Adrift
By Marcus Youssef
A group of almost-over-the-hill urban Egyptian hipsters gathers every night on a Cairo houseboat where they smoke weed, gab on their cell phones, and rag on everything they think is messing up and complicating their lives. Led by their master of ceremonies, a near catatonic petty bureaucrat named Anis, they get baked and try to forget that secularists like them are being shunted to the sidelines in the wave of alleged “fundamentalist” Islamic politics sweeping Egypt and much of the Arab world.
When Samara, a young Islamic journalist joins the group, however, Anis’ spell is broken. From the moment he sees this hijab-clad woman he starts to remember the ugly journey that brought him to his almost total detachment from the harsh realities of the outside world. He falls in love. Unfortunately for him however, this seemingly devout journalist also has a couple of secrets of her own.
