Almeddine has written a rich philosophical novel about a Lebanese woman who has lived in Beirut her whole life, a witness to all the wars that ancient and historical city has been through. It sent me running to the Atlas and internet for photos and information about the city as it plays a large role in the life of our narrator who we know as Aaliya. It is always tricky for a male author to have a woman speaking in the first person as his main character. The author who does this best is Colm Toibin. Despite this, Aaliya is an interesting character with a strong inner voice.
This is a novel where little happens outside of Aaliya's everyday life. The action is all interior. She is an only child of a mother who largely ignored her after Aaliya's father died at a young age. The mother married again, and Aaliya has step-siblings, including a menacing boorish half-brother who desires Aaliya's larger West Beirut apartment for his family. This is the cause of numerous family quarrels. Aaliya states, "I would choose to die in my apartment rather than live without it." And, she almost did die. During the madness of the civil wars she slept with an AK47 by her side. Her attachment to her apartment is her greatest comfort; it is home, her relief from the craziness of the world outside. It is an escape from the city, once beautiful, which has fallen apart and become tacky. She came by the apartment through an arranged marriage to a man for whom she felt nothing but contempt. They divorce and she is left the apartment in a building where only the women living there have a role in the story. There are three of them who have a part in Aaliya's life. Through the horrors that beset the city these women remained strong and caring of each other. They move the story along to a day that will change Aaliya and her solitary life.
After the divorce, Aaliya found a job in a bookstore which motivated her desire to survive. Here she could lose herself in books and the company of the few readers who returned again and again. The only two people who touch Aaliya as friends spend days browsing and reading while she works. One, Ahmad, is a young man who eventually becomes a feared revolutionary, the other is Hannah who is like a sister to her. Hannah is a woman who herself has an interesting and tragic history.
Aaliya is a gifted translator of books into Arabic. She speaks a number of languages. January 1st is an important date for her. Each year she eagerly looks forward to the New Year when she will begin a new translation. A great deal of thought goes into the choosing of this book. She has spent 72 years immersed in books and reading and has translated 37 books into Arabic. These books, the fruits of her labor are stored in boxes in the unoccupied maid's room.
I enjoyed the character of Aaliya with her busy and complicated inner life. The author inserts many many alusions to books and authors, perhaps too many literary digressions. There are quotes from both known and unfamiliar authors. Aaliya's favorites are Nabokov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Alice Monro. However, books and their authors are the companions of Aaliya's life and add to the reader's understanding of her character and solitary nature.
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