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7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 It's all about the story. It's is all about the amusing ride! May 29, 2007
By Eva Lollita
Wow. This stunning book succeeds on many different levels. A catching inordinary story, a maze of unusuallly authentic characters that I wouldn't forget, a phylosophical debate on human nature, a modern day urban architecture allegory, and a portrait of one the most amazingly mysterious cities of the world, Cairo. I don't even know where to begin. The Human Effect is the roaming around the lives of unique individuals with mysterious pasts confronted by their own fears when involved in building something as enormous and larger than than life 'The most artistic building of the century' Who should you have to be yourself to build the most artistic buidling of the century?
What I really like here is that the plot thickened from the outside shell of the story into the deep inside web of the characters. The measures and twists and surprises are drastic and deadly. I guess the last 100 pages could have been longer but then it is the style it is written in--it boils up scene after scene and makes you expect a disasterous exciting ending which is actually what happens.
In the Human Effect the number one priority is chracters. The plot although well-written happens susbidery sometimes reading like a movie script. Shebl's way of never telling you what happened until the last pages is enchanting. The writer (He/She?) counts on the transperancy and realness of the charcters who respond to their fears in the most unexpected ways. From a mystery to another every character shapes up and shows his real reasons for what he does. There are ghost and murders and dark fantasy pages in this book, but it is more about imagination than gore.
Salma's character is the most interesting female I have encountered recently in a book. An Eastern woman raised in conservative ways that she foolishly chose the wrong men in her life. Then she suffers her greatest fear of water ( hydrophobia, i never knew such a thing existed but checked and 33% of the women in the worls suffer from it) The way her hydrophobia is related to her being naive and chosing the wrong men is just amazing. Told in a scary way but really fulfilling. If you chose the wrong men you are going to try to teach yourself to chose better ones. And if you fear water? Will you jump in the pool every once in a while threatening your own life for freedom of choice?
Although this is Shebl's first published work, there is no "look how well I can write" prose here which beginning authors fall into (Also the copy i bought had a couple of typos I have been told it has been revised)
How refreshing to read a younger author who knows that it's all about story and giving the reading an excellant ride. Shebl tells his tale cleanly, simply and plainly. Still, between the lines we will argue about the concept of the human nature.
I want to read more of the author's work. The discribing of Cairo is like a magic carbet ride into the exotic realms of the city. The darkly romantic moments are smooth and real. The conversations very intelligent ( sometimes overdone )and epic like. And the images of the dreams and horrors creative and original. Shebl earns my trust and confidence so early and easily that I completely relaxed to his/her voice. ( sorry again for not knowing )
This is one of my best new authors booklists of 2007.
8 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 'It takes a lifetime knowing what side you are really on. Good or Evil.' May 30, 2007
By Grady Harp
Reading a first novel by an Egyptian writer, writing in English and in a language that gleefully mixes vernacular with formal prose, reading Akmal Shebl is an experience not unlike reading a first venture into magical realism. Shebl has a voice and style that set him apart from other novelists and that strange voice is intoxicating in its originality - and frustrating to those who are distracted by grammar and punctuation and spelling and phrasing errors. But after forgiving such minor flaws the oddities almost enhance the overall effect of this strange story: Shebl grabs our attention with a bizarre story in modern Cairo and incidentally challenges us to address bigger issues - of wealth versus poverty, longing versus greed, concrete thinking versus supernatural flights.
Lou'ai and Sammy are contemporaries in Cairo, having been through architect training and schooling together, sharing a love for a mysterious 'hydrophobic' girl Salma (Sammy married her while Lou'ai continues to pine for his one love even after the marriage), and now competing in a competition for an architectural prize for a new structure in Cairo. Sammy is technologically advanced and realistically oriented while Lou'ai is obsessed with the human aspect of building - homes to love and lines that curve in the human effect. Each man has assistants - Adam and Tarek - who have their own strange stories that weave through the intrigue of the book - and each man must find a wealthy backer in order to qualify for the competition. Sammy finds no problem in attaching himself to wealth: Lou'ai must contract with the strange Zypher and bargain his life for the man's support.
The story focuses on the race to the finish, a race between two loving friends becoming a deadly finish. Shebl makes Cairo a main character in this story and not since Cavafy have we had so intense a look at Egypt. Phrases like 'Cairo will seduce you', 'Every hour is rush hour in Cairo', and of Sammy's view of her inhabitants - '(people) wake up everyday exhausted from the hatred the day before. They have bills to pay; kids to feed; jobs to keep; women to satisfy - men to satisfy. They have bosses they hate, parents they loathe and neighbors they wish to kill. They even hate their own selves.' It is Lou'ai who sees the potential beauty of the city and of the dwellings, of the juncture between the living and the dead, and it is this dichotomy of view of Cairo that drives Shebl's story to its most surprising and satisfying end.
