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"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." ??Entertainment Weekly "The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation??Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have."??Rumaan Alam A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home The Nasr family is spread across the globe??Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they've always had their ancestral home in Beirut??a constant touchstone??and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his father's recent death, Idris, the family's new patriarch, has decided to sell. The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secrets??lost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shame??that distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political protest, those secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold this family together.
In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and characters born of remarkable human insight, award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us again that "fiction is often the best filter for the real worl… (més)
I liked this book but didn't love it. Two story lines describe lives filled with family secrets and dysfunction. The political climate of the late 1970s in Damascus and Beirut was fraught with danger and heartbreak. Immigration to America was challenging and brought with it much regret. As the two timelines come together over a relative's death, family secrets, lost dreams and generational dysfunction come to a reckoning. Acknowledging that all of us are flawed human beings, I still didn't love any of the characters. The whining of the "children's" generation got tiresome. The inability of the main character to move on was frustrating. Much is explained as the novel comes to a very gradual ending. There were so many characters and each could have their own story. It took a long time to land the plane, leaving the reader coming down in one drop after another rather than a smooth glide onto the runway. ( )
Ofttimes, the more I like a book, the more difficulty I have saying anything about it because I know whatever I say won't do it justice. This was one of my favorite reads of last year. I love so many things about it: the themes; Alyan's writing style; the pacing; the old fashioned family saga-ness it replete with long held secrets that manage to surface and in doing so one questions who, if any, will survive the undertow; the exposure to the Lebanese-Syrian conflict; the protagonists and the way they relate to each other; the secret(s) exposed or kept hidden and the associated impact; the time periods depicted. I found the experience immersive and until the end I was never quite certain whether or not the wounds exposed would heal or how. I don't know if this book was notable, but it was notable to and for me. It's a lovely book and in the right hands could make for a fantastic limited series. Not that that's necessary, but I think there would be a wide audience for something like this. ( )
This is an absolutely gorgeous family saga - secrets, heartbreak, betrayal, love, belonging - everything you want from this type of novel is here, and is wonderful. In addition, the author does some really interesting work with the idea of place, and what place does a person truly feel at home. I loved it from start to finish - will be one of my favorites of the year. ( )
When I read the “About the Author” at the end of The Arsonists’ City and found out that Hala Alyan makes her living as a psychologist and a poet I was not surprised. Her lyrical writing and ability to play with words could only come from a poet, and the deep internal examination of so many characters could only come with psychological study. The Arsonists’ City is a family saga that covers nearly 50 years and combines a complicated family with the complicated history of the Middle East. Alyan deftly and beautifully examines families, love, sexuality, race, and history; it sounds like a lot — and it is — but in Alyan’s capable hands it all works. I highly recommend this book to readers of historical fiction, multi-generational sagas, contemporary fiction, and anyone else who wants a deeply moving and interesting read. ( )
I just could not get into this book. I’ve tried several times in the last few months to read this, and it remains unread on my shelf. I wanted to love it, as family dramas are something that I am a sucker for. I’m not sure if it was the writing style or just the overall content, but I could not get past the first few chapters of this book before setting it down for another one, I try not to read books that I’m not enjoying, so here we are. I did not want to DNF this book, but I think I am going to have to officially. It just was not my cup of tea and I hope that others had a better experience than I did. Based on the ratings, I think others were more into this book than I was, which I am glad about. I’ll hold onto this and try again in a few years, but right now it is just not grabbing me. There isn’t much else to say, but I would urge others to try it, as people’s tastes are all different. ( )
"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." ??Entertainment Weekly "The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation??Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have."??Rumaan Alam A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home The Nasr family is spread across the globe??Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they've always had their ancestral home in Beirut??a constant touchstone??and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his father's recent death, Idris, the family's new patriarch, has decided to sell. The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secrets??lost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shame??that distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political protest, those secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold this family together.
In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and characters born of remarkable human insight, award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us again that "fiction is often the best filter for the real worl
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