41 pages • 1 hour read
Alaa Al AswanyThe Yacoubian Building
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Pages 6-31 Summary
Each day, Zaki Bey el Dessouki takes an hour to reach his office in the Yacoubian Building in Cairo because he stops and greets all of his friends on the street. He is one of the oldest residents of Suleiman Basha Street, an almost folkloric figure, and his very particular mode of dress and “celebrated cigar” are a part of the natural scenery. Young men ask him about sex, while other gleefully listen to his “scabrous jokes.” Zaki Bey is the youngest son of Adb el Aal Basha el Dessouki, a former prime minister and—before the Revolution—one of Egypt’s richest men. Zaki Bey studied engineering in France, but his promising career was cut short by the Revolution of 1952 and his obsession with sensual pleasure. He loves every kind of woman, from aristocrats to beggars, and has slept with many. Thus, he believes himself an expert on sex and has many theories on the subject.
One Sunday, Zaki Bey arrives in his office and meets Abaskharon, the office servant, who recognizes subtle hints that suggest Zaki Bey is meeting a new girlfriend. Abaskharon, who had a leg amputated, cleans the office and gives Zaki Bey a vitamin injection, opium, and coffee. Zaki Bey anxiously waits for Rabab, who works as a hostess in a bar he finds particularly foul. She refused his advances for a month before finally agreeing to meet with him. Rabab arrives an hour late.
Zaki Bey’s office building—the Yacoubian—was built by Hagop Yacoubian in 1934. The building was adored, and many businesses sought to take up residence inside. On the ground floor is a garage and a shop; there are two small rooms for the doorkeeper and 50 residential apartments, each of which has a small storage locker on the roof. After the Revolution, each departing resident was replaced by an army officer. The small storage rooms become places for the officers’ servants. By the 1970s, the building was less fashionable. The storage rooms were taken over by other poor people who were not tied to the building. Soon, there was “a new community on the roof that was entirely independent of the rest of the building” (13). On the roof, children play, and women quarrel and make up. The men smoke and discuss sex in a frank manner, as do the women.
Taha, the teenage son of Shazli the doorkeeper, performs the dawn prayer in the small home on the roof. He knows that on this day, “his fate [will] be decided forever” (15) because he is interviewing at the Police Academy, the last step in a lifelong ambition. He has done everything he can but does not possess the large bribe some parents pay to help their children gain entry. He is a gifted student, and the building’s inhabitants have encouraged and mocked him in equal measure. The mocking has turned into bitterness and resentment that the lowly doorkeeper’s son should have a position of authority. Taha takes their insults in silence and has developed a number of coping tactics. When he goes to bed each night, he pictures himself in his police uniform, married to his sweetheart and living in a nice apartment. He hopes that God will answer his prayers.
On the day of his final interview, Taha has a new suit to wear. The streets are already crowded when he departs. Running early, he stops by the store where Busayna, his sweetheart, works. Afterward, he feels that something in her attitude toward him has changed. Her disposition altered after the death of her father, and he worries for their future. Taha arrives at the Police Academy.
Abaskharon’s past is shrouded in mystery. He arrived at the Yacoubian Building in the employ of Madame Sanaa Fanous, and when Zaki Bey’s former office assistant died, she insisted that Zaki Bey hire him. He did so reluctantly but was soon impressed by Abaskharon’s competence and discretion. Abaskharon has raised three daughters and cares for his younger brother Malak, as well as Malak’s family. He is very careful with his money and subtly embezzles what he can from Zaki Bey. Abaskharon’s relationship with Malak is one of “extraordinary harmony”; the two scheme together, hatching plans such as an attempt to get a room on the roof to turn into a shirt shop. On the day Zaki Bey meets Rabab, they take money to bribe the lawyer who acts as the agent for the building. They haggle and cajole the lawyer, paying less than the agreed upon sum.
Downtown Cairo was once the commercial and social center of the city, built in the style of European capitals. After the 1970s, however, the importance of the area diminished; the elite moved away, and a new wave of religiosity swept the country, reducing the availability of alcohol. By the 1980s, only a few bars remained. The owners disguised their premises and bribed officials to stay open; they promoted prostitution or manufactured their own alcohol to make ends meet. As a result, the bars that remain are violent, dirty places.
