is told in stages from child thru adulthood by a young woman. I certainly have more knowledge of Egypt and the country's cultural and political events. Well done.

[Rachel León]

A short but lovely literary novel about three different summers, all set in Egypt. It's quiet and well written.

[Carey Calvert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became aware of Yasmine El Rashidi's 2016 novel, Chronicle of a Last Summer: A Novel of Egypt, through the novelist Claire Messud's autobiography, Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write.

Messud described Rashidi's slim novel as "deceptively quiet."

"Out of the window I see a small cloud. We never have clouds. I wish I could catch it and keep it."

The book's three sections relate the events of a different summer for the unnamed narrator - 1984, 1998, and 2014; although other summers are included, wherein the term "last" could just as easily mean the "last summer with my father."

I finished reading Kant's Little Prussian Head in January and knew I had to read El Rashidi's Chronicle before year's end so I could continue to ride this wave of Messud's philosophical bent of immersion. In this case, immersion into a different culture. To my wayward American eyes, it appears one of repression; yet we are all repressed in some form. Maybe our ideas of freedom, somewhat more.

... and not necessarily in the patriotic sense.

To explain our emptiness, "we are too passive ... and have the capacity neither for revolution or for love," says a character in El Rashidi's Chronicle.

A kind of devastation.

Messud spoke further of El Rashidi's "effort ... to suffuse the present with the past to convey the way in which a walk through Cairo and the purchase of vegetables are acts filled not only with vivid present detail but also with echoes of historical and political significance."

"An entire nuanced world emanates from these apparently offhand recollections."

In Chronicle of a Last Summer, there are bold, familial revolutionary ties, that at once clash with the culture that are in fact the culture.

"It's in the genes."

But nobody ever mentions Egypt. People don't talk about the status quo even though everyone yearns for change.

Sounds familiar.

[شيّماء الموت · Rating 3 out of 5]

نعيش هنا الصيف في القاهرة خلال ثلاثة عقود من الزمن ، صيف الحرب والثورة والانقلابات .. كان كتابًا خفيفًا على القلب ويناغي بعض الأفكار التي أحب في عقلي أو بعض الذكرى الجميلة ، لكني أحسست بأن هناك احساس ناقص ، ولا زلت للآن أتسائل ما هو ؟ ..

"قال بابا أن الفرق بين الأحياء والموتى يكون في بعض الأحيان بسيطًا للغاية "

" إنه عمومًا أحسن أن لا يعرف المرء أكثر من اللازم "

" يقول أن الفن هو ما يبقيه على قيد الحياة ، ويبث فيه الطاقة فيستمر "

[Ginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking Bildungsroman of a person growing up in that fascinatingly scary place, Egypt. I would really like to travel there some day, but not right now. Check out some of Yasmine's journalism.

[Islam Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

مقتطفات من الذاكرة ، أحداث عامة عشناها وأحداث خاصة عاشتها الكاتبة كتبت بعذوبة وسلاسة كما يجب أن تكتب الذكريات. بدون رثاء أو تمجيد ، فقط وصف لما كان وتصور لما قد يكون. تعاطفت مع الكثير من الأحداث ولمست فيا الكثير من الذكريات والمشاعر.

[Collezionedistorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

La protagonista di questo romanzo è dapprima bambina, poi studentessa universitaria e poi adulta, intenta a girare documentari e a scrivere un romanzo, rimasta per tutta la vita insieme alla madre nella elegante casa di famiglia.
Attraverso i suoi occhi vediamo l'Egitto ed i suoi cambiamenti nell'arco di trent'anni e di tre estati: quelle del 1984, del 1998 e del 2014. L'Egitto si trasforma in questi trent'anni, passando da un Paese reduce della decolonizzazione ad uno dove si avvicendano le dittature, i grandi progetti, le rivoluzioni e le repressioni.
Della protagonista non conosceremo mai il nome, così come non conosciamo quello dei suoi genitori ai quali fa riferimento chiamandoli semplicemente Mama e Baba. Quest'ultimo si è arruolato volontario per combattere contro l'esercito israeliano, per non fare più ritorno a casa; Mama invece è una donna legata all'epoca coloniale, che desidera che la figlia frequenti la scuola inglese del Cairo e che considera la religione ed i suoi simboli un fatto da riservare alla sfera privata.
Man mano che cresce, la ragazza coglie sempre di più l'importanza della politica e del risentimento che cova sotto la cenere dell'apparente tranquillità; diventa una studentessa di cinema, lascia che il cugino Dido le spieghi cosa le accade attorno. E ciò che accade sono le rivoluzioni, le torture per mano della polizia, i giovani che spariscono uno dopo l'altro, in una costante ripetizione delle fasi della storia, che sembra incapace di portare in Egitto un vero e proprio cambiamento.

