The Yacoubian Building

The inhabitants of the building vary from those living on the roof in squalor to those in the luxurious but now faded apartments. They all have a story.

It’s that sort of book that is boring while you read it, but then, once it’s done, you think “ah, that was actually alright”. Fairly predictable in terms of the bigger plot events, but the interest was in the details of how it happened and came to be. I can’t exactly call it “heartwarming” because it’s a little crude and miserable, but it’s a good portrayal of the nature of life and humans being human with a backdrop of corruption and religious beliefs. Some of the dozens of names could’ve been cut out though, on the last 50 pages I was still checking my cheat-sheet to see who was who. Edit: Two years after reading this book, I remember it quite fondly.