There are exceptions, however, including the Chez Nous beneath the Yacoubian Building. The Chez Nous is a few steps below the level of the street and shrouded in perpetual darkness. It became known as a “meeting place for homosexuals” (29); the owner, Aziz, is gay. He supposedly pays his bribes by facilitating homosexual prostitution through the bar. Patrons have developed their own secret language, but public displays of affection are forbidden. Just before midnight, Hatim Rasheed enters Chez Nous with a 20-year-old man. Hatim is an aristocrat, a newspaper editor, and a conservative homosexual. He introduces Aziz to the young man, a military recruit named Abd Rabbuh. Sitting at a table, Hatim and Abd Rabbuh seem to engage in a heated argument. After an hour, Abd Rabbuh smashes a beer bottle and exits the bar. Hatim chases after him. The patrons laugh.
Part 1, Pages 32-60 Summary
Busayna’s father, Muhammed el Sayed, dies suddenly in the family’s home on the roof of the Yacoubian. She planned to graduate and marry Taha, but the sudden passing of her father endangers these plans. The family is now destitute; her mother becomes depressed and bitter. On the day Busayna graduates, her mother takes her to the roof to tell her that she has found a job as a servant but cannot tell anyone lest the shame damage her daughters’ marriage prospects. She asks Busayna to also find work to support the family. Over the next year, Busayna holds many jobs. At each one, her boss attempts to seduce her, and she refuses him and then must find a new job.
These experiences teach her about her own beauty and how to use it to her advantage. Her mother and her friends believe that she must indulge her male bosses “up to a point” (35), but Busayna disagrees. Her friend Fifi finds her a job at a clothing store run by Mr. Talal. Fifi also teaches Busayna how to indulge her new boss without getting fired. On her third day, Talal pounces on her in a dark store room and rubs himself against her, soiling her dress. Afterward, as Fifi has instructed, she demands £20 from him. He gives her £10. This happens regularly, and Busayna is able to earn extra money for her family.
Eventually, however, she finds herself unable to pray as she feels unclean. She weeps unexpectedly. She stops trusting people or empathizing with them, becoming bitter. Taha’s optimism annoys her, and they begin to quarrel. Though Busayna wants to leave Taha, she cannot; she loves him dearly. When he leaves for his interview at the Police Academy, she spends the day blaming herself for being cruel to him. She waits for him to come home, but he does not show.
Hagg Muhammad Azzam owns more than a hundred expensive suits, and his red Mercedes is seen every day on Suleiman Basha. He owns two clothing stores (one in the Yacoubian Building), two car showrooms, a spare parts shop, and a great deal of real estate. He began as a migrant worker; he shined shoes, then worked in an office, and then he disappeared for 20 years. When he returned, he was rich. Rumors attribute this wealth to the narcotics trade, suggesting that his businesses are money laundering fronts. Nevertheless, he is one of the area’s most important figures.
Despite his old age, two years ago he noticed a sexual stirring within himself. Having long controlled such urges, he begins to worry. He visits Sheikh El Samman, a local spiritual leader, who advises him to take a second, younger wife. Hagg Azzam enlists his sons to help search for a suitable woman. He rejects many women until he meets Souad Gaber, a divorcee with a son who works in a department store. She beguiles him. After a lengthy vetting process, he goes to her elder brother and set out conditions for the marriage: Souad will move to Cairo from Alexandria but leave her son behind; there will be a dowry of £30,000; the marriage should be secret from everyone, including Hagg Azzam’s current wife; and he has no desire for more children. After their marriage, she notices one day that he is anxious. When asked, Hagg Azzam reveals that he intends to run for political office.
Taha exits his interview, feeling as though it was all “just a lot of acting” (45). The questions and the interviewers were exactly as he had expected, right up until the final question regarding his father’s profession. Taha lied on the form, claiming that his father was a civil servant, but the interviewers know the truth. Taha confessed to the lie and was dismissed. Taha’s mother and Busayna both try to console him, but they cannot assuage the pain of his wasted effort. Busayna tries to persuade Taha to attend college and make money abroad, as Egypt does not belong to the poor. However, she cannot agree to go with him. Taha cannot sleep that night. He lies in bed, imagining all the ways he might exact his revenge. He begins to pen a letter to the President of Egypt.