We can only hope that Akmal Shebl will continue to share his richly atmospheric storytelling with us. We can also hope that the next book will find the eyes of a good editor who will be able to adjust the grammar and technical issues without diluting the pungency of Shebl's prose. Grady Harp, May 07
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Don't read the last page! May 25, 2007
By Wilkenson
What can I say? I liked the riddles. The S and A puzzle. The sculptures in Damietta & Rossetta. The room on the last floor in Alcazar. The Barzach. The curve/line conclusion. The masrya house. The teddy bear. Zypher! The plastic surgery. It's as if I was given all the clues to puzzle in advance. The plot and mind games were entertaining although sometimes it felt a little fabricated.
If by any means you are a fan of cliffhanger storytelling like in the Tv series Lost where a riddle leads to a mystery and then to a someone's life then to another mystery then back to someone's past then to the first riddle again in a merry-go-round then you will like this book like me. Of course we have a a couple of supernatural suggestions on the way and some metaphysical incidents that make you think this stuff is reallllllly deep, then to a surprise, a twist in the tale and a 'things are not like they seem' on the last page.
Really, i am begging you. Don't flip through the pages in between cause the last small paragraph is what made me give this a 5. It turned the whole plot upside down for mea nd totally fooled me.
I liked this book. Period. just bear in mind you will have to suffer reading a lot of strange eastern names and place that i found sometimes diffcult. so when u read it hola back at me and tell me what you thought of the mysteries. Adios
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Riveting Read! Jun 12, 2007
By BeatleBangs1964
Akmal Shebl has a real talent and a distinctive literary voice. This story is set in Cairo and takes on deep issues such as generosity and reality over avarice and fantasy.
Lou'ai and Sammy are archtects in Cairo, Egypt. Both have their eyes turned toward a woman named Salma who later marries Sammy. Lou'ai continues to carry the torch for her, but to his credit respects the fact that she is now a married woman
Both men are obverse sides of a coin - Sammy is grounded in facts while Lou'ai leans towards the aesthetic. Their assistants add their own brand of creative literary voice and personalities into this mix -- since Sammy and Lou'ai are competing for the top architectural prize, they have to find ways to make the victory theirs.
The two friends become embroiled in a ruthless competition with a riveting and climactic finish. This book is a fascinating, brilliant and very detailed picture of modern Egypt and current Egyptian mores, folkways and customs.
Akmal Shebl is a brilliant author and one can only hope he will continue writing. This is a very complex, multi-faceted book that will resound in the minds of readers long after they have read the last page.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Closer to madness. Thus closer to the heart. Jun 07, 2007
By Alfi
To be honest with my review, this book needed some major publishing and editing house to back it up so it stands on the top of a hierarchy it deserves. So I am going to pass on praising the writer or commenting on other reviews. I will just discribe my fondness of the book.
Basicly the story is simple, two architects who are totally the opposite in the world of art and love compete for their careers and families by trying to win contest of designing the most artistic building of the century. The architects and the woman they both love are three most intruiging personalities where you likely find yourself closer to of them. The novel takes a turn into a mysterious atmosphere and discovery of the true nature of one self and which side of the good or evil we are on that if there is such a thing like good and evil. To the author, all of this mess is just being human. The ending is purely satisfying and non expected. The finale is actually very complicated in it self but satifying enough you want to reread some hinting chapters again. Although I promised I will not praise the writer, I want to hint to you that other than that Cairo is a SHE and buildings are ALIVE, some chapters read like a movie where you reach the climax of a scene and then CUT you are on the next which made me turn pages wanting answers all the time.
The book is like enetering the movie theatre and just letting go into an original kind of art where you leave your masked person by the door. Every chapter is a nice dream of its own, the order of events is not always logic, the order of information isn't too, but the way every new page gets you to understand a person deeper and deeper is mind and heart observatory. It's like the way you know people in real life. When you meet them now, they are just a superficial linear to you, then when you understand why they did this and that your perceptive changes and you might get confused, and you will start not judgibg them.
One of the things that enteretained me is that the book is three parts, every part i had a diferent hero, protagonist, to love and feel related to. How did this happen is of no clue to me. The ending made things clear but my emotion were scatered on the floor. I loved everybody, hated everybody, sympathized with every body, cause simply they were all human, and as abstract the book might be, the messgae underneath is fair. We are all living lives discovering who we really are day by day, hopefully we ll find the time to grow if there is something about us we dislike or find intrusive about who we are.
A different novel. Will take time to be apprehended. I am glad I read it.
Thank you.
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