2003
First Published
3.12
Average Rating
144
Number of Pages
“The millennial generation’s most celebrated literary achievement.”―Al-Ahram Weekly “The first glimmer of hope for a true fictional renaissance―an instantly rewarding read embraced by an unprecedented range of literary figures”―The Daily Star What is madness?” asks the narrator of Ahmed Alaidy’s jittery, funny, and angry novel. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on a journey through the insanity of present-day Cairo―in and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads, navigating the city’s pinball machine of social life with tolerable efficiency. But lurking under the rocks in his grouchy, chain-smoking, pharmaceutically-oriented, twenty-something life are characters like his elusive psychiatrist uncle with a disturbing interest in phobias. And then there’s Abbas, the narrator’s best friend who surfaces at critical moments to drive our hero into uncontrollably multiplying difficulties. For instance, there’s the ticklish situation with the simultaneous blind-dates Abbas has set up for him on different levels of a coffee-shop in a Cairo mall with two girls both called Hind. With friends like Abbas, what paranoiac needs enemies?
Avg Rating
3.12
Number of Ratings
3,046
5 STARS
15%
4 STARS
26%
3 STARS
30%
2 STARS
18%
1 STARS
13%
goodreads
Author
Ahmad al-Aidi
Author · 7 books
أحمد العايدي ، كاتب مصري من مواليد السعودية (الدمام) ،( 24 ديسمبر ،1974) روائي، وسيناريست، وشاعر، ومحرر أدبي، وكاتب كوميكس وقصص مصورة. درس التسويق بالجامعة المفتوحة. * يُصنف كواحد من كُتاب مدرسة (المنيماليزم) الأدبية ، كما يعتبر نفسه تلميذاً لأحد أشهر كُتابها الروائي الأمريكي تشاك بولانيك والذي تلقى عنه دورة مكثفة في الكتابة عبر شبكة الإنترنت.
