“The Apartment in Bab El-Louk” by Donia Maher and illustrated by Ganzeer and Ahmad Nady is a menacingly crafty graphic novella about a paranoid old man watching the city of Cairo pass him by. Written in first person poetic prose, the recluse describes life in Bab El-Louk to the reader through descriptions of his apartment, his building and the downtown street below with an eerie, verging on delusional, sense of danger. Coupled with creative illustrations and graphics in three colors — black, green and white — the book is accurately described as a “noir poem.”
Maher is an Egyptian author and artist. The illustrations for Maher’s book, a mix of graphics, illustrations, photographs and other mediums, have been done by Ganzeer, an emerging contemporary street artist, and Nady, who is an artist,political cartoonist, and activist. The book was first published in 2014 by Dar Merit for which it received the 2015 Kahil Award. It was acquired by Darf Publishers, translated into English by Elisabeth Jaquette, an award-winning translator, and published in late 2017.
The book gives off an eerie sense of disorder, just like the clutter that is described in the narrator’s apartment: “When you move into the apartment in Bab El-Louk, you’ll feel as if you’ve emigrated to another country, but for all the people you meet there, you won’t really know anyone.” There is a sense of fear and isolation from the beginning of the story, with descriptions of the narrator’s suitcases packed and ready to go, but with no destination.
Ganzeer’s illustrations manage to drive the eerie scenes as powerfully as Maher’s prose. His illustrations capture the dark shadows that lurk on the pages. His work is wonderfully detailed, allowing the words and graphics to move together, propelling the story into further chaos as Nady’s exceptionally detailed comic-like illustrations take over.
Maher, Ganzeer and Nady do a wonderful job of conveying a sense of despair in a creative manner, regardless of the bustling coffee houses, the ficus trees that provide shade to needy children and the cleaning lady who is able to serenade the narrator to sleep. The sense of paranoia and desolation is always there.
