سکریه آخرین جلد از مجموعه‌ی سه گانه‌ی قاهره است.
در این جلد محفوظ بیشتر به سیاست و تاریخ مصر روی می‌آورد و سرنوشت‌ بیشتر کاراکترها رو مشخص می‌کند،بیشتر در این جلد به نوه های سید احمد عبدالجواد می‌پردازه.

نظر شخصیم در مورد این مجموعه دقیقا همونطور که انتظار داشتم و داستانی که دنبالش بودم در این سه گانه بود. کل این سه گانه که هر کدوم در محله های که عنوان کتاب ها هستن‌ اتفاقات داستان میفتادن،
بااینکه محفوظ اتفاقات سیاسی رو هم در کتاب آورده اما هیچی از جذابیت داستان کم نمیشه حداقل برای من حوصلم سر نرفت و اتفاقا بیشتر جذب سیر و تحولات داستان می‌شدم.

اگه مثل من عاشق کتابهایی که حول محور خانواده می‌چرخد و درآن عشق ،خیانت و روابط پنهان دارند،پیشنهاد می‌کنم سراغ این سه گانه برید.
خوشحالم خوندمشون و خیلی لذت بردم.

تزاحمت الكلمات بساحة عقلي فأبيت إلا أن أُبقي على زخمها، لكن عقلي أبى إلا أن يَفُضّ هذا الاعتصام فرضخت له مذعنًا بوجوب الإدلاء بأني ذبت من فرط الجمال، فتذوقت الحب، وذقت الثكل، وتجرعت الألم، وتهت في غياهب الشك، فأدمنت الخمر دون أن أشربها وارتدت مقاهي الحسين دون أن أزورها،
فيا روحي الهائمة هناك هلمي لنرحل فقد حان وقت الرحيل.

إنها النهاية يا صغيري، ��لكن هل من نهايات حقًا؟

"كثيرون يرون أن من الحكمة أن نتخذ من الموت ذريعة للتفكير في الموت، والحق أنه يجب أن نتخذ من الموت ذريعة للتفكير في الحياة.."

تنتهي الأجيال لتفسح لغيرها الطريق، ويذبل شباب الآباء لينطلق الأبناء والأحفاد وفي كل تندفع الحياة كالسيل.

تنطلق دائمًا، بنفس القوة والتحفّز والتصميم؛ الشباب واحد في كل العصور، نفس الاندفاع والحيوية والحماس ولكن لكل جيل تجلياته، والذبول حتمي وفرض عين على الجميع ولكن لكل عُمر آلامه، والموت واحد ولكن لكل روح طريقها.

”وإنَّ حقًا على اللهِ عزَّ وجلَّ، أن لا يَرْتَفِعَ شيءٌ مِن الدنيا إلا وضعَه.“

هذه الرواية انتهت على حين غفلة مني، حتى أن كلمة "تمّت" التي انبثقت فجأة من مكان غريب، هزتني، فاعتدلتُ في جلستي مدهوشًا مضطربا وأنا أقول: إيه؟؟؟؟!!!

لكنها الحياة، تنقطع دون استئذان، كما تنتهي بمجرد أن تبدأ.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

About thirty years ago, I worked in the Production department of Delacorte Books for Young Readers. One of the many lovely side benefits of the job was the endless supply of books that floated around the place. I vacuumed the Cairo Trilogy up as it appeared in the halls, outside the doors of the various production managers.

So by the time I got to this book, I was primed. I wanted Kamal's story to reach what I thought the ending should be. I'd spent two books before with him, I was fully invested in his life and agreed that being like his father would be a Fate Worse Than Death. Educated in the Western philosophy and world-view of the Interwar period, Kamal was pretty much a fish out of water on every front. His wretch of a tyrant father is dead at last, but he's still not happy...and he shouldn't be, given what the world showed him!

Kamal's poor sister Khadija! She's a trouper, she is; Kamal's female student cadres are not a patch on her, submissive to her father's will and married to a man I can't remember at all; yet through her entire story arc, she seriously attempts to make the world more comfy. Her sons, unsurprisingly, have her fire; they lack her domesticity. The men they become are going to come into violent conflict, readers of the 21st century know; but at the time so did Author Mahfouz. He wasn't wrong.

