Publisher’s write-up:
‘Set
against the rich tapestry of ancient Egypt, Luxor: Book of Past Lives is the
story of Nebamun and Iramen, two brothers who are embalmers in Egypt during the
era of the boy king, Tutankhamun. It is their duty to prepare the many bodies
of the dead who land on their embalming table a journey into the afterlife.
Paralleling this ancient tale is the story of two different brothers, Abdul and
Karim, who make their living by robbing the ancient tombs of Egypt in the late
1800’s, when the theft and sale of artifacts was at its peak. Woven throughout
the novel are the mysterious intersections of the brothers’ lives, though separated
by thousands of years.’
Luxor: Book of Past Lives is a story that
moves across two timelines – one covering a group of priests embalming dead
bodies in ancient Egypt and the other being two brothers, Karim and Abdul robbing
the tombs in the 19th century embalmed by these priests centuries
ago.
The story constantly fluctuates between the
two timelines, in one chapter; it’d start with the high priest Nebamun carrying
out an embalming with his renegade brother Iramen and junior priest, Padi. The
highlight of this timeline is that, it is the only book that I’ve read till
date on ancient Egypt which covers the life of an Egyptian commoner rather than
the royalty. Moreover, we all knew about the fact that the ancient Egyptians
used the process of ‘mummification’ to preserve their dead but this book
brought out the process very well and also brought out the life in the Egyptian
society way back in their glory days, be it the domination of the royals or the
authority of the bureaucracy in the rural areas.
The next chapter would immediately move to
the 19th century, where the brothers are busy robbing tombs, Karim
being the aggressive one whereas Abdul is scared of authority and is always
worried about curses that’d affect them owing to their trade. They sell their
loot to an enterprising antique seller named Rahmad who has reasonable
knowledge on ancient Egypt and makes a lot of money by overcharging British
tourists. Yet again, akin to the earlier timeline, here also, the lives of the
poor in the Egyptian society of the 19th century and how over time,
nobody in the society is really bothered about their history except for making
monetary gains out of it.
On the whole, this was quite an enjoyable
read, for a history enthusiast such as myself; with the process of embalming
and the politics of ancient Egypt covered in such depth. The 19th
century Egypt was equally enjoyable, bringing out the interests of foreign
tourists in Egypt and the life that grave robbers led during those times (not
as luxurious as what has been perceived, for sure). The writing was also quite
simple, making it easy for anybody to read and not just linguistic enthusiasts.
However, the only thing I’d say I was a little disappointed with, was that it
being termed as ‘fiction’, the story during both the timelines didn’t have much
role and it was in fact, a non-fiction book narrated through a story but then,
I guess this is an effective way to reach out to all sorts of readers and I’m
in no way suggesting that the story was boring.
To conclude, I’d say that I learnt a lot
from this book and it was a good reading experience and I’m looking forward to
more from the author on the subject, maybe on Hittites or the Sumerians or
Babylonians. I’d give the book a rating of seven based on whatever I’ve stated
so far.
Rating
– 7/10
Have
a nice day,
Andy
