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Arabesques
Arabesques: A Novel | Anton Shammas
2 posts | 3 read | 3 to read
"Arabesques is a classic of the exploration of identity. . . . A Palestinian master of Hebrew, living at the seam between Jews and Arabs, between the ancient and the modern, between loyalties and appetites, Shammas has written beautifully about his search for design. He transforms fact into fantasy without changing a thing."--Leon Wieseltier
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review
The_Penniless_Author
Arabesques: A Novel | Anton Shammas
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Bailedbailed

Reading this was like taking a stroll down a meandering garden path, only for it to eventually dawn on me that I was lost in a hedge maze. A series of run-on sentences as intricate as lacewok strung back to back to back, I was never able to fully ground myself in the narrative. Maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace for this one, and maybe I should have expected something of the sort given the book's title, but regardless, I give up. 🏳️‍

LiteraryinPA Sorry this didn‘t work for you, but I love your review! 1y
The_Penniless_Author @LiteraryinLawrence Thanks. It always feels wrong giving bad reviews to good writers, but as much as I liked some of the turns of phrase and descriptive language in this one I just couldn't stay focused. It felt like a burden picking it up each time. I often enjoy sprawling, loose narratives (The Hive, for instance) but this one didn't do it for me. 1y
35 likes2 comments
blurb
The_Penniless_Author
Arabesques: A Novel | Anton Shammas
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Grandmother Alia had never in her life heard of communism, despite the sickle laid upon her belly on Thursday, the first of April, 1954.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

ShyBookOwl 💜 1y
KaylasReadingNook “On the 24th of February 1815, the lookout at Notre-Dame de la Garde signaled the arrival of the three-master Pharaon, coming from Smyrna, Trieste and Naples.” 😄 1y
31 likes2 comments