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Melville House
June 2016
On Sale: May 24, 2016
224 pages
ISBN: 1612195164
EAN: 9781612195162
Kindle: B013NI7V9S
Paperback / e-Book
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Science Fiction
In a surreal, but familiar, vision of modern day Egypt, a
centralized authority known as ‘the Gate’ has risen to power
in the aftermath of the ‘Disgraceful Events,’ a failed
popular uprising. Citizens are required to obtain
permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the
most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never
opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer. Citizens from all walks of life mix and wait in the sun: a
revolutionary journalist, a sheikh, a poor woman concerned
for her daughter’s health, and even the brother of a
security officer killed in clashes with protestors. Among
them is Yehia, a man who was shot during the Events and is
waiting for permission from the Gate to remove a bullet
that remains lodged in his pelvis. Yehia’s health steadily
declines, yet at every turn, officials refuse to assist him,
actively denying the very existence of the bullet. Ultimately it is Tarek, the principled doctor tending to
Yehia’s case, who must decide whether to follow protocol as
he has always done, or to disobey the law and risk his
career to operate on Yehia and save his life. Written with dark, subtle humor, The Queue describes
the sinister nature of authoritarianism, and illuminates
the way that absolute authority manipulates information,
mobilizes others in service to it, and fails to uphold the
rights of even those faithful to it.
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