Yasin's son is quite boldly coded as a gay man, rising fast in the world thanks to his sugar (!) daddy Pasha Isa, and no one spends undue amounts of effort to stop or interfere; ahead in the world = good, especially to Yasin. Kamal's thoughts about his nephew's gayness aren't gone into. He is, subtly but inaccurately, perceivable as gay himself being a bachelor looonnng past the time men in his society married. In fact, he's a Western man in search of a Western wife in a country where they aren't thick on the ground. He's not going to Settle Down the way Khadija did, because he's not a woman and although he's Looked At, he's protected by his gender from the worst of society's expectations.

Fishes out of water weren't popular in non-comedic entertainment in Mahfouz's Egypt. This book came out in 1957, the year after the Suez Crisis and a scant five years after the Republic of Egypt was established by perennial US target Gamal Abdel Nasser. It wasn't a settled and comfy time; I don't believe anything official was said to Author Mahfouz to make him aware of how his Western-leftist sympathies would play with Officialdom, but the ending of this book is...well...tacked on. A pity, that; but the trilogy is a deep and delicious dive into a period, a class, a lifestyle now vanished and then obsolete, with its replacement uncertain and the future more hazy than is always the case.

" هذا البلد عجيب يندفع في السياسة وراء العاطفة ، ويتبع في الحب بدقة المحاسبين "

الجزء الأخير من الثلاثية الأفضل في الأدب العربي
الجيل الثالث من عائلة أحمد عبدالجواد بعد ان خلع الأب عن نفسه قناع القسوة ال��صطنع
أب محب - أم متفانية - أولاد علي شاكله الأب وأحفاد علي شاكله الوطن
هي حكاية مصر والإستقلال مخبأة خلف رمزية نجيب محفوظ
وهي حكاية نجيب محفوظ نفسة الذي كررها من قبل في رواية (قلب الليل)
فما أقرب الشبة بين بطل الثلاثية -كمال- وبطل قلب الليل
كلاهما هائم للبحث عن المعني والسعادة
هل هي في الزواج ؟ أم في الحب ؟ ، هل في الثورة الأبدية ؟، هل هي في البحث عن المثل العليا ؟
كلها أسئلة ظلت معلقة في النهاية وواجب القارئ أن يجد إجابته الشخصية عنها .

" كلا ، إن الحب كالزلزال الذي يرج الجامع والكنيسة والماخو علي السواء "
.
" والحق أنه يجب أن نتخذ من الموت ذريعة للتفكير في الحياة .. "
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" كيف نكون أمة متحضرة والعساكر تحكمنا "
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" ولكن الزمن عدو لدود للورود "

3.5 stars This is the third and final novel in the Cairo trilogy, which included Palace Walk and Palace of Desire (these are all street names in the older part of Cairo). I wanted to finish the series because I have become quite involved with this family. This novel moves the reader into the lives of the children and grandchildren of the original family, while continuing to follow the original characters - all in a changing Egypt. We watch as one grandson becomes a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, as another grandson becomes an ardent communist, as two granddaughters are married into the family and as a third grandson becomes the lover of a politician. It was interesting and satisfying to watch as most (but certainly not all) of the family members changed with the changing times (WWII) – yet retained the old customs just below – or just on – the surface of their lives. The family experienced death of the patriarch and the matriarch, as well as death within the younger generations. We watch as each member of the family deals with life in a county that is trying to transition from a colony/monarchy to a republic. My criticisms would be that the details of Egyptian politics and politicians of the time consumed a great deal of the conversation among the characters (and I do not know, and do not really wish to learn those details). There was also a good deal of time spent on certain philosophical issues which did not fully capture my attention – but probably only because the issues seemed dated. That said, it was a generally satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, and I will always remember this Egyptian family with great fondness – Mahfouz created some extremely wonderful characters and portrayed their daily lives very well.

"It was sad to watch a family age." Comparing the characters of Sugar Street with their younger selves in Palace Walk is heartbreaking.

