His arm hangs out. The driver has his arm the same way. Their arms might get cut off by a speeding car, but I don’t say anything. The driver has a long nail on his little finger. Our driver has a long nail on his little finger. So does the man who sells fruits. Their nails are even longer than Mama’s. I imagine taking scissors and cutting them off.

I finished the novel wanting more; more depth, anecdotes, but mostly, more explanations. So after reading the last line again, I studied a little about Egypt’s recent political history and I went back to reread parts 1 and 2 – it was a different experience-. The novel follows the story of a girl that lives in Cairo during three summers of her life: 1984, 1998 and 2014, told from her point of view. During the first summer, the protagonist is about 6 years old, she describes what she sees with short sentences and factual descriptions of what is happening around her. Although she does not fully understand the political situation her country is facing, she repeats what she hears from her mother, uncle and cousin and gives context to the reader through conversations and what she sees in the city. 

During the second part, she is a college student, finding her voice and search for ways in which to express her anger and frustrations towards the political situation. And finally, in the third part, she is an adult reconnecting with a part of her past that was lost and using film and writing to express her thoughts. Throughout the three parts, the girl follows the story but also remembers events from her past, and even though it is a relatively short novel (180 pages), El Rashidi manages to create the same voice with different levels of maturity throughout thirty years. This complexity is expressed not only in the way of writing (short vs. long sentences) but also in the language she uses and the questions the protagonist asks herself. To me, that is the best attribute of the novel. 

Another aspect of the novel that I enjoyed is the mirror events she shows in the beginning and in the end. The power shortages she described as a young girl are still present in thirty years later, as well as the poverty, the corruption and the inability of the political system to give hope. It is as if she fulfills what her uncle tells her at the beginning, that when the government decided to cut spending in quality education, it dooms itself for the future leading to no prosperity. In that sense, this novel is a tragedy that runs parallel to the current situation in Cairo. For me, the best conversation the protagonist has is with her favorite cousin, Dido, near the end. The two of them, that represent the youngest generation in the novel, skim through Egypt’s history trying to understand if they underwent a revolution, or a coup d’état, or popular uprising or a revolt…

About Yasmine El Rashidi

Yasmine El Rashidi is an Egyptian writer that lives in Cairo. “Chronicle of a Last summer”, her first novel, was long-listed for the 2017 PEN Open Book award in 2017. She has another novel, “The Battle for Egypt” and writes about Egypt’s revolution and culture for the New York Review of Books and Bidoun.

Other books written by Egyptian women

We only recommend books we’ve read.

The Map of Love- Ahdaf Soueif (read by Ceci)

Which book do you recommend? Please let us know in the comment section!

Egyptian initiatives and projects that support and empower girls and women

Heya Masr

Heya Masr is a social enterprise with the mission to restore a sense of pride and dignity in young Egyptian through workshops, education programs, character development activities and self-defense lessons, among other initiatives. They achieve this with two programs, a 12-week program for girls and a train-the-trainer approach where they train facilitators, share their approach with them and expect them to implement it in their organizations. Check out their webpage to read more about their success stories.