I perhaps chose this book the "wrong" way, in that the subject for book club was "Egypt," so I googled "famous Egyptian author," found Naguib Mahfouz, and then googled "where to start Naguib Mahfouz." But, better to get to the right place the wrong way than not at all, right?

I think I missed a LOT, starting with however the translation is done, not knowing a lot of the titles/honorifics, etc. But I confronted my ignorance and looked up some recent history of Egypt, which was helpful to contextualize the comments on society, religion, and government.

I thought there were funny parts, and I really enjoyed the concept of "tuzz" throughout the book (although again, probably missed plenty of its implications). I think there was nuance and ambiguity that I probably missed the first time around - looking back, I see early discussion about beauracracy and government levels that I understood (better) by the end of the book, but in the first go-around, missed entirely.