سُکَریه نقطه پایانی ایست بر سه گانه نسبتا طولانی نجیب محفوظ که با  بین القصرین  شروع و با  قصرالشوق  ادامه پیدا کرده . محفوظ هم زمان با شرح داستان جذاب خاندان عبدالجواد ، بخشی از تاریخ مصر را هم بیان کرده است . داستان او مصر تحت حاکمیت عثمانی ، حاکمیت انگلستان و تلاش برای رهایی از استعمار تا هنگامی که مصر صحنه نبرد میان آلمانی و ایتالیا و انگلستان می شود را در بر گرفته است .
آنچه در سُکَریه می توان دید تعداد نسبتا زیادی از افرادی ایست که در سیاست مصر در اواسط جنگ جهانی دوم حضور دارند و صدای هریک از آنان را به گونه ای می توان از سخنان شخصیت های کتاب شنید . شوربختانه خواننده کم دانشی همانند من از تاریخ طولانی مصر تنها جمال عبدالناصر و اخوان المسلمین را می شناسد و همین امر او بخشی از جذابیت کتاب را برای او کم می کند .
سُکَریه را می توان جدال کاملی میان سنت و مدرنیته دانست . در بین القصرین سنت غالب بوده و در قصر الشوق سنت و مدرنیته جدالی تقریبا برابر دارند اما مدرنیته را باید برنده کامل پیکار همیشگی سنت و مدرنیته دانست . این جدال را می توان در میان نوه های احمد عبدالجواد با پدران و مادران خود دید . آنها در میان مخالفت های خانواده ، مسیر و راه و البته همسر خود را انتخاب می کنند .
کتاب را باید متعلق به نسل سوم خانواده دانست ، احمد عبدالجواد دیگر تنها به تماشای گذشته با شکوه خود نشسته و زندگی جدید برای او نشانی از لطف ندارد . همسر سنتی او ، امینه هم هم چنان نقش حاشیه ای و مکمل دارد ، گرچه که توانسته حق خروج از خانه جهت زیارت را سرانجام به دست آورد . در میان فرزندان عبدالجواد خدیجه را می توان مدافع کامل سنت ، کمال را در طیف مقابل او یعنی مدرنیته و یاسین را هم میانه این دو اما بیشتر جهتی که منافع او را تامین کند دانست . عایشه هم روزگار چنان بر او جفا کرده که کاراو دیگر از سنت و مدرنیته گذشته است .
تجلی اندیشه های جدید را می توان در عبدالمنعم و احمد ، فرزندان خدیجه و رضوان فرزند یاسین دید . عبدالمنعم جذب اخوان المسلمین شده و ا��دیشه های آنان را بازگو می کند . او را باید نفرت انگیزترین شخصیت داستان دانست ، او گرچه ریشی بلند و عقایدی افراطی دارد اما همواره دنبال دختران زیبا می گردد .احمد در تضاد کامل با خانواده سنتی ، طرفدار کمونیست ها شده و در نشریه ای به هواداری آنان می نویسد . در میان صحبت های احمد با کارکنان نشریه ، می توان به زیبایی آرمانهای کمونیست ها پی برد ، آنان نوشتن را برای هدفی مشخص می دانند . به غیراز آن لذت ذهنی و تفریح فکری ایست . آنان هدف نهایی نوشتن را دگرگونی و پیشرفت جهان و بالابردن انسان از پله های ترقی و آزادی می دانند . انسانیت درگیر مبارزه ای مداوم است و نام نویسنده برازنده کسی ایست که در این مبارزه پیشتاز باشد . و سخنانی دیگر از این دست که گرچه زیبا هستند اما عملکرد فاجعه بار خود را بارها نشان داده اند .
نجیب محفوظ در سُکَریه بسیار بی رحم است . او نه تنها شخصیت های بین القصرین ر�� به دلیل کهولت سن و بیماری حذف کرده بلکه هر از گاهی کاراکترهای جدید را هم کنار می گذارد و البته مشخص نیست که چگونه زیبارویان سه گانه او قربانیان بی رحمی نویسنده شده اند .
. شاید بتوان کمال را شخصیت مورد علاقه نویسنده دانست . محفوظ شخصیت کمال را با استادی و مهارت پرورش داده . کمال داستان گرچه از سنت ها گریخته و زندگی و راه خود را دنبال کرده اما نمی توان شخصیت او را کامل و مطمئن دانست . او بارها به انتخاب هاب خود شک می کند . او نمی داند که آیا انتخاب ادبیات و فلسفه برای او مناسب بوده و یا بهتر آن بوده که رشته دیگری را انتخاب می کرد . اوکه تا اواخر داستان پاسخی برای سوال ازدواج کنم یا نه ؟ پیدا نکرده پس از آنکه یکی دیگر از عشق هایش ازدواج می کند سرانجام پاسخ خود را در آرامش پس از سرگشتگی و عذاب پیدا می کند .
محفوظ سرانجام قهرمانان داستان خود را در حالی در دل تاریخ پرماجرای مصر رها می کند که آن ها مانند سرزمین باستانی خود مسیری طولانی تا رسیدن به آرامش و ثبات دارند . راهی که سخت دشوار به نظر می رسد .

