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Gravel Heart
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
12 posts | 6 read | 1 reading | 8 to read
Moving from revolutionary Zanzibar in the 1960s to restless London in the 1990s, Gravel Heart is a powerful story of exile, migration and betrayal, from the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of ParadiseSalim has always believed that his father does not want him. Living with his parents and his adored Uncle Amir in a house full of secrets, he is a bookish child, a dreamer haunted by night terrors.It is the 1970s and Zanzibar is changing. Tourists arrive, the island's white sands obscuring the memory of recent conflict: longed-for independence from British colonialism swiftly followed by bloody revolution. When his father moves out, retreating into dishevelled introspection, Salim is confused and ashamed. His mother explains neither this nor her absences with a strange man; silence is layered on silence.When glamorous Uncle Amir, now a senior diplomat, offers Salim an escape, the lonely teenager travels to London for college. But nothing has prepared him for the biting cold and seething crowds of this hostile city. Struggling to find a foothold, and to understand the darkness at the heart of his family, Salim must face devastating truths about himself and those closest to him - and about love, sex and power.Evoking the immigrant experience with unsentimental precision and profound insight, Gravel Heart is a powerfully affecting story of isolation, identity, belonging and betrayal, and is Abulrazak Gurnah's most dazzling achievement.
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review
Michellesibs
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Pickpick

This book is very descriptive and dilly dallies all over the place and we are given far more information than we would ever need however it does create an atmosphere which absorbs you. At times you could almost smell the scenes being described.

Set between Zanzibar and London, this is the story of Salim and his family secrets. I was pretty invested in the characters here and how their lives were playing out.

I liked this, it was a decent read

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BarbaraBB
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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#12BooksOf2022

My favorite book in October was this one, written by the Nobel Prize winner. It‘s the story of boy looking for his place in the world. An emotional read for #ReadingAfrica2022.

Andrew65 Sounds a good read. 2y
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anushareflects
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Pickpick

A beautiful, devastating read that explores themes of the post colonial immigrant experience in England, power and politics, family dynamics, memory and loss. Gurnah is a gifted writer and the narration on Audible elevated the experience.

BarbaraBB I was so impressed by this one too 2y
7 likes2 comments
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BarbaraBB
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Pickpick

On the day the Noble prize winner is announced I finally read a book by last year‘s winner.
And I enjoyed it a lot. Not very much happens, when I think of it, yet I couldn‘t stop reading when I had to. Gurnah is a gifted writer. This is the story of a boy who can‘t find his luck in #Zanzibar and moves to London where he doesn‘t fit in either. “Some people have a use in the world and some people don‘t.” A sad conclusion.

#ReadingAfrica2022 🇹🇿

Librarybelle That is a sad conclusion indeed! 2y
Megabooks Wow. 😢 2y
58 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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BarbaraBB
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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#WeeklyForecast 35/22

I am in the middle of Case Study, which I am enjoying a lot (and I LOVE the cover 💙). Next will be the tagged one for #ReadingAfrica2022. I have been meaning to read this since the author won the Noble Prize, so it‘s about time. The thriller is for during an extremely long flight to South Korea on Friday. I hope it is good and will make me escape for some hours!

Smrloomis Hope the flight is smooth. Travel safely! 2y
TrishB Safe travels! Work or pleasure? 2y
squirrelbrain Nothing like a good thriller on a long flight… safe trip! ✈️ 2y
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batsy South Korea! How exciting... Safe travels! I love the Case Study cover, as well. Glad to hear that you're enjoying it. 2y
Cinfhen Wow-!!!! This Friday already!!! How many hours is your flight??? Safe travels/ can‘t wait to see your photos 😄 2y
aa_guer2021 That sounds like an exciting flight! Safe travels & I hope the book helps pass the time!! 2y
BarbaraBB @TrishB Both. My boyfriend has to go and I could travel along and combine it with a visit to my own partner agency in Seoul. We‘ll go to Tokyo as well, where I‘ll ‘work from home‘ while my man is visiting his project over there! 2y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen 20 😱. Have you arrived safely? Busy already? 2y
Cinfhen OMG!!! 20 hours!!!! I thought 14 hours was long…yes, arrived great flight but it‘s raining in Miami ☔️ BOO!!! So annoying but we‘re heading out soon to visit M‘s dad. 2y
TrishB Enjoy! I would love to go to both. 2y
TrishB @Cinfhen glad you arrived safely 😘 2y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen You hate the rain! That is disappointing but it won‘t last I‘m sure! 2y
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kaysworld1
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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#NobelPrize goes to Abdulrazak Gurnah

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jveezer
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Pickpick

What an excellent book about what it‘s like to be human. What humans do to and for each other. How things are not always how they seem and sometimes are. It makes me cry for yet another beloved African country. Alas, the corruption of power and the fruits of imperialism. 💔

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jveezer
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Been a while since I had a backyard tea and reading session. Good to be back at it. #Teading #BooksAndTea

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TheKidUpstairs
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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1. One of my grandfather's paintings, an AJ Casson print that my husband bought on a whim on our wedding day, a Red Ensign flag, antique snowshoes.

2. 50 books, read more diverse stories and authors, read more outside of my Can/US/UK women comfort zone.

3. Reading glasses 🤓

4. Starry night sky over the mountains.

5. One of my #LitsyPassport picks. Country: Tanzania

#HumpDayPost @MinDea

AmyG Lovely painting. 7y
TheKidUpstairs @AmyG He did some beautiful work. I'm lucky to have a few of his paintings, and a sketch he did back in the army during WW2 (he used to sketch caricatures of his army buddies, and I've got one he did of himself). Unfortunately, he can no longer paint, he's 93 and his eyesight is failing, but that makes the peices I do have all the more special. 7y
AmyG ❤️ 7y
82 likes3 comments
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charl08
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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I don't know if it was lying nostalgia...

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Moray_Reads
Gravel Heart | Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Panpan

I was so close to bailing on this one but I managed to push through. It didn't work for me at all. The writing is so distant and so much is merely reported by the narrater that I felt no connection to story or characters. For a first-person narrative to convey so little of the narrator's feelings or character (let alone the other characters!) was truly bizarre.