The American University in Cairo Press has recently published Saint Theresa and Sleeping with Strangers (2010) by Bahaa Abdelmegid. Abdelmegid is a lecturer in english literature at the University of Ain Shams. He has also written The Black Piano (1997), which is a collection of short stories, and El-Zeina Mountain (2005). His most recent book is translated by Chip Rosetti.
The book includes two short stories. The first, Saint Theresa, depicts the daily lives of the residents of a small alley in Shubra after the defeat of 1967. Bodour is the daughter of a poor Christian family that immigrates from Fayoum to Cairo. She marries a talior named Girgis, who works at an atelier owned by Luka, a Jewish man and a prominent source of capital in the underprivileged neighborhood. Tempted by his money and his foreign looks, Bodour gets involved with her husband’s employer to feed her ambition to become rich.
Sawsan, on the other hand, is another resident of the alley who finishes college and works as a French teacher. She is recruited by a socialist group after falling in love with its leader. After her brother dies in the war and her significant other is captured by Egyptian intelligence, Sawsan gets dragged into Luka’s world.
The novella depicts an era of poverty, deception and depression; a time when Egypt was dealt the worst blow of its modern history. It also sheds light on the Jewish population in Egypt at that time and how it was divided into two groups: one that left for Israel and one that stayed in the country it knew best and considered its own.
Abdelmegid has succeeded in portraying an image of Egyptian society at the time, engaging with questions of politics and religion. However, the author keeps shifting between first-person and third-person narration which can become quite confusing. At times, the characters are talking about themselves, while at other times a narrator’s voice takes over.
Sleeping with Strangers is a story about the Egyptian upper-middle class at the end of 1990s, where more young men begin to explore other cultures and travel abroad looking to fulfill their dreams. After meeting his American dream girl in Egypt, Basim, one of the main characters, accompanies her to the US to get married and live out his dream.
After years of trying to blend into American society, Basim ends up in prison until he is deported back to Egypt for drug abuse and refusing to pay alimony to his divorcee. He works as an informal tour guide downtown, showing tourists around and living on commissions from bazaars and souvenir shops. Struggling with his love for women and his strong sexual appetite, he moves from one woman to another, hurting his many lovers as well as himself in the process.
The novel highlights the depression faced by young Egyptian men, the lack of freedom of expression and a conviction that dreams can only be realized outside the country. The main character feels trapped by his homeland, which he loves very much, but which ends up pushing him away.
Basim’s life seems real with its complicated details, but the way it is narrated is confusing. The narrator, Basim’s cousin, talks about himself in the second person which makes little sense in English. Some of the characters could use more color, as they often appear to the reader as names without faces.
The book is available at all AUC bookstores.
