Publisher's Synopsis
The Memory of the Walls of Our House is a visual epic unfolding within an old, timeworn house nestled in one of Cairo's historic neighborhoods. In this poignant work, the author's pen becomes a cinematic lens, capturing the impressions etched in memory-of people and moments who bore witness to a past both near and distant. Employing the technique of filmic flashback, or sometimes weaving the past seamlessly into the present, the writer bends time and place with a fluidity rarely achieved outside the language of cinema. Yet here, that cinematic magic is fully realized in prose.
The novel opens with the echo of footsteps-heavy and deliberate-descending the staircase from the upper floor, the sound unmistakably that of military boots. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ground level, a man stands behind his apartment door, breathless, straining to listen to the approaching steps. This moment unfolds through a device known in cinema as parallel montage or cross-cutting, building a rising tension and suspense that grips the reader-until the door bursts open and the man lunges out, a knife in hand, hurtling toward the soldier. It is this confrontation that ignites the narrative and from which the story unfurls.
Each chapter begins with a flourish of literary eloquence, functioning as a voiceover that guides the reader toward what lies ahead-inviting them to step across the threshold of a new scene, a new revelation. Soon the reader finds themselves watching a cinematic reel that spans three decades of Egypt's history. The author's documentary sensibility is unmistakable, his camera-eye roaming the streets and architecture of Alexandria during the journey of Maryam and Mohannad.
The novel teems with characters-Maryam, Mohannad, Sheikh Hassan, Mansour, Alice, Raymond, Mabrouk, and Kamil-each carrying symbolic resonance, each adding depth to the narrative's tapestry, as it describes the recent events of the Egyptian turmoil from Nationalism's takeover, through cunning manipulation of the people leading to corruption and oppression, then Islamic revolution.
The Memory of the Walls of Our House is rich in implication and metaphor, prompting the mind to reflect, connect, and decipher the interplay of surface and depth-hallmarks of honest and enduring art.
Oh, the stories those walls could tell...
