بداية ونهاية by نجيب محفوظMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclosure:
I came across this nice story of NAGIB MAHFOUZ During my Tour in Morocco, I was much devoted to the Arabic Literature I bought it with 6 Euro. with the same features above.
My Plot:
First of all, I would say that all the stories narrated by NAGIB MAHFOUZ happens in Poor neighborhood in Egypt; In fact "Bidaya Wa Nihaya" was a direct criticism to this life in General. The story begins with the Death of the Father, Three children and a Daughter were under the responsibility of the Mother. Hassan, Housein, Hassanin, and Nafisa were Characters of different dimensions, First the Mother worked hard to make the Family overcome the difficulties of life, Hassan worked as a Musician inside a popular party group, he was so adorable to his father until he becomes one of the bitters inside the family, Housein was a mighty man who feels the need of the family and worked hard to overcome poverty, He was the best Characters inside the story, the Latter was Hassanin, a very cruel and rude one, he didn't like the way the family lives in, he was always against the rules, He came to be a sub-officer inside the Egyptian army but Life goes against him as well he fall in love with a girl inside the Bourgeois class but that love came to be the principles of his end; Nafisa the Only daughter inside the family worked as a tailor, but later she falls in a falsified love with a shop keeper who deceive her, in the last moment she begin having promiscuous relations for the sake of money. and thus the life of the family came to an end after being a united family during the life of it's main keeper (the father).
Positive and Negative Aspects:
Speaking of Positive aspects I would say the Following, the flow of events and the nature of story telling are all amazing, they seem entirely held by a professional writer, besides, the nature of story telling sometimes held by the characters themselves, and that's what represent the Touch of modernity inside MAHFOUZ books. Concerning the negative aspects, I would admit that story was a complete tragedy, the writer take no mercy or any slow feeling to the Characters, It was so harsh from the beginning to the End like the story title. Besides the Story inflect the real nature of the Egyptian society towards orphans in General. Generally reading this story would make you revolt and go against anything that relates to poverty.
My Personal Reaction:
Reading this story would make you feel sad to most extent, I really took mercy upon the Characters, It was like they were paying the sins that they do not commit at all, having a girl who make promiscuous relations for the sake of money, a very harsh society that looks only for the sake of it's profit, a worthless religion that take no effect upon it's followers and so on and so forth, all these circumstances plays indirectly inside the events of the story, But what inspires me the most was the sudden attack that the writer had toward his own society, Attacking through literature was a nice mindful step. Generally the story was a complete tragedy that no nice event would go inside it. So it is worthy to feel it inside.
Recommendations:
The story is written in Arabic so I don't recommend to all the Audience, However I would recommend it to people who had a prior knowledge of the Arab world in general and the Egyptian society particularly, Though I will stay tuned to any of our readers who might need help to understand it. Otherwise it would be worthy for the Arab themselves to read about their tragic past.
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