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Mar 28, 2008

Peggy rated it:

Did you ever read a book so good that you had an actual physical reaction to something you read? Perhaps you were startled into a gasp of surprise when the killer was revealed. Maybe you shed a tear of joy when the good guys finally won, or your heart pounded when things weren't going so well. Or maybe, just maybe, if the story was good enough you dropped all of your barriers and immersed yourself in the world on the page, and suddenly this was no longer a book that you were reading but a story More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 04, 2011

Brian added it

No bells and whistles, no hypertext junk, nothing quirky, and no gimmicks; this book is just great storytelling. Violent and caring and modern and timeless, but what impresses me the most is the perfect pacing.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 04, 2011

Berry rated it:

I've said it before and I will say it again:

"...One thing I will admit however, is that this book suffers greatly from ADD. It is hard to get into it if you aren't a book lover. If the first sentence of "Listen. Allow me to be your God. Let me take you on a journey beyond imagining. Let me tell you a story" does not capture you, then you truly are a lost cause. In this book, you will feel joy, sorrow, fear, guilt, dread and regret in every page. You will laugh and cry at More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 23, 2008

Sanchia rated it:

I loved this book and could not put it down, which made for a very tricky week as I have a six-month-old who also didn’t want to be put down. It’s amazing how much reading you can get done jiggling on the spot with baby in a papoose. I believe The Hakawati will top my list for the year’s most inventive, witty, adventurous and sexiest reads. It’s pure genius.
Hakawati is Arabic for storyteller, and the narrator of this tale is Osama al-Kharrat, a young Lebanese man who has returned to presen More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2009

Marie rated it:

This book was recommended to me by a book buyer in Austin, TX. She & her staff all loved it so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm a slow reader, so not a fan of thick books (and this is a SAGA!!!) It held my interest though. The lebanese author spun an intricate tale of fantastical creatures and the present day. It's one of those that I'll think about for a long time.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2008

jordan rated it:

Once in a very long while comes along a book so magical that one wishes it would never end. How perfect that Alameddine's The Hakawaiti is such a book? The title refers to the practice of a school of Middle Eastern story tellers who would entertain, often appearing nightly but drawing a story out over years, people coming back again and again to hear the next part of the tale. From the first line Alamaddine demonstrates himself to an heir to this great tradition, giving the reader a comfort that More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 27, 2008

Leota rated it:

When I was in high school, every summer I’d go to Indiana for a week and let me tell you: they have some schizophrenic weather! Rain. Then sun. Then clouds. Then sun. Then rain. (Make up your mind, sky!)

So consequently, I hated the weather in Indiana, then loved it, then was indifferent to it, then hated and loved again.

That pretty much sums up my experience reading The Hakawati as well.

This novel (?) is made up of stories upon stories upon stories, and ev More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 03, 2010

Lee rated it:

Let me begin by saying that I am an individual who nearly always finishes any book that I begin. However, for a reason I have yet to discover, it took me three attempts to finish The Hakawati (hence the reason for three stars!) Anyways...I did, upon completion, find myself highly enjoying this book. Essentially, it is a fairy tale for grown ups (akin to Arabian nights) as well as a novel about familial relationships and life experiences. I believe the trouble arises when the author jumps bac More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Jackie rated it:

This is one of those books that I accidentally stole from another person. When buying my text books for the school year, I have a nasty habit of wandering through the literature class aisles and snapping up things that catch my eye--so, my deepest apologies to the last Middle Eastern lit student to make it to the bookstore, I hope this one was assigned somewhere late in the semester so you had time to order it on Amazon.

First, I love books about storytelling. Second, I love stories abo More...

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Nov 08, 2010

Kathyladner rated it:

Excellent story that interweaves the stories of the bible, modern and ancient storytellers, the Koran etc. The author makes a statement about religion through his telling of the story (all religion is based on storytelling...religion is not factual...all religions are related...their stories intertwine). The stories that the author tells are fascinating. A tale of a modern lebanese storytelling family before, during and after war intermixed with the telling of ancient stories. Loved this boo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Alison rated it:

One character in the novel, a storyteller by trade, compares stories to "eels in a wooden crate. They slither over and under each other, but never leave the tub." This pretty well describes the novel as a whole, which is constructed of long and short stories that wind and weave over 500+ pages. Some stories are epic, spanning many years and miles and generations, ending up far from where they began. Some are short and have clear morals. Some involve magic and fantasy, some are grounded More...

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Jul 09, 2011

Kelly rated it:

I liked the stories inside of stories and the never-ending quality of the stories. I assumed that the stories were going to be interrelated by the end, so I just trusted that assumption and plowed along even when i could not make a direct connection. I liked that the connections were not obvious, if there at all. I am not sure there were direct connections. It took me most of the novel to realize (i am slow) that the Hakawati was the son. Duh, he was telling the story, the only first person narr More...

