Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Read The World - Lebanon - The Hakawati

Book: The Hakawati
Author: Rabih Alameddine
Pages: 529
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: YES
I have visited: NO


This is my 34th read of the year.

I know it has been a long time since I blogged about a book.  The Coronavirus quarantine is stil going on, and so my house is full of children and a husband on constant conference calls.  I am having a hard time getting into reading these days.  I have been busying myself with baking and building a 4000 piece puzzle.  Not doing as much reading as I would like.  I am hoping that soon we will be back to normal.


My laziness is increased to not typing out the synopsis of this book, but copying what Amazon has to say about it here:

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 beging to unfold:  Osama's grandfather was a Hakawait, or a 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.

This was a pretty good book.  The stories were fantastic.  It is a little choppy as a book - weaving back and forth between story telling and what is happening in the hospital with Osama's father.  Sometimes the flow was not smooth - it took me a few chapters to get into it.  But I looked forward to the story telling parts of this book the most.  It was a facinating read that I encourage due to the fabulous fables.

Stars: 4




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