About this book

In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his father's deathbed. As the family gathers, stories begin to unfold: Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching tales are interwoven with classic stories of the Middle East. Here are Abraham and Isaac; Ishmael, father of the Arab tribes; the beautiful Fatima; Baybars, the slave prince who vanquished the Crusaders; and a host of mischievous imps. Through Osama, we also enter the world of the contemporary Lebanese men and women whose stories tell a larger, heartbreaking tale of seemingly endless war, conflicted identity, and survival. With The Hakawati, Rabih Alameddine has given us an Arabian Nights for this century.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Subjects

  • amor en la literatura
  • fiction
  • fiction, general
  • fiction, war & military
  • gossip
  • lebanon, fiction
  • literatura estadounidense
  • middle east, fiction
  • new york times reviewed
  • novela de ciencia ficción
  • novela fantástica
  • social conditions
  • storytellers
  • storytelling