The Queue

Basma Abdel Aziz is a psychologist who specializes in the effects of torture, and you can tell in this book. While never gratuitous the violence and pain the characters suffer feels more real than other books of this genre. If you love Orwell or Kafka this book is for you.

A reminder that all is possible - good or evil.

This book is an amazing treasury of the nerves feelings and trepidation that we all feel about governance in intrusive countries. I cannot believe that the author was able to touch this nerve exactly. Very thoughtful and an excellent read. Thanks for writing this. I will recommend this book for my children.

A very interesting insight into how a dictatorial government slowly takes over all the actions, and decision making powers of its captive population. A study in the persuasive/invasive powers of an absolutist regime.

Did not really have an ending! Just started out dreary and then stopped before any subplots reached conclusions. Rather frustrating.

The faceless bureaucracy of Kafka’s The Trial meets the systematic disinformation of Orwell’s 1984 in Egyptian journalist Basma Abdel Aziz’s perhaps all-too-realistic dystopian novel. Abdel Aziz does especially well to show how religion can be manipulated to serve a government’s efforts to stonewall and deceive its citizens: “The High Sheikh invoked a few passages from the Greater Book, explaining that if a believer were to be struck by a bullet (despite his prayers and supplication), his faith would guide him to the understanding that it was God himself who’d struck him down” (181). The only downside of the mysterious governing Gate is that this sense of mystery makes it harder to get invested in the story. Without knowing the Gate’s aims, it is hard to know what options are available to the characters. And Yehya and Amani’s affection never fully materializes because of the absurd situation in which they find themselves from the start of the novel.

I really enjoyed this novel. There were some points in the wording that I felt were a little plain, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and blame it on translation.People have been comparing it to Kafka and Orwell, but I have no idea. What I would compare the setting to is Soviet Cold War fiction. The constant fear and ignorance of who the government is and what they're doing. There are spies everywhere reporting your every move. Also the constant revisions to history, events and people. When something falls out of favor, it gets revised or forgotten.I would also compare the people's mindset and acceptance of this sudden radical change to "The Handmaid's Tale." Both stories describe a society that just lays down and takes the radical changes and lack of freedom of an oppressive "religious" government.It comes down to a story of people and how they accept this life. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to similar stories from the author.I received this novel through the Goodreads' giveaway program. Thanks!

Powerful. This will make you think about your life.