"Meet Raja, the narrator of Rabih Alameddine's new novel. A 63-year-old gay philosophy teacher and drag entertainer, he is a stickler for rules and boundaries, living in a tiny Beirut flat with his octogenarian mother, the nosy and unfettered Zalfa. Invited to a writing residency in the US, Raja will use the occasion to relate his life that is, if you don't mind him taking the scenic route."
"Like life, it is a river with many branches, rivulets, creeks and distributaries. Winner of the 2025 US National Book Award for fiction, Alameddine's seventh novel opens and closes in 2023, but the bulk of its action takes place earlier: encompassing the lead-up to and aftermath of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), the Covid pandemic, Lebanon's 2019 banking crisis, and the Beirut port explosion in 2020. If this timeline makes the book sound like a punishing tour of Lebanese history, I promise it isn't."
"With Sartre as his guide, and a drag fabulousness all his own, Raja shows us how. This rule-breaking spin on the trauma plot holds on to its cheer in the face of sobering material The banking collapse and the Covid pandemic are both played as comedies. The former sees an outraged Zalfa taking to the streets as a protest icon: braving teargas, brandishing homemade signs (This Gra"
Raja is a 63-year-old gay philosophy teacher and drag entertainer who lives in a tiny Beirut flat with his octogenarian mother, Zalfa. Invited to a US writing residency, Raja uses the occasion to narrate his life in a scenic, digressive voice. The timeline ranges from the Lebanese civil war through Lebanon's 2019 banking crisis, the Covid pandemic, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion. The story centers on queer coming-of-age, the bond between mother and son, and reflections on storytelling, memory, survival and freedom. The voice remains buoyant, unapologetically camp and rule-breaking, often turning calamity into comedy and resilience.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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