Chronicle of a Last Summer

“Chronicle of a Last Summer” stands out for its modern structure. Rather than writing about what happens in the book, I can write what is in the book, since events are secondary to periods of time. The narrator, whose name never surfaces, lives in Cairo in a family house she describes as being like a castle, in relative socioeconomic privilege. The house is unchanged through all the nameless revolutions and power turnovers from one dictator to the next, through all the family deaths and disappearances.

The narrator is pretty selfless, worrying more about her family. She studied film, a risk in itself, since most places wouldn’t allow cameras, and she also thinks about writing, if that will be the better way for her to say what she needs to say. Her Baba goes away – either a political prisoner, or assassinated, or exiled – it’s not talked about, he’s just gone. Her Mama is against any kind of indulgence, not wanting weakness or vulnerability to develop. However, with time she comes to take action in her own, responsible way. Her Uncle and older cousin Dido have the greatest influence, and keep debate part of the ongoing conversation. Uncle urges her to take notice of what’s going on around her, to see the bigger picture through smaller signs. She writes these things down, wondering when and how she can use them in her film or novel. Dido, who is more like a brother to her, is idealistic, fighting for what he thinks would make a better society. He is also fighting against himself, it seems, knowing that things need to change, but despite his efforts, he’s still trapped.

What is in this book, then, is a picture of the culture: the food, clothes, limited tv options, football, rare music, how to buy single cigarettes, the interior and exterior of homes and gardens. This is all in a heavy political climate, with uncertainty and fear, of not wanting to say something that could be used against you, of being on the wrong side of a camera, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The people have varying levels of devotion to and different views of Islam, and there is some vague degree of Christianity as well. The few people with specified names are often shortened to just the first initial; even a god, seen as a statue in a museum, is “A.” Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak, and later Morsi, are only named as such, sometimes called the president but never with anything else added to their one name.

This is book is written in an almost stream-of-consciousness. She asks a lot of questions, understandably, and gets answered in the next sentence, same paragraph, alternating italics rather than quotations dropped to the next line. I read an uncorrected proof which needs a lot of correcting, so that’s my biggest critique. The language is simple enough to not get lost in the chaos, but with a little editing would be much improved. “Chronicle” is a good exercise in style that draws a time-lapse of modern Egypt.

Note: I received a free copy of this title through BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review.