"A rare opportunity to consider the contemporary Egyptian condition."—Financial Times, 2008

“Alaa Al Aswany as scientist takes a microscope to a segment of uprooted Egyptian society so as to better understand the ills that constrict it: religious fanaticism, taboos, stifled sexuality, a contested political system . . . .”— Louise Sarant, al-Ahram-Hebdo

“[T]he structure of Chicago...[is] like a gallery of portraits, each one executed down to the tiniest, most interesting detail.... [A] closer look reveals that that gallery hall is more or less synonymous with Egypt.”—Rania Khallaf, al-Ahram Weekly

“An absolutely irresistible portrait of post-September 11th America and the torments of the children of the Nile Valley, who are conscious of belonging to the most ancient human civilization but trapped by the awareness of their own backwardness.”—Thomas Pignot, Point de Vue

“In an America still reeling from the attacks of 2001, the author intermingles characters and destinies . . . . Chicago adopts a frank style, unhesitatingly evoking politics and sex.”—Jean-Marc Le Scouarnec, La Dépêche

“Even seen through the hallways of an American university, Egypt remains at the heart of this novel rife with political overtones, which challenges the fundamentalism and failings of Egypt with true sensuality.”— L’Humanité Dimanche

“Alaa al-Aswany, currently Egypt's top novelist, has also been addressing the thorny issue of Coptic-Christian relations. In his novel Chicago, about Egyptian academics based in the American city, he challenges another two-dimensional caricature – that the Coptic opposition abroad is made up of sell-outs who have become agents of the west.”—Khaled Diab. The Guardian

“Aswany’s second novel, Chicago is about Egypt, through the perspective of Egyptians living and studying in the US. Building on the success of The Yacoubian Building, Aswany’s prose is addictive. He identifies generational and social divides in Egypt, as they are manifest though these characters.”—The Global Ministries Praise for The Yacoubian Building:

“Cairo hasn't been so vividly - or sexily - evoked since Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk.”—Rory MacClean, The Guardian

“With its interlocking vignettes and intertwining characters, Alaa Al Aswany's hip and racy novel The Yacoubian Building creates a complex narrative of contemporary Egyptian life.”—Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, The Daily Star

“Captivating and controversial . . . . An amazing glimpse of modern Egyptian society and culture.”—New York Review of Books

“Alaa Al-Aswany is a courageous, outspoken social critic. His novel transmits the reassuring intimacy of the city’s rhythms alongside the familiar treachery of its predators and the machinations of the power structure that produced them.”—Maria Golia, TLS Praise for Al Aswany:

“A wonderful storyteller and a cynically astute observer of human folly and frailty”—Spectator ‘Among the best writers in the Middle East today … Al Aswany has his own magic. Chicago reveals a gifted novelist in mid-flight’—Guardian

“…[L]ike the late Naguib Mahfouz, Alaa Al Aswany is a world writer, making Egyptian concerns into human ones and beautifully illuminating our always extraordinary and sometimes sad and baffling world.”—THE TIMES (London)

“Alaa Al Aswany has written himself into world literature . . . . [He is] keenly alive to the great human comedy.”—an as-yet anonymous Danish daily

“Alaa Al Aswany [is] one of Cairo’s most exciting literary exports in some time.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Only a few Egyptian writers of world stature remain, and Alaa Al Aswany has emerged as one of the most successful.” —Los Angeles Times