Grove Press
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
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2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
"Alameddine is a writer with a boundless imagination."--NPR
From National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother
In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and "the neighborhood homosexual," Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son's desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja's work life and love life, boundaries be damned.
When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn't be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.
Told in Raja's irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities--a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness. Above all, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a wildly unique and sparkling celebration of love.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780802166470
EAN:
9780802166470
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
336
Authors:
Rabih Alameddine
Publisher:
Grove Press
Published Date: 2025-02-09
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When any writer can make me feel like the main character is a close friend…well, I know they are the best writers. Raja is my friend. His mother is a lady I know. Her cousin and I share stories. The Madame and I reminisce.
As harrowing as it is hilarious, Alameddine tells the story of the brilliant but emotionally ravaged Raja (and his mother) set against the disasters that have plagued Lebanon over the past half century. The story is full of surprises, some devastating, others curiously life affirming.
A brilliant book about family and fighting and forgiveness. Sweet funny moving. I adored it all from the first paragraph.
Great story. It’s an important glimpse into what it’s like to live in a war zone. I especially appreciated the perspective of a gay man and his relationship with his family. I highly recommend it.
I cannot remember where this book was suggested to me, as I receive newsletters on books from the NYT, directly from publishers, as well as suggestions here on Amazon. This is not at all my normal genre; my preferred fiction is either mystery/suspense or sci-fi (so I'm not sure how I came to read the excerpt that led me to purchase it). I do, however, love reading well-written books about foreign places and, set in Beirut, this does check that box. What kept me reading are the characters: flawed, good, bad, and deeply messy. It's an uncomfortable, surprising, sometimes funny, yet inspiring tale of figuring out who we are, who we love, the consequences of our actions, and what we leave behind.