After an evening with Rabab, Zaki Bey feels ill and is awoken by a nervous Abaskharon. His gold watch and his wallet are missing; he takes an inventory of what has been stolen. Distraught, he sits on the bed while Abaskharon shuffles around on his crutches. After an initial rage, Zaki Bey accepts his servant’s help in getting dressed and then goes out into the streets.
He cannot go to the police, nor complain to Rabab’s employers. Particularly stinging is the loss of his sister Dawlat’s diamond ring. He goes to the house they share; she is angry that he has arrived home so late. He flees to his room as she chases him. Laying on the bed, Zaki Bey thinks about his sister. Her children have grown up and emigrated; her marriages have ended in death or divorce. Dawlat moved in with her brother, and they quarrel regularly. Her presence limits his lifestyle, while she projects her loneliness and grief onto her brother; his youthful womanizing only reminds her of her old age and failure. As he draws closer to sleep, he hears the key in the lock. Dawlat bursts in, demanding her ring.
Taha writes of the “injustice and the violation of his rights” (53) that he has suffered, appealing to the President to intervene.
Malak enters his new room on the roof like “a victorious wartime general […] in a happy and vainglorious mood” (54). He begins to transform the room into a workshop. While most neighbors welcome him, Hamid Hawwas (a bitter and pernickety civil servant) and Ali (an alcoholic driver) arrive and stir up trouble. They question the legitimacy of the rental contract, telling him to close his store and leave. Ali slaps Malak and begins to beat him; Abaskharon arrives, shouting, while Hamid calls the police. A young officer arrives and takes everyone to the police station.
Dr. Hassan Rasheed was “a leading figure in the law in Egypt and the Arab world” (57), steeped in Western values. He married a French woman named Jeanette, and they had one son named Hatim. Both parents were obsessed with work, so Hatim grew up lonely. He grew particularly close to a servant named Idris, to the point where the pair entered into a secret relationship when Hatim was just nine years old. Their relationship lasted for years, until Dr. Rasheed died of a brain hemorrhage and the family needed to reduce expenses. Idris’s departure affected Hatim, whose grades plummeted. His mother died two years later, releasing him from his final constraint. He was working at a newspaper and, with his inheritance, bought an apartment in the Yacoubian Building. Here, he has had many homosexual relationships but remains fixated on the idea of Idris.
Abd Rabbuh smashes a glass in Chez Nous to escape Hatim, but the two spend the night together anyway and, the next morning, Hatim showers before climbing back into bed. Abd Rabbuh wakes up and immediately worries that he will be punished by the military for his late-night excursions. Hatim gives his lover £100 to be sent back to Abd Rabbuh’s wife and son, promising to speak to a friend in the military and deal with the situation.
Part 1, Pages 61-81 Summary
Taha receives a letter from the Public Complaints Administration, informing him that his letter has been received and that his complaint has been deemed “unfounded.”
The neighbors are familiar with the sound of Zaki Bey and Dalwat quarreling, but this time it is louder and more violent. She is furious that he has lost her ring and kicks him out of the house.
Kamal el Fouli is a well-known politician. He grew up poor, became a lawyer, and then worked for a series of ideologically disparate political parties. His name has come to represent “the very essence of corruption and hypocrisy” (63). He is now secretary of the ruling Patriotic Party and accepts bribes from candidates to ensure that they are elected. As soon as Hagg Azzam decided to become a politician, he knew that he would have to deal with Kamal. At a meeting, Kamal demands a million pounds from Hagg Azzam; they begin to negotiate on the exact amount. Hagg Azzam writes a check for a million pounds. Though he pays Kamal, the competition for the Kasr el Nil constituency is fierce. Among the rivals is Hagg Abu Himeida, another millionaire business owner. Like Hagg Azzam, he has been accused of being in the narcotics trade. Furious that he has not been nominated for the Patriotic Party, Himeida runs as an independent and spends a fortune on his campaign to smear Hagg Azzam.
