The Stone of Laughter (Interlink World Fiction) [Paperback]

Huda Barakat (Author), Sophie Bennett (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

This series is designed to bring to North American readers the once-unheard voices of writers who have achieved wide acclaim at home, but are not recognized beyond the borders of their native lands. With special emphasis on women writers, Interlink's Emerging Voices series publishes the best of the world's contemporary literature in translation or original English.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is the story of a person. It is also a story of a population, and of a war. It reads as grotesque fantasy, where traditional assumptions can be fatal, consequences no longer make sense and the most commonplace social act may conceal lethal betrayal. In 14 years of civil war, which left Beirut's glories ravished and its cosmopolitan society devastated, the grotesque becomes mundane. Disoriented amid the chaos, Khalil questions his every thought and impulse as he grasps for an identity, sexuality and teleology-his internal dialogue is the warp of this narrative. Retreating into desperate isolation when the two men he covertly loves are killed, Khalil is paralyzed by guilt and fear. His despair brings illness and a minor epiphany in the hospital, where he awakens, in the book's most impressionistic and fluidly crafted sequence, to the value and beauty of life. Barakat allows Khalil this illumination, a lambent moment of hope, so that she may quickly shatter it. Khalil's dizzying descent to an inhumanity as perverse and cruel as it is mad, seems incomprehensible. Khalil's tormented mind, his betrayal of newly discovered selfhood reflects the unendurable stress provoked by such war. The frightening results, and the fragility of civilization, is the kernel of this cautionary tale, told too late for young men like Khalil.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Arabic --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing Group (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566561906
• ISBN-13: 978-1566561907
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most powerful war novels i ever read, December 10, 2001

By 

Rania Masri (Lebanon (the country)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Stone of Laughter (Interlink World Fiction) (Paperback)

I'm thrilled to see the 'emerging voices' series on Amazon. Wonderful!.

This book is one of the powerful, poignant books I have ever read about wars (and I've read a great deal). It tackles the deeper issues of violence -- how does the soul feel when confronted with violence, mindless violence, on a daily basis? how do people react? what happens to one's sensitivity? one's ability for honest laughter? one's interactions with others?

Hoda Barakat delves into those issues - and does so courageously and poetically. She also presents them through the eyes of a homosexual man. Quite powerful!.

Highly recommended - to Lebanese, to Arabs, and to all people interested in examining the effects of war and violence on every-day people.

- Rania (a Lebanese-American)

4 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Classic, November 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Stone of Laughter: A Novel (Emerging Voices. New International Fiction) (Hardcover)

What a brave author, tackling two controversial subjects in one single masterfully-written novel. Did I read it, dream it or live it?

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful story with feelings, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Stone of Laughter (Interlink World Fiction) (Paperback)

This book takes you away into a whole new world. But on close examination, you realise that it is your world.

Great fun to read in the sun.