Rabih Alameddine
Hardcover | Pages: 291 pages Rating: 3.81 | 10202 Users | 1709 Reviews
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| Original Title: | An Unnecessary Woman |
| ISBN: | 0802122140 (ISBN13: 9780802122148) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Beirut(Lebanon) |
| Literary Awards: | California Book Award for Fiction (Gold) (2014), Prix Femina for Étranger (2016), Arab American Book Award for Fiction (2015), PEN Open Book Award Nominee for Shortlist (2015), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2014) National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (2014) |
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One of Beirut’s most celebrated voices, Rabih Alameddine follows his international bestseller, The Hakawati, with a heartrending novel that celebrates the singular life of an obsessive introvert, revealing Beirut’s beauties and horrors along the way. Aaliya Sohbi lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, divorced, and childless, Aaliya is her family’s "unnecessary appendage.” Every year, she translates a new favorite book into Arabic, then stows it away. The thirty-seven books that Aaliya has translated have never been read—by anyone. After overhearing her neighbors, "the three witches,” discussing her too-white hair, Aaliya accidentally dyes her hair too blue. In this breathtaking portrait of a reclusive woman’s late-life crisis, readers follow Aaliya’s digressive mind as it ricochets across visions of past and present Beirut. Insightful musings on literature, philosophy, and art are invaded by memories of the Lebanese Civil War and Aaliya’s volatile past. As she tries to overcome her aging body and spontaneous emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the little life she has left. A love letter to literature and its power to define who we are, the gifted Rabih Alameddine has given us a nuanced rendering of a single woman's reclusive life in the Middle East.Particularize Containing Books An Unnecessary Woman
| Title | : | An Unnecessary Woman |
| Author | : | Rabih Alameddine |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 291 pages |
| Published | : | February 4th 2014 by Grove Press (first published 2013) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Writing. Books About Books. Literary Fiction. Cultural. Lebanon. Contemporary |
Rating Containing Books An Unnecessary Woman
Ratings: 3.81 From 10202 Users | 1709 ReviewsCritique Containing Books An Unnecessary Woman
Just before I began this book I learned that Rabih is a mans name, a Middle-Eastern mans name. It means, alternatively, spring, or winner. I wondered what kind of Middle Eastern man felt he could write a book about the internal life of an aging widow. And now I know. It would be a man who reads.This is a book about loneliness and connection. Aaliya, a name meaning the exalted one, is a translator. That is, she spends her time translating into Arabic books written in English or French. Some ofThere is so much to love in this book - beautifully written, a complex and compelling main character, a vivid exploration of a foreign culture and an homage to books and the love of reading.Aaliyah Saleh is the narrator and she is speaking to you, the reader. Aaliyah is divorced, childless and friendless and has lived on her own for many years in an apartment in Beirut. She worked in a bookstore but is now retired. Each year, she translates a major piece of literature from French or English to
Rating: 4.25* of fiveThe Publisher Says: One of Beiruts most celebrated voices, Rabih Alameddine follows his international bestseller, The Hakawati, with a heartrending novel that celebrates the singular life of an obsessive introvert, revealing Beiruts beauties and horrors along the way.Aaliya Sohbi lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, divorced, and childless, Aaliya is her familys "unnecessary appendage. Every year, she translates a new
Of course, the moment of enlightenment was when dear Aaliyo discovered coffee. The coffee is ambrosia, a flavor of heaven. And that's how my mind worked at the end of this book. A little bit of my own trumpery about the life of the seventy-two-year-old woman in Beiroet. So jejune of me. After all, Aaliya Sohbi lived alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. "Godless, fatherless, divorced, and childless, Aaliya is her familys "unnecessary appendage. Three witches, as she
Lovely, Introspective, Character Driven NovelThis novel won't be for everyone. If you like lots of action, a fast moving story, chase scenes, violence, sex scenes, etc., this won't be your book (although there is one sex scene in it :) )If, on the other hand, you have a tolerance for slower moving stories in which many things do happen, but more slowly; and you like books that delve deeply in the the interior state of a single character, you'll love this. The book really consists of a monologue
Update to review, October, 2017:First, I agree with my initial review completely. I love the book, again, in the same and new ways. This time I read it more slowly, giving attention to Alameddine's prose, his style and the actual words and phrases he used in describing Aaliya, her neighbors, family, neighborhood, and city. This time I became captivated by Aaliya in a different way--by her struggle with an uncaring family in her youth, a struggle that has lasted her entire life; by the strength
The usual mood that prevails while reading An Unnecessary Woman is something that can be observed during the time of a candid conversation with a fellow book lover who not only share your passion for books but also have similar reading preferences for most of the part. Mention of a personal favorite writer here, an interesting anecdote there and embellishing such dreamlike atmosphere with some lovely quotes. Its like a sensible pampering of a readers soul in the most fun and exciting way
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