In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his father's deathbed. As the family gathers, stories begin to unfold: Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching tales are interwoven with classic stories of the Middle East. Here are Abraham and Isaac; Ishmael, father of the Arab tribes; the beautiful Fatima; Baybars, the slave prince who vanquished the Crusaders; and a host of mischievous imps. Through Osama, we also enter the world of the contemporary Lebanese men and women whose stories tell a larger, heartbreaking tale of seemingly endless war, conflicted identity, and survival. With The Hakawati, Rabih Alameddine has given us an Arabian Nights for this century.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: 06/02/2009
ISBN: 9780307386274
Pages: 513
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 8.08h x 5.22w x 1.10d

Review Citations: Entertainment Weekly 06/26/2009 pg. 89
New York Times Book Review 07/26/2009 pg. 16
New York Review of Books 03/25/2010 pg. 27