{"product_id":"being-abbas-el-abd-by-ahmed-alaidy","title":"Being Abbas El Abd by Ahmed Alaidy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA cult classic in modern Arab literature, filled with black humor and satire, reissued in a new edition\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"What this inventive and mad novel portrays is the split within Egyptian society, torn between religiosity and liberation.\"--Robert Solé, \u003ci\u003eLe Monde\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"What is madness?\" asks the narrator of Ahmed Alaidy's jittery, funny, and angry novel. Assuring readers that they are about to find out, the narrator takes us on a journey through the insanity of present-day Cairo--in and out of minibuses, malls, and crash pads, navigating the city's pinball machine of social life with tolerable efficiency.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut lurking under the rocks in his grouchy, chain-smoking, pharmaceutically-oriented, twenty-something life are characters like his elusive psychiatrist uncle with a disturbing interest in phobias. And then there's Abbas, the narrator's best friend who surfaces at critical moments to drive our hero into uncontrollably multiplying difficulties. For instance, there's the ticklish situation with the simultaneous blind-dates Abbas has set up for him on different levels of a coffee-shop in a Cairo mall with two girls both called Hind. With friends like Abbas, what paranoiac needs enemies?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAhmed Alaidy\u003c\/b\u003e is an Egyptian novelist, screenwriter, director, and short-story writer. He has participated in international writing workshops at the University of Iowa and the University of Hong Kong, written for publications including \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, and his latest documentary has been released on Netflix MENA. His debut novel \u003ci\u003eBeing Abbas el Abd \u003c\/i\u003ewas translated into seven languages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hoopoe Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52953134596381,"sku":"9781649035677","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/5897\/files\/Screenshot2026-09-17at4.42.55pm.png?v=1789677831","url":"https:\/\/www.middleeastbooks.com\/products\/being-abbas-el-abd-by-ahmed-alaidy","provider":"Middle East Books and More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}