#5 Room #12 (2005) –Naguib Mahfouz
Mafouz is an Egyptian author that won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1988. This is my first
time reading his work.
Room #12 is a comedic work that takes place in a hotel. A mysterious, eccentric woman checks in and
is immediately the target of wild imaginations by the hotel staff. The intrigue multiplies by large magnitudes
as parades of visitors pile into her room throughout her stay.
“Mad depravity is running wild in there”
She is visited by all manner of folk, all being allowed
admittance except an increasingly frustrated “Corpse Washer” named Sayid. As the staff’s mood turns from curiosity to
worry to anger, rain literally comes down on their heads as leaks form in
ceilings throughout their charge.
Exasperation reigns supreme:
“This hotel is no longer a hotel, and I’m no longer the
manager, and today is not a day and lunacy is laughing at us in the shape of
meat and wine!”
As the mundane but pressing responsibilities of their
jobs outweigh the distracting imaginings in Room #12, the tension washes
away. Remember, what happens in somebody
else’s hotel room is none of your damn business…so why let it anger you?
Notable Passage: “Cosmic ire was smiting the night outside”
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