War in the Land of Egypt

I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed the different perspectives of the characters in the novel. Each character was of different importance to the story yet they all seemed to be interrelated. I sympathized mostly with Masri even though he didn’t get his own chapter in the book. He was burden with the pain of his family and the corruption of the government. Although we didn’t hear directly from him, I found he held a majority of my attention. I believe that Masri not getting his own chapter is very symbolic. Masri didn’t receive a choice for a majority of the things that have happened to him in life.

As Ashley’s teacher pointed out, the novel was talking about how corrupt Egypt is and the small wars that are fought there every day by the people of Egypt against the government, higher officials, or mayors; not directly about the war. Speaking of Ashley’s professor, hearing about his stories straight from someone who experienced stuff that we have been reading about makes what is happening in the Middle East all the more real. The novels we have read have all been phenomenal and have gave us a new perspective of the Middle East but hearing it from Dr. Mughazy made the events we have learned that more realistic. It’s weird to think that although real people have experienced what the characters in A War in the Land of Egypt have experience, we still few their accounts as just stories.