The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
A Novel (National Book Award Winner)
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4.5 • 143 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
“Alameddine is a writer with a boundless imagination.”—NPR
From the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother
In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja’s work life and love life, boundaries be damned.
When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn’t be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.
Told in Raja’s irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities—a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness. Above all, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a wildly unique and sparkling celebration of love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Most people would struggle to live in a small apartment with their elderly mother, but when you’re reduced to being her “homosexual, nonbreeding son” and she demands to know every detail of your life, it takes it up a level. In this tragicomic saga, philosophy teacher Raja navigates life against the backdrop of the 1975 Lebanese Civil War, the country’s banking collapse, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jumping around in time, we discover Raja’s problematic childhood being bullied by most of his family, his Stockholm syndrome moment after being kidnapped by a former schoolfriend turned soldier, and his alleged offer of an all-expenses-paid writing residency in the U.S. Through it all, the constant is the incessant bickering between Raja and his mother—and the fierce love underpinning it all. Author Rabih Alameddine’s trademark irreverence and sardonic wit are as relentless as the family fights, with richly imagined scenes jam-packed with emotions. Despite tackling some heavy themes, this smart tale about resilience and mother-son relationships is a real joy.
Customer Reviews
Amazing!
Beautifully written and a great story.
Goosebumps.
Loved this.
Enjoyed
A book that kept getting better.