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I, The Divine: A Novel in First Chapters
I, The Divine: A Novel in First Chapters | Rabih Alameddine
7 posts | 3 read | 26 to read
Named after the "divine" Sarah Bernhardt, red-haired Sarah Nour El-Din is "wonderful, irresistibly unique, funny, and amazing," raves Amy Tan. Determined to make of her life a work of art, she tries to tell her story, sometimes casting it as a memoir, sometimes a novel, always fascinatingly incomplete.  "Alameddine's new novel unfolds like a secret... creating a tale...humorous and heartbreaking and always real" (Los Angeles Times). "[W]ith each new approach, [Sarah] sheds another layer of her pretension, revealing another truth about her humanity" (San Francisco Weekly). Raised in a hybrid family shaped by divorce and remarriage, and by Beirut in wartime, Sarah finds a fragile peace in self-imposed exile in the United States. Her extraordinary dignity is supported by a best friend, a grown-up son, occasional sensual pleasures, and her determination to tell her own story. "Like her narrative, [Sarah's] life is broken and fragmented. [But] the bright, strange, often startling pieces...are moving and memorable" (Boston Globe). Reading group guide included.
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quote
Bertha_Mason

"I woke up with a hangover. Thousands of tiny ants marched in step between my temples, having come through my mouth and dried their feet on my tongue."

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Bertha_Mason

"In Lebanese, cursing is an art form; I was its Rembrandt."

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Bertha_Mason

"Can there be any *here*? No. She understands *there*. Whenever she is in Beirut, home is New York. Whenever she is in New York, home is Beirut. Home is never where she is, but where she is not."

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Bertha_Mason
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blurb
Bertha_Mason

One chapter is entirely in French. I had to skip it because I took Spanish. :P

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Bertha_Mason

"When it came to a choice between a beautiful color and the correct color, Bonnard always picked the beautiful one, while Rothko, in his great paintings, picked the correct one. I realized when it came to men, I did not pick the beautiful or the correct."

batsy Wow. 7y
Bertha_Mason Right? Alameddine's writing is a revelation. 7y
2 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
AmyStewart
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A novel told entirely in first chapters as a woman tries to figure out how to tell her story. Brilliant structure for a novel, and naturally it's filled with great first lines. I particularly love the way there are new title pages and epigraphs throughout the book. The designer must've had fun.

Baileythebookworm I LOVE his work, that looks brilliant 8y
Caryl What a fantastic idea! 8y
46 likes18 stack adds3 comments