I have been reading The Yacoubian Building and I don't know whether it is a slice of real Cairo life, but it is certainly a slice of life where everything is for sale and has its price, and where muscle will prevail if scheming won't. The back cover says it "caused an immediate scandal due to its sexual frankness when it was first published in Egypt." It has been translated into nine languages and made into a film. How could it not be?