De Niro's Game

I just finished Rawi Hage's "De Niro's Game", a must read novel about the Lebanon civil war in the context of East Beirut. If you have seen the movie "West Beirut", then you would certainly wish to see this book turned into an "East Beirut" film. Rawi Hage is an excellent novelist and storyteller and you will appreciate the bald use of Arabic style in his English prose underneath every sentence, very elegantly crafted to the smallest detail. His images are so vivid, modern, and creative. The book will hook you from the start and will keep you holding your breaths until you have finished it. Then you will rush to open the second book he wrote "The cockroach" also breathtakingly beautiful. I liked "The cockroach" more but that's maybe because I read it first and was impressed by this very perceptive novelist. You will also not miss the influence of Albert Camus' "the stranger" on both novels and the similarities between Rawi Hage's main character and narrator and the protagonist of the "the stranger" which he refers to in "De Niro's Game". What also made me appreciate Rawi Hage even more is that although he writes in English, you will not get the impression that he is writing to a Western audience. Both novels can be described as universal by all means, but you will enjoy reading them more if you are an Arab, particularly Lebanese, and especially if you know and appreciate Arabic literature.

Das experiment

So I watched this movie "The Experiment", again, which is the Hollywood version of the German film "Das experiment", which I never saw but which is supposed to be better, not only because it is the original one and not American, but I was also told by trusted friends that it is, and I believe them and when I say so, you have got to believe me although maybe you already have, before I tried to convince you. In any case, the movie I saw, that is the Hollywood version, is not bad, and I recommend it even if you find the original "Das experiment", because that's the one I am about to talk about. The movie touches on the themes of human nature and God, justice and violence, power and abuse of power, and peace and war. I combine the themes in such a way so that you get the point, but in life, and in the movie, the themes are intertwined in a more complex way; so it can be about violence and God, human nature and power, justice and war. You get the point? how about justice and God, violence and human nature, peace and power? I hope now you do. That's the best way I can explain it, because otherwise you would think I am insulting your intelligence. Induction can be a great exercise. Now if you want to know what the movie is about you can go to IMDB and if you are looking for a review, this is not the site for you. But you've got to watch the movie and learn what you have always known. Oh, and it's a prison movie, if you know what I mean. I am reading this book now "the kindly ones"* by Jonathan Littell, I am still at the beginning (and don't expect from me any commentary about it anytime soon, it's a 1000 pages!), but I remember those words from the book after watching the movie: "those who kill are humans, just like those who are killed, that's what's terrible. You can never say: I shall never kill, that's impossible, the most you can say is: I hope I shall never kill, I too hoped so", and this line from the same book: "the real danger for mankind is me, is you. And if you are not convinced of this, don't bother to read any further. You will understand nothing and you will get angry, with little profit for you or for me." I added this last quote to tell you that it goes the same for the movie. It's up to you. One more thing kept whirling in my head after the credits scrolled up, that line in the movie when someone asks: "do you still think we are not like monkeys" (not the exact words I suppose) and the other guy answers: "Yes, I still do. At least, we do something about it!"... Well, I am not sure!

*English Translation. The original French title is Les Bienveillantes.

Between lines

I don't want to read stories and wish I had been the hero. I want to read my own story told in millions of ways. My own words and thoughts, monologues and dialogues, my own emotions and emptiness, greatness and stupidity, my own failures and successes, resonating across all the great books and the less great massive stacks of pages. There is nothing as more beautiful and less beautiful story. There is only a better way of telling it. My story is out there told and retold in every written book. I read it in every written sentence. I keep reading it over and over again and rediscovering myself between those small scribbled marks called punctuations.

The Trial

I wonder how Kafka had the patience to write "The trial" or although to a lesser extent “The Castle”. No wonder why he hardly finished any book. I struggle nervously when reading Kafka as I struggle when listening to my grandmother moan about every single pain in her body or to her Kafkaesque way in recounting her daily moves and tasks, but I always enjoy his wit and darkness. Besides the controversial "Before the Law" parable, I particularly like Kafka's absurdism and existentialism as in the line "There are also dark moments, such as everyone has, when you think you've achieved nothing at all, when it seems that the only trials to come to a good end are those that were determined to have a good end from the start and would do so without any help, while all the others are lost despite all the running to and fro, all the effort, all the little, apparent successes that gave such joy", and his amusing style as in "A woman's hands will do many things when no-one's looking."
I will name my main character in my new book L.

La Peste

Yesterday I decided to read, or re-read is a better word, Albert Camus’s “La Peste”, only to discover today that yesterday was the 50th anniversary of his death: A very sweet coincidence but also one that makes you think about a man who doesn’t know that 50 years after his death someone like me in year 2010 and someone else probably in year 2089 would be interested to know what that man in 194- wrote. The funny about it is that I am supposed to have read this book in intermediary or secondary school, but I was at the time more interested in fitting in a class of wackos and looking cool and funny in their eyes (the strange thing about it is that I turned into just the opposite of that person that people could just hate me by looking at me and my nonchalance towards them or what they think). Now that I regret that, not so much actually because I believe that every period of my life had made me what I am now (and I am not so modest), so now that I have to make up for the “lost” moments and now that I have realized the billions of pages that I must and want to read and which I could have minimized to millions only had I been more interested back then, I am re-reading the damn “La Peste” but that is totally okay because there are books worth re-reading anyway only if the list before my eye is a bit shorter or my life some hundred years longer.

Nothing to lose

I like this quote from "The Book of Illusions" by Auster: "Men don't begin to live fully until their backs are against the wall." For some reason (that you don’t need to know), I have been thinking about that lately, before reading it and I was even discussing it with someone (that same one). The thought I had was closer to "When there is nothing left to lose, you can only win": Simple and plain but too simple and too plain. The discussion was about what men do when all their plans have failed. They stop planning. They start living.

Kundera VS Auster

I have been lately alternating between Milan Kundera and Paul Auster although the latter is 18 years younger than the former yet both are contemporary novelists whose styles savour philosophical themes that interlace at the themes of coincidence, language, and identity among others. Both their novels are intricately sewed around philosophical questions but I enjoy reading Auster more. Although Kundera’s characters are more elaborate, likeable, and real but Auster’s characters are intriguing in their complexities and philosophical insights. Kundera’s characters are relevant by what they do and say. Auster’s characters are often relevant by what and how they think. Auster’s thoughts are conveyed through his characters who are often authors of some kind (or professors) while Kundera’s thoughts are delivered through himself as the ultimate narrator and creator. I only hate Auster’s intentional tendency to unnecessarily refer to the holocaust even if that does not add anything to the overall scheme of the novel and that he somehow feels obliged to have one of his characters a Jew. This is only relevant because Auster is a Jew himself of Polish descent.

Writer's block

I like to see writing as a form of sleeping. Some would have clear dreaming visions and others hallucinating, blur, and incoherent images. Those visuals would be the scenes of their writing. They all experience a state of wakefulness known as a "writer's block". My problem with writing is that I tend to write while observing, anything and everything around me, that I am accused of day dreaming or day sleeping and when I sit down to write I am in a state of wakefulness. I have written many books that never made it to paper. They get lost in the air like screaming echoes of the dead.

Paul Auster's "Invisible"

Not so brilliant but a very close shot. The New York Trilogy was much more intriguing philosophical and much deeper but I found "Invisible" highly entertaining and absorbing. I could recommend it for boring rainy afternoons.

Kafka

I enjoyed reading kafka's metamorphosis with the eyes and mind of a child, totally believing and living the story like a fairytale or just like watching Spiderman. When I read some analysis of the story, or better said the many confusing and conflicting analysis of what Kafka might have meant, the symbolism and all, I liked Kafka even more. I found the theory of a reference to Freud's oedipal complex the most convincing although I like to think that kafka who asked that all his books be burned, intended it to be just that absurd.

About Kundera

Love, infidelity, communism, Einstein's eternal recurrence, philosophy, existentialism, are all themes unbearably crammed in Kundera's book, the Unbearable Lightness of Being. All would have been nice only if Kundera realized that the reader knows very well that he is the author of this book with his photo big enough on the back cover and his name bigger than the title on the front page. Yet, Mr. Kundera in all his books, likes to inject his ego throughout the pages of the book unnecessarily. Had it been a literary art, he could or should have done it more subtly or at least make it consistent, yet, he suddenly pops out of sentences reminding the reader every now and then that the characters of the book are his creation and explaining how he created them losing the artistic storytelling style. This is only relevant because Kundera likes to think of himself as a novelist rather than a philosopher or a political writer. I do like most of his characters and themes and he does have some interesting philosophies there but he is the most annoying author to read despite the fact that I like his books.

Of Mice and Men

"I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land." John Steinbeck

The God of Small Things

If reading is the bread for the soul, then this book is its best bakery. "They broke the love laws. That lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much" she writes. I wasn't reading a book, I was rather remembering. The wordplay Arundhathi Roy often used in the book very cleverly narrated through the eyes and mind of a child, or more specifically the twin souls Rahel and Estha, awoke the child in me. I was dazzled by her ability to still remember and tell a story with the same feelings of a kid without losing the poetic touch. A breathtaking story beautifully told in the sad and happy parts. Once again, one of those books that make you understand the complications of the human nature and remind you of how cruel the human can be and how soft his soul.

Blindness... again

There are books you read and then you forget. Well, this one, you wont. This is one of the books you remember for your entire life. And when years later you are asked, what is your favorite book, and you try hard to dig in your memory for the best you read, probbaly this one will surface first even if you liked other books more.
(The second person, YOU, suddenly emerged in my blog. That's because I heard that I have readers now. I have to watch my mouth from now on.)

Book: Chicago

I just finished reading "Chicago" by Alaa Al Aswani. It is an excellent novel although I have read better. Mostly striking are the well developed characters and their personification. You almost fall in love with Dr Graham, Nagi, Chris, and Marwa and you are totally amazed by the personality of Dr Salah, Tarik Hasseb, Shaymaa, Dr Ra'fat Thabit, and Carol. The book seems to be written to be turned into a movie with chapters making up fully fledged scenes of events ascending into a well weaved plot. I was however disappointed by some exaggerated scenes that reminded me of some stupid Egyptian movies like when Dannana greets and cheers for the President or even when Safwat Shakir breaks into Nagi's room. I liked the dramatic unfolding of events and the sad ending for the different characters and stories. Throughout the book I was a bit disappointed by how the author creates golden opportunities to his characters (Carol's friend appearing suddenly to give her a job, the love team formed for Sara, Salah getting in touch with Zeinab after 30 years and finding her a widow, etc.). Aswani had yet cleverly used the dilemma of the US's double standard democracy after 9/11 and his description of the military and totalitarian Egyptian regime is remarkable. I enjoyed reading it.

From Hanif Kureishi's "Something to Tell You"

"Just looking for a G-String to floss". I love Kureishi's witty sarcasm. His characters are always complex and disturbed à la Dostoevsky. He has a very "modern" sense of humor.