Beirut Blues [Hardcover]

Al-Shaykh Hanan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

In a novel by the author of Women of Sand, the letters of a woman in Beirut who chooses to suffer through the civil war rather than flee recount her astonishing life and the tumult around her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although present, sex is not quite the driving force here that it was in Lebanese writer al-Shaykh's earlier books, Women of Sand and Myrrh and The Story of Zahra. Instead, al-Shaykh has substituted war. This is still a strangely intimate meditation on a well-born woman who has spent much of her life in the chaos of west Beirut. In 10 letters addressed variously to the protagonist's lover, her grandmother, Billie Holiday, the land, the war and people, places and events, Asmahan remembers her beautiful, cosmopolitan Beirut and childhood friends, juxtaposing them with the city's grizzled, suspicious present and the occupiers who took the exiles' places. Druze, Shia (including the gunmen of Hizbullah and Amal), Sunni, Christian, Palestinian, Syrian and Iranian personages figure in the story, though Asmahan seems disgusted with all of them. Her concerns are not about politics but about dealing with rats in the kitchen; discovering that her ancestral village has been taken over by drug plantations; finding that respect for her family's standing has crumbled along with the country. Asmahan thinks a great deal about her lovers, but her ultimate love is for Beirut. Like Ruhiyya, the village woman to whom Asmahan has been devoted since childhood, Beirut is decrepit, an "angel of death" devoted to dirges. The letters written while Asmahan is in her grandparents' village form the most convincing portion of the narrative. Those from Beirut, while opening up new understanding about life during wartime, are more self-conscious, even awkward.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

How can one respond when home becomes unrecognizable? In her third novel (following The Story of Zahra, Interlink, 1992), al-Shaykh uses the unsent letters of her narrator, Asmaran, to explore the deep sorrows and profound transformations, external and internal, brought by lingering war. As daughter, granddaughter, lover, friend, and striking woman on the street, Asmaran reveals herself as poised yet devastated, affecting yet wounded by change and constant danger. She writes long, rambling, eloquent letters to loved ones, to Beirut, and to the war itself. Through these, the reader learns of flight and family, arrack and cannabis, checkpoints, sandbags, and ruin. Episodic and densely populated, this work is confusing but tender and memorable, a well-translated glimpse into a world most American readers can little understand. Recommended for larger fiction collections.?Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 371 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st Anchor Books ed edition (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385473818
• ISBN-13: 978-0385473811
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,157,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Hanan Al-Shaykh's best novel to date., May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beirut Blues (Paperback)

I thought this book really did give a good account of life in Lebanon during the civil war. The storyline was a little confusing at times, but this is more to do with the confusion war brings about generally. The characters were unsure of their futures and their country's future.

The style of dividing the book into different letters was great. This way, the reader does get views into life of the main character Asmahan. I enjoyed the secondary characters even more, however, this author really knows how to bring characters to life.

Hanan Al-Shaykh writes so differently from any other Middle Eastern author, she definitely deserves more recognition.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant novel of dilemma to remain in a war zone, February 3, 2005

By 

Glutton for books (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beirut Blues (Paperback)

"Beirut Blues" is a thoughtful reflection of the decision to remain home, when home has become a war zone and the dominant concern has been reduced from an abilty to plan for a better future, to being able to survive today without being killed. This book is a haunting portrayal of living in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. Many Lebanese immigrated during those years; knowing that leaving they had a possibilty of returning when the conflict ended.

The main character of the novel, Asmaran is a single Lebanese woman, who has many opportunites to leave the country. Most of her friends and loved ones have left, and physically it would be easy for her to move to a safer nation until the dangers in Lebanon pass. One recieves the impression that she is well educated and relatively affluent, so that suporting herself elsewhere would be perfectly feasible.

The story is expressed through letters that she writes to people about her daily struggles and her debate about remaining in Lebanon. Some critique the writing style for being initially confusing to the reader, but I thought that the format creatively demonstrated the turmoil that one experiences when witnessing the end of the only way of life that once has ever known, and never knowing why such things occurred; the struggle to find meaning in it all and retain sanity in an absurdly insane situation.

Unfortunately, the torment that the dilemma posed to Asmaran is not anomalic to the people who lived in Beirut during the war. Urban warfare is predicted to be more often to modus operandi for conflicts in the future. This novel is essential to comprehending the plight of many who live in war zones, and was written by an author from Beirut. The novel also helps us respect better the gravity with which many refugees have made the decision to leave their home land and seek solace in ours.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Difficult to rate, September 19, 2002

By 

B. Bauer "Brandita" (Somewhere on the 38th parallel N) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beirut Blues (Paperback)

This novel poses complex problems for the reader, and there fore I find it difficult to give either a straight positive ranking or negative one. If you are interested in understanding the inner workings of the mind of someone who is living in a war-ravaged society, then this book is excellent. But if you are reading it to understand more about Lebanon's bloody history and civil war, you won't find much here...it's really focused on the thought processes of its protagonist, Asmahan, and if you don't bring to the book existing knowledge of the place or the conflict, you won't learn anything. Therefore, I'd really recommend it only to those who know the backdrop of Lebanon's civil war.