Customer Reviews

The Fall of the Imam

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The interwoven stories of residents of an unspecified Egyptian town and the Imam for whom their worlds revolve, The Fall of the Imam is profound, poetic, and complex. The narration is uncovential in English and does pose some challenge for English speaking readers. First person and third person narration seem to be employed interchangeably, with the perspective switching from character to character frequently. I suspect that in the Arabic in which it was written, The Fall of the Imam is beautiful and brilliant. The English translation, however, may prove somewhat difficult for western readers. Regardless, it is a worthwhile read and does provide a glimpse into a world many westerners are largely unfamiliar with.

This book is an account of a patriarchal society in a middle eastern country. Suffice to say it contains a heavy dose of realism and confusing metaphors simultaneously. I found the storyline hard to follow; too much switching between characters; and once again the metaphors were extremely confusing and hard to follow. All in all it seems as though the book has been written in arabic and translated word for word without consideration of any gramatical writing effects.