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Naguib Mahfouz is considered the dean of Arabic writing and won the Nobel Prize for his body of work. His novella Karnak Cafe takes a reader back to revolutionary Egypt where the seeds of events of today were sown. Set over the course of twenty years in a cafe in Cairo, Karnak Cafe shows Mahfouz' views of the revolutionary period.

Prior to the 1952 revolution, Cairo was a jewel of a city rivaling Paris. Yet, with the political upheaval, westerners fled the city and the environment changed. It is in these circumstances that the narrator introduces the reader to the Karnak Cafe. Run by former belly dancer and famous actress Qurunfula, the cafe is both a meeting place and salon where political ideas are exchanged. The young idealists flock there in order to catch a glimpse of Qurunfula, setting the stage for turmoil that occurs to them over the next fifteen years.

On three separate occasions, three of the regular cafe customers are taken by the revolutionary police. Qurunfula is clearly shaken because she is enamored with one of the students named Himli. The other two students, Ismail and Zaynab, have been in love since they were small children and, in disregard to traditional customs, pledged to marry upon graduating from the university. Yet, the torture they underwent while being imprisoned left them disillusioned. Mahfouz shows how Qurunfula, Ismail, and Zaynab and their changed ideology represent pre and post revolutionary Egypt as a whole.

As an American I found it interesting to hear about Egyptians perceptions of both the United States and Israel. Reading this novella is not going to change my own ideology; however, reading of both the 1952 revolution and 1967 war, one can see how these events set the stage for what is happening now. History is cyclical. I find it fascinating to see how young people in Egypt were critical of both their own government and traditions as well as that of the Middle East as a whole as early as the 1950 revolutionary period.

Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1988. Karnak Cafe is considered his political novel and his other works include a modern retelling of Arabian Nights. I most likely would not have read this novella if I did not need a book starting with the letter K for a yearly alphabet reading challenge. While the need for a K book lead me to Karnak Cafe, I was left feeling more informed of past and present events, earning this slim volume 4.5 stars.