17 Sheikh Hamza Street, Cairo review

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Blurb

17 Sheikh Hamza Street, Cairo is one of the most fascinating biographies ever written about the Jews of Egypt in the 20th century. Avraham Bar-Av has succeeded in drawing a precise, empathetic picture of Jewish life in this unusual community… Bar-Av manages at once to describe the historical changes in Egypt and their dramatic impact on the everyday life of the Jewish minority

Fabulously well-written, this compelling book has the reader turning the pages for more.”
Dr. Ruth Kimhe (scholar and author of Zionism in the Pyramids’ Shadow, Am Oved 2010)
 

Review

I'm not sure what I expected from this book but it certainly wasn't what I got. I had difficulty relating to the people as they all seem so foreign to me. Except for the part where she was helping clean the vegetables for dinner as it reminded me of helping my own grandmother prepare the beans. 

I found the more I read the easier it got to read as the writing is fairly well written. However it got to a point where it was just too soap opera dramatic for me and I had no further interest in reading. Additionally the author went into long detail on some things such as a horse's bowel movement which I felt was quite unnecessary and crude. 

It isn't often I stop reading a book before I finish but I just have no interest in this kind of story. I may pick it up again at a later date just to give it another try but today I'm not interested. 

This book is available on Amazon for $3.99