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A review by palsbookshelf
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
5.0
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Aaliya Saleh, a 72 year old divorced woman, living alone in her Beirut appartment, has spent the past fifty years translating books from English and French to Arabic. Aaliya has been living a life of a hermit since her short-lived marriage, devoid of any social obligations, completely immersed in the literary world.
"I am my family's appendix, its unnecessary appendage."
"I long ago abandoned myself to a blind lust for the written word. Literature is my sandbox. In it I play, build my forts and castles, spend glorious time. It is the world outside that box that gives me trouble. I have adapted tamely, though not conventionally, to this visible world so I can retreat without much inconvenience into my inner world of books. Transmuting this sandy metaphor, if literature is my sandbox, then the real world is my hourglass- an hourglass that drains grain by grain. Literature gives me life, and life kills me."
Basically, there is no plot! It's just Aaliya going about her days, musing over past and present, casually throwing giant literary refrences(I'll admit some that I've never even heard of!) and being sarcastically opinionated (the humour!) She has strong opinions on literature, American authors, religion, Lebanese civil war, family, men, marriage and life, but that's the thing, nothing that comes out of her mouth is unnecessary! She'll have your undivided attention right from the beginning, and after a point it felt like listening to a podcast.
A must read for all the literary enthusiast (especially the classics), but again for everyone who has ever felt that they don't fit in the social template, who find themselves as a bystander in this thing called life!
5
Aaliya Saleh, a 72 year old divorced woman, living alone in her Beirut appartment, has spent the past fifty years translating books from English and French to Arabic. Aaliya has been living a life of a hermit since her short-lived marriage, devoid of any social obligations, completely immersed in the literary world.
"I am my family's appendix, its unnecessary appendage."
"I long ago abandoned myself to a blind lust for the written word. Literature is my sandbox. In it I play, build my forts and castles, spend glorious time. It is the world outside that box that gives me trouble. I have adapted tamely, though not conventionally, to this visible world so I can retreat without much inconvenience into my inner world of books. Transmuting this sandy metaphor, if literature is my sandbox, then the real world is my hourglass- an hourglass that drains grain by grain. Literature gives me life, and life kills me."
Basically, there is no plot! It's just Aaliya going about her days, musing over past and present, casually throwing giant literary refrences(I'll admit some that I've never even heard of!) and being sarcastically opinionated (the humour!) She has strong opinions on literature, American authors, religion, Lebanese civil war, family, men, marriage and life, but that's the thing, nothing that comes out of her mouth is unnecessary! She'll have your undivided attention right from the beginning, and after a point it felt like listening to a podcast.
A must read for all the literary enthusiast (especially the classics), but again for everyone who has ever felt that they don't fit in the social template, who find themselves as a bystander in this thing called life!
5