About Cairo and January - about Mazen, Asma, Major General Alwani, Sheikh Shamil, and many other figures who formed the mosaic of the revolution. A shocking, terrifying, and exciting novel about thwarting the revolution through the brutal alliance of religious, authoritarian, and media discourse. "The Republic as if," by Alaa Al-Aswany, may have the same nightmarish impact as Orwell's novel "1984."