Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery

I really enjoyed reading Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery because it is a very clever and well thought out book. The book starts off by introducing you to all the characters at a young age. One aspect of the book that I enjoyed the most was the descriptiveness of it. It describes to you a clear picture of all the characters so that when you continue to read more into the book you can read very deeply and imagine what it was actually like if you were in the story.

The character of the book that fascinated me the most was the character of Safiyya. She went through many transformations throughout the story. She started off as being a beautiful girl that everyone was afraid to envy. Then after she was married she turned into her husband’s slave when she would wait on him hand a foot. After the bey, her husband, dies Safiyya turns into a revenge seeking old woman. At the young age of twenty they describe Safiyya as having wrinkles and being addicted to smoking from the pipe.

Perhaps one of the most important characters of the book is the narrator. He is the heart and soul of the book. He witnesses everything from the beginning from his fascination with Safiyya all the way up to the death of his uncle Harbi. It seems as though this character was not able to live a life of his own because of Safiyya and Harbi. The book cleverly was written from his point of view because he shared both sides of the story, which created for an interesting conflict in the book. I would recommend this book to not only people who are interested in learning about Egyptian culture, but just for anyone who enjoys reading.