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A review by curiouslibrarian
The Night Counter by Alia Yunis
4.0
This is a 4.5 from me.
I really enjoyed this book. It put my in mind of the old, sprawling Yiddish generational saga stories. But this is about an Arab-American family in contemporary times, and it takes place over only a few days. The conceit of Fatima telling Scheherazade the stories of her life for 1001 nights means that we are privy not only to Fatima's early life back in Lebanon and in America, but thanks to Scheherazade deciding to investigate Fatima's 10 children and many grandchildren we get to see all the current stories play out as well. And it works beautifully as a construct.
Since Fatima knows that she will die after the 1001st night (the book begins on night 992), she feels pressed to get her affairs in order and figure out to which of her children and grandchildren she can leave her most treasured possessions. The most amusing and ridiculous of these situations centers on the grandchild she has been living with for the past 992 days. He is a gay actor trying to land a major role. Fatima feels she must find him a wife before he dies, which is one complication. The other is that his vindictive ex-boyfriend has sent the FBI after him to investigate him for "terrorism" out of spite. Some of the funniest scenes in the book come when these collide.
Because there are so many strands, the stories in this book span the gamut of emotions: funny, touching, sad, pathetic, hopeful etc. And of course they all connect up on the very last day, although not for any reason the reader would predict until it all plays out.
Highly recommended.
I really enjoyed this book. It put my in mind of the old, sprawling Yiddish generational saga stories. But this is about an Arab-American family in contemporary times, and it takes place over only a few days. The conceit of Fatima telling Scheherazade the stories of her life for 1001 nights means that we are privy not only to Fatima's early life back in Lebanon and in America, but thanks to Scheherazade deciding to investigate Fatima's 10 children and many grandchildren we get to see all the current stories play out as well. And it works beautifully as a construct.
Since Fatima knows that she will die after the 1001st night (the book begins on night 992), she feels pressed to get her affairs in order and figure out to which of her children and grandchildren she can leave her most treasured possessions. The most amusing and ridiculous of these situations centers on the grandchild she has been living with for the past 992 days. He is a gay actor trying to land a major role. Fatima feels she must find him a wife before he dies, which is one complication. The other is that his vindictive ex-boyfriend has sent the FBI after him to investigate him for "terrorism" out of spite. Some of the funniest scenes in the book come when these collide.
Because there are so many strands, the stories in this book span the gamut of emotions: funny, touching, sad, pathetic, hopeful etc. And of course they all connect up on the very last day, although not for any reason the reader would predict until it all plays out.
Highly recommended.