Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels An Unnecessary Woman; I, the Divine; Koolaids; The Hakawati; and the story collection, The Perv.

Through the winding and darkly comic anecdotes of the 63-year-old protagonist Raja we see a broad landscape of Lebanon's fractured history rooted in the actions and reactions of his hilariously imposing mother. It is really a portrait in two parts: of a man reckoning with trauma attached to his identity and homeland, and of the blind passion of a mother protecting her son.I loved [it].

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels An Unnecessary Woman; I, the Divine; Koolaids; The Hakawati; and the story collection, The Perv.

Through the winding and darkly comic anecdotes of the 63-year-old protagonist Raja we see a broad landscape of Lebanon's fractured history rooted in the actions and reactions of his hilariously imposing mother. It is really a portrait in two parts: of a man reckoning with trauma attached to his identity and homeland, and of the blind passion of a mother protecting her son.I loved [it].

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels An Unnecessary Woman; I, the Divine; Koolaids; The Hakawati; and the story collection, The Perv.

Through the winding and darkly comic anecdotes of the 63-year-old protagonist Raja we see a broad landscape of Lebanon's fractured history rooted in the actions and reactions of his hilariously imposing mother. It is really a portrait in two parts: of a man reckoning with trauma attached to his identity and homeland, and of the blind passion of a mother protecting her son.I loved [it].