This is the third and final installment of the Cairo Trilogy, taking place around 10 years after the conclusion of the previous book. In my previous reviews of Palace Walk and Palace of Desire I indicated that book 1 used the short chapters each following a single character, whereas book 2 seemed to change. These are back in book 3, although Kamal has a larger share of chapters, often two consecutively.

This is a difficult review without introducing spoilers, but it is reasonable to suggest there is a stronger political involvement in this book than the previous, and Kamal as probably the most central character demonstrates (via inner monologue mostly) his change in personal philosophy and the direction of his life in general.

Where the books are named for the streets where they are primarily set - Palace Walk being the family home, Palace of Desire being the home of Yasin, Sugar Street is the location of the apartments of the families of the two daughters Khadija and Aisha. Largely this books traces the formative years of Khadiaj's sons, Aisha's daughter, and Yasin's children. We also see the (not unexpected) further reduction in the patriarchs role in the family, including his increasing frailty.

For me this was a great series. In retrospect, book 1 is the stronger for me, but it has the easy road, as it introduces us to the characters. I will probably bump that up to 5 stars now that I have read all three. Book 2 I also enjoyed a lot. Other reviewers noted the more sordid nature of the many sexual relationships which cross over, and indicate that was a negative for the book. While a little improbable, I actually found them amusing, and didn't detract from the story for me. This third book has the more political and religious backstory, and doesn't really draw to a conclusion with the family - perhaps Mahfouz was leaving the door open for a follow-up?

A highly recommended series, excellently woven.

رمانی زیبا و پرکشش که با ترجمه ی بی نظیر و روان استاد مرعشی پور لذت خواندن آن دو چندان شد. نجیب محفوظ عزیز به قدری زیبا از کوچه و ‌پس کوچه های قاهره نوشته که گویی مدت هاست در آن محله ها و حال و هوای آن ها زندگی کرده ام.

جاءت السكرية كقطعة الشيكولاتة في آخر الكونو
فهي مسك الختام بحق
فيها يلملم محفوظ أوراقه وينهي الثلاثية نهاية بديعة
لاسيما لبطل الثلاثية الأول (في رأيي) كمال والذي أصر أنه نجيب محفوظ شخصيا
في هذا الجزء يفعل الزمن أفاعيله بالعائلة

فبعد وفاة ابني عائشة وزوجها في آخر الجزء السابق تموت ابنتها أثناء الولادة ولم يمهلها القدر فيتضعضع حالها وتنتهي بتركيب طقم أسنان
و يموت أيضا السيد أحمد عبد الجواد الذي لم أكن أحبه على أى حال
لكن محفوظ ابن اللذين :D خلاني أتعاطف مع موته
بل دمعت عيناي عندما علمت انه حتى لم يعد قادرا على الصلاة
ثم كان هناك دور لبدور حتى أنه أعاد حسين شداد من فرنسا
حتى مريم زوجة ياسين الثانية وجارتهم القديمة أتى على ذكرها

