The Pyramid by Ismail Kadare: book review

A few months after ascending the throne of Egypt, the new Pharaoh, Cheops, declared that he did not want a pyramid erected for him. This news was a catastrophe to his kingdom, for what would the people do if they did not spend the next umpteen years building a mausoleum for their king?

Seeing the distress of his courtiers, Cheops decreed that a pyramid would indeed be built and it would be the highest and most majestic of them all.

This is the story of the Great Pyramid in Giza; the pyramid of Cheops, written in 1998. It chronicles the feat of the great construction. It tells of the series of expected and unexpected deaths – from stone slippages; exhaustion; murders; whippings; and sunstroke. One foreman, Unas, was sacked because he allowed the legs of two sculptors trapped during the laying of a stone to stay where they had been amputated from the weight of the rock as it fell on top of them. Long hooks were used to scrape the crushed legs out from under the stone with great difficulty. However, it had to be done, for there was a risk that if human limbs were left to decompose, they would create a void likely to cause subsidence that, however minute, would be absolutely inadmissible in the majestic architecture of the great pyramid.

If the building of the tomb, to house Cheops after his death, proceeded too fast, those responsible were arrested and tortured for appearing to desire the Pharaoh’s early death. If the pace slowed down, those responsible were tortured for lacking zeal and enthusiasm for the nation’s project.

Albanian author Kadare has a sardonic, witty style with a wicked sense of the absurdity of reality. It is exceedingly readable and enjoyable as history is revealed, intertwined with a twist of tongue-in-cheek humour.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Apes go to the movies - and remember the scenes

Apes remember major events in movies, even after a single viewing. That’s the findings of primate research in Japan (New Scientist, September 17, 2015). Researchers at the Kyoto University in Japan conducted experiments with two species of apes – chimpanzees and bonobo primates – to test their memory and recall. Instead of using food to test memory, they used films. The researchers made two short movies to show to the apes. Fumihiro Kano and his colleague, Satoshi Hirata, starred in the films with another person dressed as an ape. They wanted to have strong dramatic scenes to see if the apes remembered them. In the first 30-second movie the character ape bursts through a door on the right hand side (there is also a door on the left hand side) and attacks the two researchers (characters) 18 seconds after the start. After 24 seconds a human character choses one of two weapons next to each other and launched a revenge attack on the ape. In the second 30-second movie t...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog