With more than 21,000 copies in print of Women Of Sand And Myrrh, and more than 15,000 copies of The Story Of Zahra, Hanan al-Shaykh is the best known and most admired woman writer of the Arab world. The paperback publication of Zahra will bring this passionate and courageous novel to a much larger group of readers. Its haunting story of a young Lebanese woman who attempts to stem the violence in Beirut by initiating a sexual liaison with a sniper has "lifted the corner of a dark curtain" (Sunday Telegraph ) from a world that fascinates us all.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Banned in several Arab nations, this rich tale mesmerizes with its frank sexuality and scenes of war-torn Beirut. Zahra is a misfit mistreated by her mother, who brings her along to secret meetings with a lover, and by her father, a harsh disciplinarian who reacts angrily to her habit of picking at her pimpled face. She leaves her parents to stay with an uncle who has fled to Africa to escape being arrested for political activity. When his affection for her grows sexual, Zahra agrees to an unsuccessful marriage with his friend Majed. Eventually, she returns to Beirut, where "the war was like a weevil that had found its way into the heart of a huge bag of white flour and settled there," and begins meeting secretly to have sex with a man who may or may not be a rooftop sniper. A rotating first-person narrative gives everyone a voice; Zahra's is the most striking, but each character has memorable moments, as when Majed describes his adolescent arousal while reading Jane Eyre and seeing an illustration of the heroine kissing Mr. Rochester. Al-Shaykh ( Women of Sand and Myrrh ), a Lebanese writer now living in London, has a focused and original style.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
This harsh 1986 novel traces several years in the life of Zahra, who attempts to escape her brutal existence in Lebanon by visiting an uncle in South Africa. When that venture proves equally empty, she returns to war-torn Beirut in hopes of finally finding inner peace.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A Lebanese writer now living in London, al-Shaykh has been praised as the Arab world's leading woman novelist. Her Women of Sand and Myrrh was a breakthrough in its revelatory descriptions of Arab women's lives.
The Story of Zahra has been banned in seven Arab countries because it candidly addresses of a personal and political nature.
Zahra, a child of the Shia community in south Lebanon is deceived and abused by her parents. To escape, she seeks a haven with her uncle who is living as a political exile in West Africa. Regrettably, he, too, seeks to use her as "the key to making contact with my past as well as my future."
Returning to Beirut to escape a loveless marriage, Zahra finds a strife torn city ablaze with civil war. There she misguidedly enters into a liaison with a sniper in the hopes of saving others. What would her life be like if the violence and gunfire would ever end?
The Story of Zahra is a chillingly told story of a woman's search for peace in a world ravaged by war.
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In response to the Lebanese reviewer who knows "everything" about being Lebanese.....this book is purely fiction! However, the author, herself being Lebanese used different aspects of Lebanese culture and society as a setting to her beautiful and saddening story. The story is set upon the horror of civil war and the breakdown of society that inevitably occurs as the war drags on. The story is not supposed to be a true story or one that you could find happened to a typical Lebanese survivor of the war. It is, however, a story about how war can destroy the very fibers of a person's life who is not a member of any warring faction. It is truly a heartbreaking story of a woman-child who struggles to hold onto her own sanity. From, Another Lebanese
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book, The Story of Zahra, amazing. I never even figured out what the end would be until I reached it. Then I had to ask, how could I be so dumb! I read this book in a matter of hours and was totally engrossed in the story. It really highlights the psychological life of a Muslim woman in Lebanon and how her behavior affects others. I disagree with the reviewer who believes that Zahra has a "psychological disorder." I think that she is a normal woman forced by convention and an oppressive life into behaviors she would never engage in if she was permitted more freedom and an ounce of respect. Zahra is never a person with self-determination but owned and controlled by others. She is eventually treated as a mere comodity.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Story of Zahra" innocence lost
This book will keep you glued to your seat waiting to see what happens next. "The Story of Zahra" is a powerfully haunting portrait of a young Lebanese girl whose innocence is... Read more
Published 17 months ago by jean kelley
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intense and Beautiful
This book is the story of a young woman, Zahra, negotiating life in Beirut before and during the Lebanese Civil war. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Colleen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why you should read "The Story of Zahra"
The concept of "woman as nation" in the Arabic world has been an ever-evolving consistency. It has commonalities that transcend nations, religions, and time periods--and it has... Read more
Published 17 months ago by shapiroib
4.0 out of 5 stars
review by alyssa shultz 3/26/07
The Story of Zahra is about a girl who has never matured into a woman, despite her years and experience. Read more
Published on March 26, 2007 by Alyssa M. Shultz
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Book That Fails to Live Up to Its Story
The Story of Zahra is a book that could have been great but ends up being a mishmash of cliches and stereotypes. Read more
Published on November 24, 2006 by Safire Rain
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating
One of the best books I've read in the past few years. I couldn't put it down. Captivating story, beautifully written.
Published on March 16, 2006 by J. Davis
2.0 out of 5 stars
Muddled novel about Lebanon...
Hanan Al-Shyakh's "Story of Zahra" is a bit muddled, and tries to be a feminist book, but it only manages to make Zahra look like a perpetual victim in an misogynist part of the... Read more
Published on February 19, 2005 by Peter LaPrade
5.0 out of 5 stars
a page turner!
This book althought set in a world very different than my own, can be seen as universal. The trials of Zahra before the war and after the war show how a troubled woman with... Read more
Published on May 30, 2003 by mitzigg04
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Really Liked This Book
No one claimed that the book depicts the truth about Lebanese culture but it is a GREAT story. The author had be hooked by the third page and I couldn't wait to finish it.
Published on May 27, 2003 by Nermine Fawzy
5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST FOR LOVERS OF POETRY
Those familiar with world literature know that Iran has always been home to great poets.
Omar Khayyam and Hafez have been household names in the West for over a century. Read more
Omar Khayyam and Hafez have been household names in the West for over a century. Read more
Published on May 19, 2003 by andrea keame
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