The Cairo that Alaa Al-Aswany describes is a harsh city that subjects its residents to many concessions and bargains.Inhabiting the Yacoubian Building in central Cairo are heroes, rich and poor, good and bad, floundering in the same predicament: thwarting Taha''s dreams of a job in the police department. The deviation of the beautiful and poor Buthaina; The bitterness of Hatem Al-Ghali''s life... and other examples of realistic characters that only the art of the novel can expose.
