The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi

The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi

'ABSORBING' - THE NEW YORKER 'AMBITIOUS, CULTIVATED AND BRAVE' - FINANCIAL TIMES WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION THE CONTROVERSIAL AND DARING NOVEL THAT TOOK THE ARAB WORLD BY STORM Josephine escapes poverty by coming to Kuwait from the Philippines to work as a maid, where she meets Rashid, an idealistic only son with literary aspirations. Josephine, with all the wide-eyed naivety of youth, believes she has found true love. But when she becomes pregnant, and with the rumble of war growing ever louder, Rashid bows to family and social pressure, and sends her back home with her baby son, Jose. Brought up struggling with his dual identity, Jose clings to the hope of returning to his father's country when he is eighteen. He is ill-prepared to plunge headfirst into a world where the fear of tyrants and dictators is nothing compared to the fear of 'what will people say'. And with a Filipino face, a Kuwaiti passport, an Arab surname and a Christian first name, will his father's country welcome him? The Bamboo Stalk takes an unflinching look at the lives of foreign workers in Arab countries and confronts the universal problems of identity, race and religion.

Ambitious, cultivated and brave Financial Times Alsanousi is a voice of conscience -- Boyd Tonkin The Independent I was captivated from the first chapterWe need such literature. Alsanousi is an important emerging literary voice Susan Abulhawa, author of Mornings in Jenin Great wit and lightness of touch. Truly cosmopolitan and deeply humane -- Robin Yassin-Kabab, author of The Road from Damascus The National Engrossing, political and heartfelt -- Bidisha A bold, heart-felt indictment against racism in Arab society. A narrative with power and resonance, which captivates the reader with its artful simplicity and its endearing protagonist -- Leila Aboulela, prize-winning author of Lyrics Alley

Saud Alsanousi is a Kuwaiti novelist and journalist, born in 1981. His work has appeared in a number of Kuwaiti publications, including Al-Watan newspaper and Al-Arabi and he currently writes for Al-Qabas newspaper. He lives in Kuwait City. Jonathan Wright has translated a dozen novels and other major works from Arabic to English, starting in 2008 after thirty years as a journalist, mostly in the Middle East. He won the 2013 Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for Youssef Ziedan's Azazeel and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2014 for his translation of Hassan Blasim's The Iraqi Christ.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9789927101779
ISBN 10	9927101775
Title	The Bamboo Stalk
Author	Saud Alsanousi
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing
Year published	2015-04-23
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable