A review by serendipitysbooks
Beirut Blues: A Novel by Hanan Al-Shaykh

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Beirut Blues is an epistolary novel looking at the impact of the civil war in Lebanon . It unfolds via ten lengthy letters from the protagonist Asma. Some were written to friends, family, and former lovers. Others, presumably never posted but written more as a form of journaling, were to figures as diverse as Billie Holliday and Jill Morrell, girlfriend of a British journalist held hostage during Lebanon’s civil war, and to Beirut itself. Many focus on her struggling with the decision of whether of not to flee Lebanon, looking at what the war had taken from her and what would be lost and gained by moving elsewhere. Normally I enjoy epistolary novels but for some reason this didn’t work for me. Possibly because the letters were a one-way street and there was none of the interaction I enjoy when you read both the letters sent and received. I also found the tone introspective, detached and dispassionate. The book felt flat and I never never felt a connection to Asma and her plight.