Book Review: Cairo 104, between the desired and the possible

CAIRO – 19 August 2017: In a new way in discovering the colliding worlds of the lower and upper social classes, Egyptian author Doha Assy narrates in her recent novel ‘Cairo 104’ the life of strong female character “Insherah”, whose personality is mixed with the details of the dark reality where she was deprived of her early love and her ambition in education.

Despite the hardships, she was not broken as her positivity and beautiful spirit were exceptionally lifting those around her including weak women and men who are looking for solutions to their problems through her spiritual powers.

The strength of her powers were exceptionally psychic in which it was elaborated in her capacity of seeing events before they occur in her dreams based on her intuitions.
Insherah’s life inspired the people around her and helped them to resist the social and psychological pressures imposed on them by society.

The characters of the novel are mainly females yet the novel itself cannot be classified as a “women-empowered Literature”, because the characters whether males or females are subject to the same problems and pressures and are victims of the society.

The novelist declares an important principle through one of her characters, emphasizing the way women should look at themselves and that true shame lies in the notion of women going their bodies to someone she doesn’t love under any circumstances even if it is marriage.

She adopts a feminine revolution, rebelling against a traditional society, where the rules are in place to control the female body and behavior. Desires are not always possible, yet the novel shows us an example in the character of Manal who can reach her desires and handle any man’s interest in her with dynamic social intelligence. The magical spell made by Insherah gave her the necessary confidence.
The novelist avoided cleverly to attack men or consider them the reason for the female suffering. The narration is unique in its structure and shows great talent in introducing different characters, portraying them into the life of Insherah who discovers her spiritual power.

The description of the daily life and the political events of the 1950’s until the first decade of the millennium are in the background of the lives of the different characters. Her “night visitor” that is depicted in the novel as a ghost who becomes a friend, a trainer, a guide to her un-understood power. He gives her visions on how to help others in their medical, personal and psychological problems.

The mix of the culture of “awleya” -the vague concept of saints and their miracles- the colloquial medical recipes, fused with religious beliefs is a great source of ridicule by Insherah herself [and she performs them], yet she is believed in by all her acquaintances.

The novel uses the flash back technique, it starts with the funeral of Insherah in the biggest mosque in Cairo. Her husband who never cared about her is sitting not understanding how his poor wife had connections with those powerful people who attended the funeral. Then she becomes the narrator of her life and tells us about her world, friends, family and powers.

The part that really is an addition to the reader is the explanation given about the relationships between men and women according to the writer. The main motivation to chasing after a woman is not really a sensual relationship but rather an illusion that men promotes in order to simplify their actions.

The illusion that was accepted by women and transferred them into puppets into the hands of men; they forget that men are warriors in spirit, and warriors do not like puppets.

Insherah experiences the healing power of love at the end of the novel after experiencing a disappointing love experience that makes her really a non believer in love.

A love that she does not dare to experience it or get a divorce to live it, yet it healed her soul and makes her feel happy, reached wisdom and eventually felt that it is time to die after going through everything that life has to offer. The reader feels that Insherah chose her time to go.

The title of the novel ‘104 Cairo’ is the number of license plate of the funeral vehicle that Insherah sees herself taken into after her death. She predicts her death before it happens and the writer intentionally does not tell if the vehicle has that number or not.

The open-end novel leaves the reader is an inquisitive status, are life forces are metaphysics or scientific? Shall we believe in the super powers that some people might possess or is it all non sense?In brief the novel is an interesting read that shows promising talent.