Taha writes an application to study at the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences of Cairo University, a faculty with a great deal of cultural cachet. He is accepted, though his cheap clothes and his father’s job make him insecure in the busy lectures. He meets a person from a rural area, Khalid Abd el Rahim, and the two become friends. The students naturally divide themselves into the rich and the poor; Taha becomes friends with many of the poor students who attend the mosque.Khalid’s religious devotion impresses Taha; they share a distaste for the extravagance of the rich students and the shamelessness of the female students. From Khalid and Khalid’s friends, Taha learns more about Islam and the crimes of the godlessness of the past Egyptian regimes. Khalid promises to introduce Taha to Sheikh Shakir.
That Friday, Taha goes with his friends to a new mosque. There are many people there, and their religiosity is palpable. Sheikh Shakir appears and delivers a sermon, espousing the importance of “gihad” and criticizing the local politicians for ignoring Islamic law. The congregation is enraptured, joining in with exultations of gihad and prayer. After the congregation departs, Taha is introduced to Sheikh Shakir in a locked room where a group discusses the security services, protests, and the upcoming war against Iraq (the First Gulf War, led by American forces). The Sheikh tells his students to bide their time and wait for an uprising of the people.
At the police station, Hamid Hawwas accuses Malak of “usurping occupancy of the room” (77), while Malak accuses his accuser of physical assault. Everyone yells, and the arresting officer grows annoyed. He keeps the arrestees overnight and makes a report; the next morning, a judgment rules that Malak may use the room, and his opponents may lodge a claim in court. Malak transforms the room and opens his store, selling shirts and doing anything else that might make him money. In his various dealings, he is always desperate for any information about anyone. He slowly begins uncovering information about Busayna, and he eventually offers her a big pay increase if she will come to work for him instead, his stare implying that he knows how she really makes her money.
Part 1 Analysis
The opening of the novel introduce the distinct narrative structure of the book. Though separated into two distinct parts, the novel is composed of a series of intertwined stories, all of which take place in and around the titular Yacoubian Building. The narrative switches back and forth between the stories; the narrative mode itself is just as interlocked as the lives of the characters. In this respect, the narrative mode of short, sharp intertwined vignettes is a clear metaphor in which the structure of the book mirrors the themes.
The first character the author introduces is Zaki Bey. A charming womanizer who is chasing his misspent youth, Zaki is one of the few characters in the novel to experience any kind of redemption. While other character arcs end in tragedy, Zaki’s arc ends with him not only finding love, but also discovering a way to combat those who are after what is left of his fortune. As such, the introduction of Zaki is important, as it establishes his current predicament. From smoking cheap cigars to chasing a string of women, he is desperately trying to recapture his youth. For decades, his life has been stuck in a loop and has provided no closure or satisfaction. The beginning of the novel functions as a foundation on which to build his character arc: For the first time in decades, his life is discombobulated and interrupted. A lover robs him, and then his sister begins to make moves against him, conspiring to take Zaki’s money and possessions. His lifestyle is under threat, and Zaki reaches his nadir, in which all the details depicted in the opening pages have reached their natural conclusion.
Likewise, the first part of the novel sews the seeds for Taha’s tragic demise. While Zaki will find redemption in the arms of a good woman, Taha will try to find acceptance through religion and will be killed in a terrorist attack. At the beginning of the narrative, Taha is an ambitious and determined young man. He has spent his entire life with one goal in mind: to become a police officer. To achieve this, he has studied the rules for acceptance into the Academy and planned for every outcome. He is let down, however, by one failure of oversight: He is too ashamed of his father’s job to tell the truth on the application form. The interviewers reveal that they know that his father is a doorman rather than a civil servant, and Taha’s chances are doomed. He loses his future, his girlfriend (ironically, the woman who later offers Zaki redemption), and his happiness. It is only by his losing everything that Taha’s decision to throw his life away can be understood. With Zaki and Taha, the narrative establishes the characters as flawed and potentially doomed, but while one avoids tragedy, the other cannot.
