Henry Ford saw the automobile as the great equalizer - his goal was to produce cars that his own workers could afford. And yes, in truth he was driven more by money than social altruism. At the other extreme lies the Automobile Club of Egypt, where the possession of a car is a mark of high social status, of being above the rank and file. At the Automobile Club the average person exists solely to serve those with means. Colonialism (and slavery) is predicated on the idea that those in servitude are less than human, that they require masters because they are unable to take care of themselves. The attitudes of the English founders of the Automobile Club are not much different than those of any ruling class in any society.
What sets the novel apart are the characters that populate it, and the relationships that evolve between them; in other words, the very character development that some seem to find so dreary. In my experience life is a process of gradual change, not grandiose gestures. Heroes and villains evolve over time, and often have contradictory motives; all is not black and white. Al Aswany allows his characters to speak for themselves, and they have plenty to say on every subject, from love and marriage to political and social inequality.
At some point we have accepted the dumbing-down of our art and literature. We have come to believe that action should be explosive, literally and figuratively. Characters should speak in easily digestible sound bites, and not complicate our thinking by having doubts and desires of their own. Alaa Al Aswany has given us a book about real life in all its glory: often messy and convoluted; ultimately beautiful and powerful. This is not the Reader's Digest version, something you can read in between texting; this is life as it actually is. The Automobile Club of Egypt is more than worth whatever time it may take, frankly I thought it ended all too soon.
