I did not like this book; I hated it. Had this book not been selected by the boo club's members, I probably wouldn't have finished it; I probably wouldn't have crossed the 200th page; the following 300 pages add nothing new to the story. It sapped the joy of reading out of me. I could not find an...
A cool concept that resulted in a well crafted, and enjoyable read. Stories are layered on top of stories and are weaved together to create an interesting narrative. Not all the stories were engaging but most were. This is a long book, but that is perhaps one of its positive traits. I really ...
Hakawati means storyteller, and this book is a great story, or rather a wealth of stories, intertwined and related in various ways. From the title character, "Stories with obvious moral lessons are like eels in a wooden crate. They slither over and under each other, but never leave the tub." I'm...
Vrlo lako najbolja knjiga koju sam čitala u zadnjih par mjeseci.Radnja teče kroz više isprepletenih priča; priča koje se rađaju jedna iz druge i čine neprekidan niz sve do kraja knjige, pa i dalje.Priče o (važnosti i kompleksnosti) obiteljskim vezama, te srednjoistočnim klasičnim ljubavima i avan...
Aaliyah, while her life in Beirut is so difference from mine, gets into my head. Her unending love of literature and her devotion to it has molded her solitary life. She overcomes her disastrous short marriage, her overbearing demanding family, and lives her life the way she wants to. The most...
I mentioned at work recently that I would be reading this book for my real life book club; the reason I brought it up to someone specific is two-fold: The surgeon I was talking to is Lebanese (actually, a few in the office are) and I wondered if he had heard of it, and also because the author and...
I read this book after being blown away by The Hakawati (speaking of underlining book titles, the MLA has changed their guidelines to suggest italics instead), and wanted to read something else by Alameddine. There is not much of comparison between the two works. The multiple narrative perspectiv...
I remember crying, wanting to ride with him in the motorcade. I must have caused some confusion. After all, Druze tradition says nothing about a bridegroom’s offspring. His three girls stayed behind, waving our brief good-byes to all the men in the cars. They were leaving and bringing back a brid...
Brown, copyright © 1986 by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown; reprinted by permission of City Lights Books. Excerpt from “I Sit by the Window” from Collected Poems in English by Joseph Brodsky, copyright © 2000 by the Estate of Joseph Brodsky; reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LL...
I wanted to run to my father, my short legs began to, but I hesitated, halted in mid-run, an indescribable crowd, waiting, coming, going, who were all these people interrupting the reverie, between him and me were bouquets of balloons, of flowers, so many faces disappointed that those of us comin...
© The Associated Press, 14 April 1996, reprinted by permission; “Why Beirut and Not Damascus?” by Arthur K. Vogel, Tages-Anzeiger, reprinted by permission of the author and Tages-Anzeiger; “Yet pray even while . . . ,” translation by Lionel Saler of “Bete aber auch dabei” © 1997. Reprinted by per...