Review by Alyssa Kristeller

The short:

Through an exploration of the life stories of men known by the author, this book deconstructs the concept of masculinity and examines the weight of gendered roles and expectations shouldered by urban Egyptian men throughout their lives.

The long:

This book is a detailed analysis of stories and observations collected by Farha Ghannam during the twenty years which she spent living and conducting research in al-Zawiya, a low-income neighborhood in Cairo. She shares the heartbreaking, happy, and foundational life experiences of young and old men she knew or met directly or indirectly through their family members in order to demonstrate the construction of these men as “masculine” from birth to death. Though Ghannam’s research was completed before 2011, and the book published in 2013, it is nonetheless reflective of the social and political changes brought about by the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square, and how roles for men and women developed throughout this tumultuous period in Egyptian history. 

The read or not to read:

This book is a page turner! It is an academic analysis of a topic not usually focused on in comparison to analyses of women’s roles throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. However, it is also a book of stories, which are weaved through Ghannam’s emotional and descriptive writing in a way accessible to even readers with little to no background on the topic.