Yasmine El Rashidi è una giovane autrice egiziana che nel suo romanzo non dà nome alla protagonista perché possa rappresentare una generazione intera, quella che ha animato la rivolta del 2011, quella che si è vista scorrere accanto, Presidente dopo Presidente, sempre la stessa corruzione, gli stessi fallimenti, la stessa propaganda.
Sono molti i silenzi della voce narrante, molti gli elementi che sceglierà di non raccontare mai, prima tra tutti la ragione della prolungata assenza del padre, che definisce spezzato al suo ritorno. Ciò che la protagonista ci racconta è avvolto dalla nostalgia, da un senso di malinconia che pervade l'intero romanzo, privo di qualsiasi slancio di ottimismo o illusione; l'atmosfera che incombe sulla casa della ragazza e di sua madre, segnata dai lutti e dalle perdite, è tutt'altro che accogliente e rasserenante.
L'Egitto emerge prepotente da queste pagine, descritto nei suoi abitanti e nei suoi paesaggi, nello scorrere del Nilo, nelle architetture che si modificano, nelle strade sempre caotiche, nei mezzi pubblici troppo affollati; dalle pagine emerge il profumo del cibo, la dolcezza dei manghi, il pungente delle spezie; emerge un affresco vivido ed immaginifico, in contrasto con l'emotività dei personaggi che rimane in qualche modo sommersa, sempre controllata.
Non si tratta di una lettura semplice e scorrevole: nonostante sia un romanzo breve e suddiviso in capitoli, richiede un certo sforzo da parte del lettore, richiede a mio parere soprattutto un profondo interesse verso la tematica principale, quella della storia dell'Egitto negli ultimi quarant'anni. Gli appassionati di politica dei paesi arabi in particolare saranno conquistati da un ritratto dall'interno di un Paese assai complesso, attraversato da tumulti e schiacciato dalla repressione, nel quale la generazione dei trentenni di oggi si trova ad affrontare la tortura ed il carcere per aver manifestato la propria opinione e nel quale le sparizioni sono purtroppo all'ordine del giorno. Quello che il romanzo dell'autrice ci mostra in profondità come nessun articolo giornalistico potrebbe fare è il senso di perdita e l'acquisizione di consapevolezza che la generazione della protagonista (e della stessa scrittrice) si trova a vivere, ed è a mio parere il punto di forza del suo libro.
L'ho trovato una lettura estremamente interessante, che ha arricchito la mia conoscenza su un'area del mondo che è stata al centro della mia formazione universitaria; tuttavia lo consiglierei soltanto agli amanti degli autori arabi, per il suo stile molto asciutto caratterizzato dai periodi estremamente brevi, e per via della centralità della situazione storico-politica che rende i personaggi simbolici e marginali nella loro individualità.

La recensione la trovate anche qui: http://collezionedistorie.blogspot.it...

[Penny Schmuecker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve recently read a couple of books dealing with the Arab Spring, the democratic uprisings that took place in between 2010 and 2012 in various countries throughout the Middle East. Middle Eastern politics is intriguing to me although I am a novice when it comes to understanding all the parties and groups who play such important roles in a part of the world that seems to be in constant turmoil.

When I received an ARC of Chronicle of a Last Summer: A Novel of Egypt, I was excited to read about the uprisings from a rare source—a female. The book actually begins in 1984 and is told in three parts by a six year old girl. When the book begins, her father has recently disappeared and no one talks about where he is or what has happened to him. Her mother seems withdrawn and uninterested in raising her daughter so the girl is left without any explanations or discussions of the things she sees going on around her. A new president, Hosni Mubarak, has just come into power following the assassination of Anwar Sadat, and even within her own family, there is some dissension about what and who is best for the country.

In the second part, the girl is about 14 and her mother is still withdrawn. The young girl has connected with her cousin who begins to instill in her some of his ideas about democracy, rebellion and the state of the country. Yet still nothing...only complacency. At this time she is studying filmmaking and finds few people who will discuss the country's politics with her for fear of government reprisals.

Part three brings the return of her father and the imprisonment of her cousin. The mother and father don't speak to each other and don't live together. The narrator has become a writer and she continues to watch how the politics in her country are playing out but there is still no involvement on her part. She watches events take place from a distance.

I'm not saying that this book isn't interesting--it is, but not on the level that I thought it was going to be. In a tumultuous time, there seems to be nothing that happens with any of these characters. Maybe that is the point--everyone thinks something should change but no one can do anything about it. They are powerless. Part of my dissatisfaction with this book might be that, as a Westerner, I'm not familiar enough with the leaders and the different factions. The politics just didn't translate well. Without an explanation of who these groups are or what they represent, it was difficult to understand the implications of a particular party coming into power and the closer I got to the end, I just didn't care. It read like a journal so it was very readable but it left me feeling dull like most of the characters.

Thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading an advance reader copy.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dreamy, thoughtful novel about an unnamed girl who seems to strongly resemble author Yasmine El Rashidi, growing up in the years 1984-2014 in Cairo, Egypt. It's divided into three sections with each section drifting through a summer in 1984, 1998, and 2014 respectively. Throughout, the narrator observes the world changing around her.

Her family, a formerly wealthy and prominent one, has come down in the world just as Egypt has fallen to political instability, corruption, and uncertainty. Her father has disappeared--it's not explained how or why until the end of the book, when she's an adult. As a child she only knows he's gone, and her mother is tense and withdrawn, sleeping most of the day. Her older cousin and uncle encourage her to think politically, but by the time she's a teenager it's clear that she doesn't want to be an activist, but an artist.

She wants to makes movies about the people around her, and specifically what makes them tick. Are they angry? Does it make them angry to live in a corrupt, embattled city--a place where the police can make anyone disappear, where the laws are unjustly and unfairly enforced, where secret police infiltrate everyday life, where gay and lesbian people are persecuted, where women are increasingly, insidiously forced to wear the veil, where the call to prayer echoes all day, every day? Or are they just weary? What do people expect, and what are they willing to do to make change happen? Are they even happy, in some ways? Do they just want to stand in a record shop and listen to music and discuss for hours whether the song they're hearing is an original or a bootleg, because the beloved singer's voice would never have cracked like that, at her most famous performance?

The final section of the book is set a few years after the Arab Spring in Egypt--it was 2011 when millions gathered to oust President Mubarak in Tahrir Square. The narrator is a woman now, writing a book and pondering the same questions as she navigate the post-revolutionary world. In some ways it looks a lot like the pre-revolutionary one (except now the taxi have meters in them.) Her father has returned from prison, and her uncle has died. Her cousin is becoming increasingly radical and disillusioned--his fate seems uncertain. Her mother, on the other hand, has woken up from her decades of sleep and has become an energetic, leafleting activist. Are they angry? Happy? It's impossible to say.

There's a line early in the book about the narrator, as a girl, choosing a mustard color for her bedroom walls, which dried darker than it started out. That comes up toward the end as well--things get darker over time. We start out flexible, then get more rigid as we age, then mellow again, if we're lucky. Sometimes we forgive. Sometimes we don't get the chance. The world keeps turning.

[Chadwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yasmine El Rashidi's quiet and dreamy first novel is a story of Egypt's lost generation: those who were “cheated out of a life.”

El Rashidi tells her story through the eyes of a young woman in Cairo during three crucial summers of her life: 1984 (when she is six years old), 1998, and 2014. With each part, the author effectively changes the tone and style of the narration with the changes in her character's life and the volatile changes in Egypt itself. So, despite what could have been jarring gaps of time, the voice in each part emerges as authentic and believable, and the parts fit together seamlessly.

This is a novel about what we know and choose not to know; what we talk about and what is left unsaid; what we try to forget and what comes to us in our nightmares. Is her father dead, or has he disappeared forever into the hellish prisons for the regime's "enemies," or is he in exile in Switzerland? And likewise for all the other friends, family members, and neighbors who disappear. She quietly evokes the terror and uncertainty of life under the dictatorship, which makes her depiction all the more chilling.

It's also a novel about the absurdities and tyrannies of life in a totalitarian system. We see street peddlers arrested for improper permits, inane temporary beautification projects, tedious and sanitized state TV, informers, and ubiquitous corruption. We see silence and resignation. But we also see the passion, resilience, and sense of community that even a dictatorship can't extinguish. Despite the obvious dangers, political and religious opposition flourishes, culminating in revolution.

One of the best things about this novel is the vivid portrayal of Cairo: its sights, sounds, smells, tastes. The author's prose is full of wonderful imagery, and the city truly comes alive. And the changes in the city over time mirror the changes in the narrator's age and life. This works very nicely.

This is a short novel, but the pacing is confident and the story never felt rushed to me. El Rashidi writes with nuance and wit, and there are occasional moments of dark comedy.

(Thanks to Tim Duggan Books / Crown for an advance copy via a giveaway. Receiving a free copy did not affect the content of my review.)