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Sleep Phase
Sleep Phase | Mohamed Kheir
1 post | 1 read
After seven years in prison, Warif is released to a changed Cairo. Freedom so far has been endless, inscrutable meetings with official-looking strangers, trying to get his job as a translator back. This new Cairo, busy with expats and bureaucrats, is proving disorienting: What is he supposed to make of these self-assured newcomers who are so certain of his obsolescence, his subjugation, his solitude? They seem happy to provide him with a salary, if he's willing to give up the work that gave his life meaning. As his encounters more-and-more resemble interrogations and the futility of trying to escape the system set against him threatens to suffocate him, Warif escapes into the vivid colors of the city, looking deeper and deeper into the food, the people, the buildings, and the flowers, until what's real blurs into fantasy.
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Sleep Phase | Mohamed Kheir
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Despite having the absolute best cover of any of the NBA longlists (according to me), this is so far the weakest read for me from the translated lit list. It‘s not a bad book, but it‘s mix of dreamy/fantastical with reality and the lack of clarity on which is which doesn‘t go far enough. It gives a good commentary on a state‘s decision to jail those making dissident statements, which is timely. Between pick and so-so for me.

squirrelbrain Hmmm… I can get this on Everand (digital print, not audio) but I‘m not sure I want to waste a credit now. Maybe I‘ll wait until I see what else I can get hold of and from where. 3w
Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain That seems like smart planning! I didn‘t even know Everand had gone to a credit system now. It never truly was “unlimited” reading, so I guess they‘re being more straight about that now? 3w
squirrelbrain Yes, they have two options - 1 credit per month or 3. I went with the higher option, but I‘m struggling to use them sometimes and then you lose them. They do have some ‘Unlimited‘ books, but that‘s a bit like KU - they‘re books you wouldn‘t want to read anyway! 🤦‍♀️ 3w
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