“The narrator Abla/Loula tells her story – alternating between the two sides of her schizophrenic self – against the background of the turbulent political times that followed the January 25th revolution.”
review
Al-Koni’s ‘The New Waw’: The Desert as a Central Character
“There are few names in the narrative, and only a few characters who appear throughout the novel to guide the reader through. It is easier to regard the landscape as the only consistent character.”
Blue Lorries, a strong contender for the Banipal Prize of Arabic Literary Translation
“As a translator, one of the most impressive and delightful feats in the English version is where Nada and her father unwind in the evening by playing a beloved poetry game.”
‘Oh Salaam!’: Is Change Possible in Post-war Beirut?
“…it’s a fast-paced, novella-length work, reminiscent of Muriel Spark’s ‘Driver’s Seat’, both for its black humor and for the way its characters slide precipitously into danger.”
‘The Journey of Hyenas’: A Novel That Contests the ‘Natural Order’
The Journey of Hyenas (2013) by Egyptian writer Soheir al-Musadafah, sets the a story of a woman’s seventh-century slavery against the present day.
Hanan al-Shaykh’s ‘Azara Londonistan’: Bemused, Iconoclastic, Often Hilarious
Hanan al-Shaykh’s latest novel — The Virgins of Londonistan — was released in late November at this year’s Beirut Book Fair. Reviewer Mishka Mojabber Mourani found it to be both flirtatious and important.
‘Dates on My Fingers’: Exploring and Challenging Traditional Masculinities
Reviewer Alexandra Atiya found a challenge to received ideas of masculinity in Iraqi novelist Muhsin al-Ramli’s “Dates on My Fingers” (2014), translated by Luke Leafgren.
‘Diary of a Muslim Jew’: And Yes, That’s the Book’s Title
We have become so accustomed to thinking of religion as a place of singularity in human identity that Diary of a Jewish Musilm gives all the shock in translation that author Kamal Ruhayyim surely intended in the original.
On an 81st Birthday: Why Does Abdelrahman Munif Not Make the ‘World Literature’ Canon?
Today would have been Saudi-Iraqi novelist Abdelrahman Munif’s 81st birthday. Although a great craftsman of the 20th century Arabic novel, his literary legacy goes largely un-celebrated.
The Illusions of Intimacy and Reading ‘Other Lives’
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt myself burrow as deeply inside a character as I did inside Myriam, the narrator of Iman Humaydan’s “Other Lives,” translated into English by Michelle Hartman and recently released by Interlink.
‘Life on Hold’: A Novel of Stalled Dreams in Saudi Arabia
A novel where the “days are all much the same, bringing nothing new” is a difficult thing to pull off. And Fahd al-Atiq’s “Life on Hold,” trans. Jonathan Wright, couldn’t be characterized as a page-turner. But the book does manage to craft a compelling narrative about the contradictions of contemporary Riyadh even as the protagonist remains stranded in nowhere-land
‘The Mehlis Report’: A Genre-bending Historico-fantastical Murder-mystery
From a review in Full Stop Magazine: Rabee Jaber’s The Mehlis Report, translated by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, is a genre-bending historico-fantastical murder-mystery that moves the borders between life and death. The novel centers on Lebanon’s highest-profile murder — that of former Prime… Read More ›
