Font ResizeNO MATTER what our beliefs, this is the time of year we want to get away from the gritty and dysfunctional plots and into something more fanciful. A nice story, as it were. Or stories, as in the case of the next Book Club selection.
It is "The Hakawati" by Rabih Alameddine (Anchor, $16, 528 pages). A hakawati is what a storyteller is called in Lebanon, where the book takes place. After many years in America, a young man, Osama, returns to his father's deathbed in Beirut along with the rest of his family. The stories flow, and with good reason: Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, and the stories have been passed down.
The traditional tales shared in the Middle East are embellished with stories of slave princes, beautiful women and naughty imps. Meanwhile, Osama's own life in 2003 — and indeed, real life in combustible Lebanon — is interspersed with the fantastical tales spun by the family.
Critics call "The Hakawati" "captivating," "bewitching," "exhilarating," "audacious" and more than one say it's the "Arabian Nights" for the 20th century. I hope you give it a try and join us at a bookstore discussion. It's amazing how much more we get out of books when we examine them together!
