Books, Page 56

Taxi

By Khaled Al Khamissi, Aflame Books, 2008, paperback, 148 pp. List: $15.95; AET: $10.50.

Reviewed by Adam Chamy

TAXICAB drivers are perhaps the most under-appreciated workers of any city. But, from New York to Cairo, they act as the veins of the street, transporting passengers from all walks of life, all the while mouthing the politics and gossip of the metropolis. In his best-selling novel Taxi, author Khaled Al Khamissi taps into the collective voice of the Cairene street through a series of vignettes set in the backseat of a typical Egyptian taxi. In the form of several short stories, Khamissi presents the narratives of 58 cabbies ranging from poor youngsters to the aged and well-educated, each providing his own vision of—and complaints about—life in modern Egypt. Part poetry, part prose, Taxi blurs the line between journalistic nonfiction, anthropological narrative, and literature, ultimately providing a timely and revealing social commentary.

Highly sympathetic to the common man, Al Khamissi at times seems preachy and repetitive. Each driver relates his own problem with an ineffective bureaucracy, overblown corruption, or a downtrodden political system. Then again, perhaps the author’s lecturing is warranted. In a sense, Al Khamissi succeeds by providing a powerfully effective image of a developing Egyptian nation experiencing the intense and unsavory growing pains of inequality, political malaise, and corruption. The book reflects the time-honored tradition of Upton Sinclair’s social agenda in The Jungle and Dickens’ social commentaries on Victorian England during the age of industrialization. Indeed, Taxi highlights the changes in Egypt’s very character and personality as it enters the 21st century. A bestseller in the Arab world, Taxi undoubtedly will not be the last word on such changes—but it counts as one of the most compelling firsts.

Footnotes in Gaza

By Joe Sacco, Metropolitan Books, 2009, hardback, 418 pp. List: $29.95; AET: $19.50.

Reviewed by Adam Chamy

JOURNALISM is not typically viewed as a creative genre. Originality is seen as exaggeration that detracts from a report’s honesty and “objectivity.” Hence journalists write in an A-to-B format of short articles or the occasional nonfiction book or memoir crafted in the most deliberate of styles. Joe Sacco (whose other works include Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde), famously tackles journalism in a medium both original and objective, but likely unfamiliar to the standard news junkie: the graphic novel. While using graphic nonfiction is not unheard of (Maus by Art Spiegelman or Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi being two famous examples), Sacco is the maestro of comic journalism.

Almost a memoir, Footnotes in Gaza follows Sacco as he attempts to unearth the truth about a bloody 1956 massacre of Palestinians in Rafah not only buried in the detritus of history but barely reported at the time. As Sacco uncovers more about Gaza’s violent past he immerses himself in the crowded alleyways and tragic lives of modern Rafah and neighboring Khan Younis. Jumping between the past and the present, he brilliantly connects the tragedies of Rafah during the 1950s, shortly after the establishment of Israel, to the disasters confronting it today. In this way, Sacco illustrates the Palestinian “historical blur,” where the past and present merge, with the inability to “…digest one tragedy before the next is upon them.” In this world, a 1956 calamity in Gaza forgotten by the world is still present in the daily tribulations of Palestinian life. Perhaps most importantly, Sacco relates how the opposing Israeli and Palestinian narratives of victimhood continue to shape a conflict that has continued for more than 60 years. Footnotes in Gaza succeeds as a compelling masterpiece of journalism. Indeed it may be more effective than a newspaper article or book, as the graphic novel provides a medium accessible to everyone, from historians and academics to video-inundated youth.

Adam Chamy is director of the AET Book Club.

SIDEBAR

Special AET Book Club Deal! Still fascinated by the contradictions and drama of modern Egypt? Purchase Taxi with the cinematic adaptation of The Yacobian Building, normally $44, for only $28.50 plus shipping.

Another Special AET Book Club Deal! Get both Palestine and Footnotes in Gaza, normally $54.90, for only $35 + shipping! (Sacco’s Palestine, which retails for $24.95, is also available separately for $18.