Beirut Blues [Hardcover]

Hanan al-Shaykh (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Anchor Books/Doubleday (1992)
• ASIN: B000MQYQ0W
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,135,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

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.