Him, Me, Muhammad Ali
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
In her first story collection, Jarrar employs a particular, rather than rhetorical approach to race and gender. Thus we have "How Can I Be of Use to You," with its complicated relationship between a distinguished Egyptian feminist and her young intern, demonstrating that gender politics are never straightforward, and both generations—old and new—take advantage of each other. There's also a healthy dose of magic surrealism, as in the wild and witty story "Zelda the Halfie" which follows a breed of half Ibexes/half humans and their various tribulations. The writing is peppered with gorgeous imagery: a moon reflected in an ice cream scoop, breath that runs ahead of its body, and two apartments in a high rise whose tenants precisely mirror each other.
Randa Jarrar is the author of a highly successful novel, A Map of Home, which received an Arab-American Book Award and was named one of the best novels of 2008 by the Barnes & Noble Review. She grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, and moved to the United States after the first Gulf War. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Utne Reader, Salon.com, Guernica, the Rumpus, the Oxford American, Ploughshares, and more. She blogs for Salon, and lives in California.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jarrar follows up her novel, A Map of Home, with a collection of stories depicting the lives of Arab women, ranging from hypnotic fables to gritty realism. In "The Lunatics' Eclipse," Qamar, infamous for trying to bring down the Moon, must escape her arranged marriage to flee with Hilal, a man building a rocket to space. In "Building Girls," Aisha struggles with her Egyptian roots, and Perihan who moved to the U.S. can't let go of them fast enough; together the childhood friends find a common language for their past and sexuality. "Lost in Freakin' Yonkers" finds Aida disowned by her family after deciding to have a baby out of wedlock. "A Sailor," in which a husband refuses to get mad at his wife for having an affair, is a nuanced portrait of a relationship. In the title story, after her father dies Kinshasa searches for her history in a missing photograph of Muhammad Ali posing with her father. Often witty and cutting, these stories transport readers and introduce them to a memorable group of women.
Customer Reviews
Boring
Boring
Utter garbage!!
This “book” complete crap. Total waste of time, factually incorrect in many places. You’d be better off reading a coloring book then this!!
Woman’s a racist
Why would anyone care about the words and thoughts of an ignorant racist.