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marinacka17's review
4.0
TONGUE TIE
Before leaving for work I tied my tongue into a great tie. My colleagues congratulated me on my elegance. They praised me to our boss, who expressed admiration and ordered all employees to follow my example!
Before leaving for work I tied my tongue into a great tie. My colleagues congratulated me on my elegance. They praised me to our boss, who expressed admiration and ordered all employees to follow my example!
sarahlaleshire's review
4.0
Hit or miss for me, but way more hits than misses, and the hits hit hard.
akeehan's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
5.0
While we are all familiar with the short story format, I think few of us — Western readers anyways — are accustomed to the "very short story" form (al-qisa al-qasira jiddan) that is presented in this collection. Written by exiled Syrian writer Osama Alomar, these short stories are very short indeed! Most taking less than a full page, some exceeding no more than a single paragraph. Despite the brevity these do not read terse or choppy and they do not leave the reader wanting. Each one is so elegantly written with an effectual and satisfying payoff (it called to mind *Death Speaks by W. Somerset Maugham). It speaks to the incredible skill of both the author and translator to create such a perfect story in so few words over and over again throughout this collection.
In the introduction Lydia Davis aptly described these stories as ranging from "moral fable to political fable to political allegory, to myth, to realistic moral tale, even to undisguised political statement."
Desert Character
I cut off all relations with him soon after we met because of my aversion to his dry, desert-like personality. I regretted this immensely when news of the discovery of high-grade oil in his depths came to my attention. Because of this experience, I was very intent on keeping the friendship of someone else who was a forest of unmatched beauty. But all my efforts to uncover subterranean resources ended in failure.
The Pride of the Garbage
When the owner of the house picked up the bag of garbage and headed out to the street to throw it in the dumpster, the bag was overwhelmed with the fear that she would be put side by side with her companions. But when the man placed her on top of all the others, she became intoxicated with her greatness and looked down at them with disdain.
*Death Speaks by W. Somerset Maugham
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
In the introduction Lydia Davis aptly described these stories as ranging from "moral fable to political fable to political allegory, to myth, to realistic moral tale, even to undisguised political statement."
Desert Character
I cut off all relations with him soon after we met because of my aversion to his dry, desert-like personality. I regretted this immensely when news of the discovery of high-grade oil in his depths came to my attention. Because of this experience, I was very intent on keeping the friendship of someone else who was a forest of unmatched beauty. But all my efforts to uncover subterranean resources ended in failure.
The Pride of the Garbage
When the owner of the house picked up the bag of garbage and headed out to the street to throw it in the dumpster, the bag was overwhelmed with the fear that she would be put side by side with her companions. But when the man placed her on top of all the others, she became intoxicated with her greatness and looked down at them with disdain.
*Death Speaks by W. Somerset Maugham
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture, now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threating gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
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