Colla thoughtfully examines one Egyptian author's recently released novel in an attempt to unravel the mystery presented by many Egyptian intellectuals who have supported the Egyptian military establishment's recent ruthless crushing of the Muslim Brotherhood and their ongoing suppression of dissent and protest in Egypt. Referring to the novel, Colla writes:
...it allows us to begin to recognize the author's deep skepticism toward the revolutionaries' proposition that another world is possible. Al-Jalid [the name of the novel] elaborates a form of Left pessimism, a Marxist, anti-imperialist critique of injustice and oppression, but without the utopian promise of justice or emancipation.
