One of the best things about my job is getting advance readers of new and exciting fiction yet to hit the bookshelves. I’ve discovered some fantastic books this way, and I love to share them with anyone who will listen. But I also get the chance to read books that have been out longer—be it a few years or a few centuries—and they can be just as fun to talk about. This month’s pick for a book you should have read by now is The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine.
Listen. Allow me to be your god. Let me take you on a journey beyond imagining. Let me tell you a story.
If you have set foot in BookPeople in the past year, chances are great that you have seen me brandishing a brilliant blue hardcover book with a strange Arabic-sounding name, and begging everyone in sight to please, please, please read it. Well, it’s out in paperback, and even though you should have read it by now (because really, it’s fantastic), this is the hour to race to your local independent bookstore and dive in to the greatest novel published in years. Seriously.
Hakawati roughly translates from Arabic as “storyteller,” and our protag0nist’s grandfather was one of the best. Not authors or kindly volunteers entertaining children, these are men who sit in crowded, smoky cafes and relate the stories, myths, and legends of their culture–stories everyone in the room already knows. It’s not easy to tell the story of Aladdin so it seems fresh and new, so that the whole room is on edge as our hero walks into what everyone knows is a trap, but these are the skills of a hakawati, and they are also the skills of Rabih Alameddine.
Osama al-Kharrat has returned to war torn Lebanon in 2003 to stand by his father’s death bed. Family relations have been strained since Osama moved to San Francisco years ago, and the background of the family falls slowly into place as the story unfolds. All together once again, mothers, daughters, fathers, uncles, nephews, sons, cousins, and friends tell each other the stories that have always been important to them. Some are the stories of their family, some are the stories of their country, and some are the stories of all creation–pulled from religious texts (The Bible and the Quran), Arabic mythology (the Arabian Nights), classic poetry (Majnun and Layla), and the wonderful imagination of Rabih Alameddine.
In many ways this is a modernized (and westernized) Arabian Nights–stories told over a bed, staving off death. The story of Osama’s family is a wonderful psychological portrait of a liberal, westernized Lebanese family, but it is also the frame for a series of tales that are funny, bawdy, incredibly sad, and just…beautiful. I can’t say enough good things about this book, and I can’t stress enough that it’s the kind of book that has something for everyone. Lovers of literary fiction, those that prefer a breezy read, people that want a book to spark discussion in their book club, readers of classics, politicos who are interested in the Lebanese setting–everyone will love this book. And not like everyone ‘loves’ Dan Brown…I mean really love.
Rabih Alameddine has a gift for language that is at once poetic and completely natural–unf0rced, lacking in gimmicks, free of the obtuse, difficult language that is so popular in modern fiction–and it is a pure joy to read. This is another of the few books I’ve ever read that has left me with chills, but don’t let the fact that it’s powerful literature scare you. It’s also great fun.
So read it already!
In case need more input:
BookPeople 
I just started reading this book today, and you’re right – I should have read this months ago. It’s great so far! I can’t put it down. lol
That being said, I typically send one or two emails to a prof per semester. ,
Plants are established and mature in the module prior to placement on the roof. ,