Like koolaids, it is a rigorously fragmented novel about loss and anger. An extraordinary literary debut, this book is about the aids epidemic, the civil war in beirut, death, sex, and the meaning of life. 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. It makes its first appearance as one of the narrative blurbs on page 99. While the welter of distractions on the internet is a liability to many authors, twitter settles him, blitzer writes. Why do you find this element of fantasy so effective. Alameddines is the authentic voice of the prophet, speaking from the manmade wilderness of the late 20th century. In 1930s korea, at a formative moment in these debates, a aeoecrisis of representationae stemming from the loss of faith in language as a vehicle of meaningful reference to the world became a central concern of literary modernists as.
See all books authored by rabih alameddine, including an unnecessary woman, and the hakawati, and more on thriftbooks. Jeanluc godard once observed that every story needs a beginning, a middle and an. Koolaids breaks from the traditional novel style in that the whole book is a. Daring, dazzling a tough, funny, heartbreaking book. Chronicling the effect of aids and war on the denizens of beirut, alameddines dazzling novel has been cursed by a bland bookjacket.
But aaliya does not feel at home in her native city. Alameddine was born in amman, jordan to lebanese druze parents alameddine himself is an atheist. Alameddine has had solo gallery shows in cities throughout the united states, europe and the middle east. I am not a homosexual, and krishnamurti advises julio cortazar to avoid books by david leavitt and deepak chopra. Koolaids by rabih alameddine book cover, description, publication history. 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. Stanford libraries official online search tool for books, media, journals, databases, government. Over at the new yorker, jonathan blitzer writes about novelist rabih alameddines artful twitter feed and how posting paintings and photographs is part of the authors writing process. The civil war although it officially ended in 1990 continues to preoccupy novelists, with great new books set during wartime coming out every year. Koolaids the art of war by rabih alameddine kijiji. Educated in england and the united states, he has worked as an engineer and a marketing consultant and is.
The art of war also told simultaneous stories, about death in san francisco and. Koolaids and millions of other books are available for instant access. The title character of rabih alameddines new novel spends her days alone in. The first is the war in lebanon the lebanese civil war, with the israelis fighting hezbollah and the syrians fighting the christians.
He was educated in england and america, and has an engineering degree from ucla and an mba from the university of san francisco. The book just jumped at readers and they i think too notice of him then. Aaliya saleh lives alone in her beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Of course before that, there was koolaids and some more books that he had written but this discussion is about koolaids.
It is a story set very much during the lebanese civil war. Rabih alameddine primary author only author division. My name is john freeman, and it gives me an immense amount of joy to present to you rabih alameddine tonight. Alameddines characters who are, unfortunately, not always clearly distinguished. The art of war is a novel by rabih alameddine, an author and painter who. The art of war has 3 available editions to buy at half price books marketplace. These books say more about the authors sartorial and gastronomic preferences than about the epidemic or the times. The main perspective is mohammad, a painter from lebanon who moves to the united states and is part of a close community of gay men. In rabih alameddines an unnecessary woman, the narrator is a septuagenarian literary translator in beirutthe elizabeth taylor of cities, as she calls it, insane, beautiful, tacky, falling apart. Koolaids makes parallels between wartorn lebanon and the gay community torn apart by the aids epidemic. Koolaids rabih alameddine on free shipping on qualifying offers. Rabih alameddine is currently considered a single author. Alameddine directly mentions koolaid within the text of the novel twice.
In his native lebanon, novelist rabih alameddine grew up knowing about a vaunted tradition of storytelling that was once widely practiced in the arab world. Rabih alameddine follows his bestseller, the hakawati, with a heartrending novel that celebrates the singular life of an obsessive introvert, revealing beiruts beauties and horrors along the way. Rabih alameddine was born in jordan of lebanese descent. The contentious relationship between modernism and realism has powerfully influenced literary history throughout the twentieth century and into the present. Unlike most prose works that give their readers narratives designed to enable the readers jump conveniently into the world of their characters, koolaids presents its readers with vignettes that are not immediately correlated. The novel is set in beirut during the lebanese civil war and san francisco during the. One of the middle easts most celebrated voices, rabih alameddine follows his international bestseller, the hakawati, with an enchanting story of a bookloving, obsessive, seventytwoyearold unnecessary woman. Yet rabih alameddines second novel is an assured followup to its beirutborn authors riveting debut, koolaids 1998, a novel in vignettes that miraculously captured the dual disasters of the. One of the narrative voices in this first novel by the painter rabih alameddine remarks. Rabih is not only a writer whose work i admire, he is also the writer with whom i have spent the most time talking about books, writers, and literary ideas. With the hakawati, rabih alameddine has given us an arabian nights for this century. The art of war hardcover april 15, 1998 by rabih alameddine author. Blending humor and emotional depth, the story achieves an interpretation of the everyday chaos of life. Koolaids, on the other hand, reminds us of the uses of anger and grief, and of what the virus did to individuals, communities and a nation.
Rabih alameddine audio books, best sellers, author bio. By returning the reader to a wholly different era, koolaids makes history. The subtitle to this book is the art of war and it is indeed about war two wars, to be precise. One of the middle east s most celebrated voices, rabih alameddine follows his international bestseller, the hakawati, with an enchanting story of a bookloving, obsessive, seventytwoyearold unnecessary woman. Rabih alameddine jumped to the scene and was wellknown right after an unnecessary woman. The jordanian magazine 7iber and arablit look back at how civil war shaped the lebanese novel, and recommend 15 great books set just before, during, and after the war. This emotionally charged first novel by a lebaneseamerican writer and artist is an impressionistic collage that skillfully juxtaposes its gay protagonists defiant encounters with aids, the embattled recent history of lebanon during its own civil war and the israeli siege of beirut, and more general permutations of estrangement from society, family, and nation. Aaliyah lives in the heart of lebanons capital, but she is cut off from parties, war and family. Rabih alameddine books list of books by author rabih. If youre searching for something uplifting and stimulating to read, this is the book. He had gone to art school, and spent a lot of his free time copying the. Its a device youve used previously, particularly in your book koolaids. The art of war 1999 by rabih alameddine is not an easy read, to say the least. Detailing the impact of the aids epidemic and the lebanese civil war in be.
The multiple narrative perspectives are there in both books, lebanon as seen by an. For most of the novel, she walks through her neighborhood in west beirut, remembering past lovers and favorite books. He grew up in kuwait and lebanon, which he left at age 17 to live first in england and then in california. There is not much of comparison between the two works. Following the publication of his critically acclaimed first novel, koolaids, rabih alameddine offers a collection of stories that explores the experience of a number of lebanese characters men and women, gay and straightwhose lives have been blown apart by a disastrous civil war and the resulting international diaspora. Daring in form as well as content, koolaids turns the traditional novel inside out and hangs it on the clothesline to air. Amy tan ive been a huge fan of rabih alameddines work for many years, beginning with his first novel, koolaids. The art of war is a combination of the fruit drink koolaid and sun tzus book the art of war. His debut, koolaids, was written in the form of vignettes and had at its center san franciscos aids epidemic, juxtaposed with the civil warravaged lebanon of. If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. Rabih alameddine was born in amman, jordan to lebanese parents, and grew up in kuwait and lebanon. One of the middle easts most celebrated writers, rabih alameddine, discusses his novel an unnecessary woman, an intimate and moving portrait of a reclusive bookloving 72yearold lebanese woman who views her complicated past through the lens of her favorite works of literature. The characters convey sympathetic narratives of massacre, revolution, counterrevolution, assassination, and scandal.