The Queue ... has drawn comparisons to Western classics like George
Orwell's 1984 and The Trial by Franz Kafka. It represents a new wave
of dystopian and surrealist fiction from Middle Eastern writers who are
grappling with the chaotic aftermath and stinging disappointments of the
Arab Spring. -- The New York Times
Winner of the English PEN Translation Award*
*
In a surreal, but familiar, vision of modern day Egypt, a centralized
authority known as 'the Gate' has risen to power in the aftermath of the
'Disgraceful Events, ' a failed popular uprising. Citizens are required
to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the
most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the
queue in front of it grows longer.
Citizens from all walks of life mix and wait in the sun: a revolutionary
journalist, a sheikh, a poor woman concerned for her daughter's health,
and even the brother of a security officer killed in clashes with
protestors. Among them is Yehia, a man who was shot during the Events
and is waiting for permission from the Gate to remove a bullet that
remains lodged in his pelvis. Yehia's health steadily declines, yet at
every turn, officials refuse to assist him, actively denying the very
existence of the bullet.
Ultimately it is Tarek, the principled doctor tending to Yehia's case,
who must decide whether to follow protocol as he has always done, or to
disobey the law and risk his career to operate on Yehia and save his
life.
Written with dark, subtle humor, The Queue describes the sinister
nature of authoritarianism, and illuminates the way that absolute
authority manipulates information, mobilizes others in service to it,
and fails to uphold the rights of even those faithful to it.
