I read this novel for one year ago!It is an amazing book with a new way of telling stories of many ppl and at the same time the story of the main character Mostafa ! Mostafa is Egyptian journalist who laughs at himself and the others in an ironic way made me laugh and love his life details with all phases! He made me cry so much though I decided in the begining to hate him! i started hating his way representing typical Egyptians who wonder around in gulf cities looking for money and at the same time making fun of he locals there. In a way, I felt he was right in many things and he gained me as if I am an old friend for him and his friend Essam ! I liked him cause he never made a judgemental evaluation of any person, any person, even the woman who slept easily with men. It describes how Egypt, is a country kicking its children to the hostility of streets or other countries. It is a novel which made mefriend again with Egyptians, understanding the real suffering they go through, and understanding how they keep living, joking and putting a smile even when the heart aches for long time. It is big inspiration! Reading this novel make u understand why u keep being friends despite major disagreement !
English I read this book in Arabic (its original language)..it was the first time for me to read for Mekawy Said , I enjoyed reading it a lot ! & could not let it down until I finished it , in the shadows I had the same feelings after I read (the yakobian building ) by Alaa Alaswany .., but the novel is totally different.
The title is a about the last song performed by a swan before its death .. so we have our narrator & protagonist ; and through observing his chaos ending life ..we see the deformation & collapsing of the contemporary Cairo ..although the events are mainly in downtown .
Through the journey of this unbalanced ..confused (can even called psycho) poet & his surroundings , we can see the political ..cultural ..economical & social life of Cairo .., we see street children , foreigners overlapping (American ..German ..Swiss ..Mexican ..Singaporean..Sudanese..etc) , a weird combination so the result is numerous various interactions!! We see Islamist .. wahabi..Sufi ..etc , strange & different types of women that each of them reflect a strong metaphor in the protagonist's life ..
The novel expresses the shocking deformation of the contemporary Egyptian society in the globalization era with an intelligent & elegant style .. My personal note is that it may be so gloomy with the death as an end , I really wish there was even a tiny light instead , because I believe in hope ,even though I have to confess it was a very symbolic end !