Confessions

During the violence and chaos of the Lebanese Civil War, a car pulls up to a roadblock on a narrow side street in Beirut After a brief and confused exchange, several rounds of bullets are fired into the car, killing everyone inside except for a small boy of four or five The boy is taken to the hospital, adopted by one of the assassins, and raised in a new family My father used to kidnap and kill people begins this haunting tale of a child who was raised by the murderer of his real family The narrator of Confessions doesn t shy away from the horrible truth of his murderous father instead he confronts his troubled upbringing and seeks to understand the distortions and complexities of his memories, his war torn country, and the quiet war that rages inside of him.Finalist for the PEN Translation Prize and PEN Center USA Translation Award. Best Read Confessions by Rabee Jaber For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr A boy talks about his father who is actually not his real father, set against the back drop of the Lebanese Civil War The summary they give for the book kind of gives away the whole plot but I m not sure my own summation does any better It s not really about much else though, the whole book is literally about that though so I understand that the book is trying to show the horrors of the war and deal with the complexity of family and grief and I can appreciate that but I didn t really get much A boy talks about his father who is actually not his real father, set against the back drop of the Lebanese Civil War The summary they give for the book kind of gives away the whole plot but I m not sure my own summation does any better It s not really about much else thou... When I try to tell you now about what happened back then, the memories merge with what I imagine to be memories. Confessions is a tight novella that deals with the distorted memory of a stolen childhood spent in a war zone of ever shifting frontlines which, inhabiting the city and dividing it in two, just like Aleppo today, invade the homes and schools and public places, trapping innocent people in a quagmire of violence from which there s no escape But this is different in a positive way from When I try to tell you now about what happened back then, the memories merge with what I imagine to be memories. Confessions is ...A beautiful, near ethereal examination of the concepts of self and memoryI devoured this book The story was riveting and the language was gorgeous I highlighted many passages This book explores themes of memory and identity in a powerful way.The dreamlike retrospection of Jaber s digressive prose conveys his motifs politics, war, identity, eroticism, romantic love, family ties, grief, sensuality, memory, imagination by way of a narrator who complains that he can t express himself With Confessions, alongside The Mehlis Report 2015 English translation 2013 and the for...What was the last Lebanese novel you read that was translated from Arabic Yeah, that s what I thought..read this book Read the full review soon in SLJ AB4T.I had high hopes for this book but sadly couldn t get past page 20 The problem with this book is my problem with most Arabic literature tell, tell, tell There is no artistry in the use or execution of language Granted it s translated into English, but why do I not have the same problem reading Alaa Al Aswany or Naguib Mahfouz in English The answer is because they know how to show their narrative through action Granted, even they have long narrative passages that are passive and telling, b I had high hopes for this book but sadly couldn t get past p...Finalist for the 2017 PEN Translation Prize This short novel explores the coming of age of a young boy during the Lebanese Civil War The boy is the sole survivor of an attack on a family, is adopted by one of the assassins, and is raised in this new family The book is written in a straightforward, unadorned style and is good in its portrayal of life in the violence and chaos of war and in its exploration of themes such as self and memory However, the characters do not engage the reader, and Finalist for the 2017 PEN Translation Prize This short novel explores the coming of age of a young boy during the Lebanese Civil War The boy is the sole survivor of an ...Beautifully written Or beautifully translated Or both This haunting, sad and hopeful book was a pleasure to read. so much time has passed and yet, even now, i still don t know how to tell my story all of this is hard all these years have gone by and i m still at a loss, still unable to speak, as if the words themselves were clogging my throat i can feel them rising from my belly, from my heart and as i finally speak, it feels like the mud is leaving but it s not mud. arabic booker winning lebanese author and journalist rabee jaber has penned over a dozen novels, yet only a pair are currently availab so much time has passed and yet, even now, i still don t know how to tell my story all of this is hard all these years have gone by and i m still at a loss, still unable to speak, as if the words themselves were clogging my throat i can feel them rising from my belly, from my heart and as i finally speak, it feels like the mud is leaving but it s not mud. arabic booker winning lebanese author and journalist rabee jaber has penned over a dozen novels, yet only a pair are currently available in english translation confessions al i tirafat , originally published in 2008, is a pensive, melancholy account of life following the lebanese civil war in the late 70s and 80s mamoun, confessions s narrator, ruminates on his uncertain past, reared as he ...

• English
• 17 April 2018
Rabee Jaber
• Paperback
• 128 pages
• 0811220672
• Rabee Jaber
• Confessions