يتميز هذا الجزء بكثرة شخصياته وتعدد الأراء الفكرية لهذة الشخصيات جميعا
فكان أفضل شئ في الرواية هو الحوار الفكري بين جميع هذة الشخصيات
والذي أجبرني على أخذ العديد من الإقتباسات
من الملاحظ أن نجيب كان يؤمن بالعلم في فترة ما بدليل حوارات شخصياته هنا والدليل الأقوى هو رواية أولاد حارتنا الذى كتبها بعد الثلاثية مباشرة

n  
نسخة دار الشروق تحتوى على أخطاء مطبعية إستفزتنى قليلا
n

Decades of whoring and drink have finally caught up with the old roué, Ahmad Abd al-Jawad. He is enfeebled, must eat yogurt at every meal, takes his medication and does not unduly strain himself. I cannot really give a sense of the depths of this man's hypocrisy. He exacted piety for God and himself at home for decades, while participating in the most dissolute of lifestyles with his besotted cronies. For that story you will have to read the two excellent predecessors in this trilogy, Palace Walk and Palace of Desire. In Sugar Street, after so much debauchery, Ahmad Abd al-Jawad is failing. There is the inevitable moment of schadenfreude for the reader but Mahfouz is so nimble a writer that he's actually able to evoke pity in the reader for terrible old Ahmad. His household is also declining. His sons have gone their separate ways. His wives are withering in the harsh climate. It's a sad, rather abandoned house we come upon at the start of the novel, where before all was youthful vibrancy. Coffee Fridays nevertheless still take place, and it is on those days that the house returns to a semblance of its former life.

The story spans 1935 to 1944. Egypt seeks to shuck the British yoke. British Foreign Minister Sir Samuel Hoare has just admitted his contempt for the Egyptian independence movement, which in turn elicits student rioting, which in turn elicits soldiers firing into crowds of unarmed demonstrators. Later, discussing these crimes with his drunken pals, Ahmad becomes alarmed when he learns that his son, Kamal, has been visiting a brothel where he is well known. Yasin, another son, is perhaps just as debauched as his father but without the cruelty. Yasin’s son, Ridwan, a beautiful boy and Ahmad's grandson, is just beginning to be introduced to homosexual admirers. The whole trilogy is a not so subtle critique of Egyptian society. One particularly annoying aspect of the most wanton characters is their constant verbal reverence for God. Thus the pasha who is about to seduce Ridwan says "Glory be to the One who alone is compassionate" and suchlike. Such false piety almost functions like an indicator of a character's hypocrisy. The more they indulge in such language the more morally unhinged they are likely to be.

What I find most exciting about the book is its topical scope. There seems to be nothing that Mahfouz cannot with ease incorporate into his narrative: the moral and ethical trials of Egypt's people, surely, but also the course of the country's independence movement and how that touches everyone. Mahfouz moves effortlessly from domestic scene to discussions of Shari'a, from a dissection of political parties to interesting asides on the futility of philosophy, from a criticism of Islam as being too primitive in this day and age, to an inquiry into what the next generation is to do for its livelihood. How will the political changes that ramify during the course of the novel affect them? How will they shake off the disillusionment of 54 years of British occupation? No wonder they drink. I don’t think it a stretch to say that Mahfouz sees the dissolution of many of his countrymen and women as a result of the occupation and its attendant humiliations.

The plight of women is a most depressing one. Ahmad's daughter Aisha perhaps best exemplifies this. She is incapable of seeing herself as inherently worthy outside her role as a mother or wife. When she is divorced by her husband and later when her beautiful young daughter dies in childbirth, she is unable to emerge from a prolonged depression. She possesses no sense of self worth and wastes away. Meanwhile, most of the fathers decide not to send their daughters to secondary school since they will not work in the end but "only marry." The sight of a woman at the local university is rare. Egypt is a male province. When al-Sayyid Ahmad dies the mourning of the family is profound. This strikes me as unutterably sad. For most of his life Ahmad was a debauchee, hypocrite and household tyrant. (I can still remember the anger I felt when reading of his cruelty in the first two volumes years ago.) The cause of so much suffering, now he is mourned as perhaps Stalin was once mourned. Ahmad’s Elder son Kamal after an early heartbreak cannot even contemplate marriage. This makes Kamal, like the gay Ridwan, virtual freaks in a culture where marriage is discussed and entered into with a fervor I can think of no literary parallel for except the novels of Jane Austen. Please don’t let my general discussion of some of the story elements put you off. There is no such thing as a spoiler with a writer like Mahfouz. He instills every scene, every characters' actions and thoughts, with a sense of urgency that drives the reader onward. What a writer!