CHICAGO: From Cairo comes Ezzedine Fishere’s “The Egyptian Assassin,” where traversing across the Gilf Kebir Desert is lawyer-turned-extremist Fakhreddin. Riding in uncertain circumstances with a 16-year-old son who is barely conscious, with limited supplies and a sandstorm threatening them on the open plain, Fakhreddin seeks to cross into Egypt, their final destination. The journey to this point has been long and difficult.
Fishere’s story unfolds backward, to when Fakhreddin was a lawyer looking to help bring about change. “The Egyptian Assassin” is a fast-paced tale that starts in Cairo but moves around the world and between different personalities, personas and revenge plans. From naive desires of justice and a fair society, Fakhreddin quickly learns that life is far from ideal, and that survival is sometimes messy and violent.
In Bayn Al-Sarayat, Fakhreddin is part of a network of lawyers trying to provide legal assistance to the less fortunate, and that is where the trouble begins. After being harassed by state security, unable to find work, and after being court-martialed for refusing to take part in the Gulf War against Iraq, Fakhreddin is on the Egyptian government’s radar and his future looks bleak.
Leaving behind everything he knows, he moves to Paris, but his heart desires to return to Egypt. Fishere’s characters, from Fakhreddin to his colleague Hussein and his aunt Maria, paint a spectrum of personalities and tragedies across his life.
His aunt has “enough sorrow for the whole country,” and Hussein’s attempts to fight for a just society fall short. While Fakhreddin’s past propels him toward an uncertain future, he allows love and the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish to guide him.
Moving from Paris to Khartoum, and near the Ethiopian border in Damazin — where “he felt he was close to the great sources of the Nile,” which reminded him of his past in Mansoura — Fakhreddin’s efforts to move forward are cut short when his past catches up to him.
He moves to Afghanistan and morphs into another identity, with another name, adding to the multiple roles he plays in life, some more pleasant than others, as he tries to adjust his life’s balance.
