Palace Walk

Cairo Trilogy Series, Book 1

By: Naguib Mahfouz, William Maynard Hutchins - translator, Olive E. Kenny - translator

Narrated by: Neil Shah

Book I of the masterful Cairo Trilogy. A national best seller in both hardcover and paperback, it introduces the engrossing saga of a Muslim family in Cairo during Egypt's occupation by British forces in the early 1900s.

©1956 Naguib Mahfouz (P)2019 Tantor

enjoyable listen

it was well written and the narrator did a great job. I look forwardnto the rest of the books in the series

Epic. Masterful Storytelling. A+

Palace Walk is a very long and beautifully narrated story about a long suffering family led by a hypocritical, bully of a father in old world Egypt.
The cast of characters are masterfully revealed over long, lilting chapters that pull us in as horrified observers. There are scenes offering us humor, sadness, pain, revolution and redemption.
I rooted for so many of the main characters and loathe a few but, none are cartoonish, cardboard characters. These are real people struggling to maintain power, position and cultural beliefs. All are flawed just like all of us.
Once you get through the first few chapters, a rhythm develops and the beauty of the story unfolds.
Mahfouz was a gifted writer, a masterful storyteller, a brilliant observer of human foibles and, he had a keen sense of authentic dialogue delivery.
Give this book a try and you will receive a rich gift that lingers well past the final chapter. A Must listen.

Faultless

A timeless story never to be forgotten, beautifully told and brilliantly performed and brought to life.

The misogyny was disturbing

It was brutal listening to how misogynistic the culture was at that time. Women were considered domestic animals.

the culture

A little over two decades have passed since I first read this book. I don't quite remember if it was the first of the author's I read or one of his works. I say this because I have read all of his works. Of *Palace Walk*, all I remembered before this reread were a few skimpy details besides the title, such as it being part of his celebrated Cairo Trilogy.

In *Palace Walk*, the author, Naguib Mahfouz, brings to life a man, a family, a neighborhood, a city, a people, a country soaked in conservative religious traditions framed around the time of Egypt's struggle for liberation and subsequent independence from the Ottoman Empire, the German rulers, and the British occupiers.

Theirs is a world in turmoil, mired in life-altering events developing at seemingly rapid speed, and through it all, the moral underpinnings of their religious zeal made the vice virtuous and vice versa. Translated from the Egyptian with lofty and precise English that enraptures, one can only marvel at the mastery of this literary giant at work.
I will no doubt reread all of his works.

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Han pasado poco más de dos décadas desde que leí este libro. No recuerdo del todo si fue la primera de las obras del autor que leí o una de sus obras. Digo esto porque he leído todas sus obras. De *Palace Walk*, todo lo que recordaba antes de esta relectura eran algunos detalles escasos además del título, como ser parte de su célebre Trilogía de El Cairo.

En *Palace Walk*, el autor, Naguib Mahfouz, da vida a un hombre, una familia, un barrio, una ciudad, un pueblo, un país empapado de tradiciones religiosas conservadoras enmarcadas en la época de la lucha de Egipto por la liberación y la posterior independencia del Imperio Otomano, los gobernantes alemanes y los ocupantes británicos.

El suyo es un mundo en crisis, sumido en acontecimientos que alteran la vida y que se desarrollan a una velocidad aparentemente rápida, y a pesar de todo, los fundamentos morales de su celo religioso hacen virtud del vicio y viceversa. Traducido del egipcio con un inglés cautivador, elocuente y preciso, uno solo puede maravillarse con el dominio de este gigante literario en su trabajo.
Sin doda releeré todas sus obras.