The Man Who Lost His Shadow: A Novel in Four Books

By Fathy Ghanem

Book Overview

The Man Who Lost His Shadow tells the story of Yusif Abdul Hamid, an ambitious Cairo journalist, through the eyes of four people: Mabruka, the young peasant girl who marries Yusif's aging father while being attracted to Yusif; Samia, a minor actress, who Yusif lives with and almost marries but latter rejects; Muhammad Nagi, who Yusif pushes out of his job as newspaper editor after Muhammad marries Samia; and finally Yusif himself, editor-in-chief of the newspaper al-Ayyam, a stranger to himself.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9774243471
• ISBN13: 9789774243479
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Amer Univ in Cairo Pr
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Unforgettable

I read this book 15 years ago and I read it only once, but it remains to be one of the most memorable books that I have ever read. It tells the story of an Egyptian boy/man called Yusif, seen through the eyes of four different people: Mabruka, a young peasant girl who works as a servant, Samia, a minor actress, whom Yusif has a relationship with, Muhammad Nagi, a newspaper editor-in-chief who is Yusif's boss ; and finally we catch a glimp of Yusif's shadow through Yusif's own eyes; an editor of the newspaper al-Ayyam. Fathy Ghanem tells a beautiful but sad tale of a poor boy who turns into a career man, a stranger to himself; "someone I neither love nor hate." I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand anything of what life is like in Egypt. GET this book (written in the 60 's!) before it goes out of print - limited availability, but surely a must-have!