Reviews

Mr. N is the ultimate in unreliable narrators, as the story slips through time and in and out of delusions. This makes it hard for the reader to extract an actual story thread, as there are no textual clues beyond the opening lines of the scene to tell you when the action takes place, or whether it's taking place in reality at all. However, Barakāt does an admirable job of pulling it together to give the reader something cohesive to hold on to at the end. In between, we get a glimpse of war-torn Lebanon and the plight of its people.

This is not the book for a reader looking for a linear narrative. However, a reader who can decipher Mister N's train of thought will be rewarded by the quality of the writing and the resolution, such as it is.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

dgrachel's review

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is really difficult for me to review. For the right reader, I can see this being a much loved work. The prose is excellent and the story is complex. In a short period of time the reader comes to realize that the eponymous Mister N is mentally ill. This creates a great deal of confusion in the narrative as it is written in first person. I did not enjoy spending 254 pages stuck inside Mister N’s brain. The back cover calls this a dark comedy and says it is “comical and tragic by turns”. I found no hints of comedy at all, just darkness. This is a sad, tragic, and depressing novel. Well written? No doubt. Just not a novel for me.

As a side note on the advanced proof: the number of textual errors was awful and I hope the final version is better edited. There are frequent misspellings, missing words, and duplicated words. If I’d been enjoying the story, I probably would have overlooked them, but since I was not, each stood out like a flashing red light.

Thank you to LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program and the publisher, And Other Stories for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

alp_books's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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