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Sep 11, 2010

Charlotte rated it:

The way I read this book was not ideal, but I can't figure out if it was because we had just moved and I was incapable of focusing on anything for very long, or because of the writing. It's hard not to be cliche and talk about stories within stories & the tale of a thousand & one nights when that's what the author is doing. I did question at several points whether the story had to switch after such short intervals--sometimes only a couple of paragraphs--because there were so many characters to k More...

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Oct 14, 2009

Kathrina rated it:

I tripped up on my plan to only read horror/thrillers this month, but I was stuck at the auto shop without my current read, and I'd just picked this up for myself as a treat. This is a luxurious story, and I admit, I probably read through way too fast. There are always at least three story lines moving at once, and if you don't keep reading regularly you are likely to lose a thread. Alameddine creates wonderfully retold stories of old -- biblical, Islamic, Judaic, a wonderful tapestry of history More...

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Jun 13, 2011

g rated it:

This is one of those books that I wish we could do half-stars for. It's not perfect, but it is almost there.

if I had to pick one word to describe the book, it would be charming, followed closely by wondrous. It does what I want fiction to do; it takes me to places that I can only go in my imagination. Even the most skilled CGI user couldn't go where this books leads.

So what is my hold-up? There are two things, I think. One is a minor quibble: the structure is the f More...

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Apr 25, 2010

Krzysztof rated it:

The Hakawati is mainly a story about telling stories, what seems a quite extraordinary approach. Basic tale about a Lebanese returning to home to see his dying father is interrupted with family recollections, which are also an interesting background to show us a lot of important – I guess – points of history of Lebanon (from being a part of Ottoman Empire through independence to civil war). Moreover, the story is enriched with analogs of One Thousand and One Nights and folk tales, what as a whol More...

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Nov 12, 2009

Katrina rated it:

This book was absolutely amazing, in a completely non-cliche way. The plot is hard to describe, because there are at least three or four levels going on at any one time. While some of the stories are a bit, well, not my cup of tea, the writing style is so outstanding that it makes it easy to overlook what is going on. Not to mention, how can you go wrong with an author who writes, "The best stories always bein with the appearance of a woman."? Just an example of the author's liter More...

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Apr 15, 2011

Clint rated it:

What a kickass book! I probably would have never read this had a friend of mine not sent it to me, and I'm so glad she did. The comparisons with Arabian Nights is always going to happen with any book that has stories in stories, and especially one that takes place in the Middle East (for the most part), and that's okay. The only thing I didn't like about the book was the first few lines and how the author kept saying, "Listen," like stories are the most important things in the world More...

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Feb 20, 2011

Brenda C rated it:

An amazing novel that combines modern day stories of a Lebanese family with rich Middle Eastern lore and fantasy. Intermixed with the tragedy of a war-torn Beirut and how it affected the typical middle class (which could be Druze, Christian, Jewish, or Arabic) are fantastic yarns of ancient battles, sorcery, and royalty. This clever mix of tales is an interesting means by which to develop cultural understanding, but equally important, has a wonderful poignancy particularly as the stories come t More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

The Hakawati is more than just a good book: it's a diplomatic opportunity that invites non-Arabs to see beyond stereotypes and expose themselves to some of the nuance and complexity within the Arab world. Arab readers and others already familiar with the varied source material will find it transformed by Alameddine's imagination. The work garnered high praise for its literary merit, although some reviewers found the immense cast and mazelike structure confusing and wished for a closer focus on O

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Mar 20, 2010

Kirstie rated it:

The Hakawati is a story teller who passes down the history from generation to generation, which is what Rabih Alameddine does in some ways here. I thought this book did well to interweve all kinds of stories from various time periods..stories of kings, beys, demons, as well as family, religion, and war. The narrative alternates from the first person present and past to stories that involve ancestors and rulers. It's enjoyable to read about the travels of these people but perhaps the most inter More...

1 comment like

May 31, 2010

Zillah rated it:

It wasn't one of those books that l couldn't put down and read in one sitting. I suppose u wonder how come l rated it 5* and shelved it as one of my favorites? Because it is one of the most amazing books l've ever held in my hands. Every time l picked it up again l was instantly dragged into this magical Alameddine's world composed of a million stories; about heros, demons, ordinary people, jealousy, love, forgiveness, dreams, disappointment, lust, bravery, fear, loss- each of those concerning a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2008

Alicia rated it:

The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine is a Scheherazade of a story layering stories within stories within stories in a complex pattern that blends fantasy and reality together in one brilliant package. Osama, now an engineer in Los Angeles, travels home to Lebanon to be with his father during his final days. During his visit with his family, he remembers stories of his grandfather, a hakawati, or storyteller. Weaving in and out of his family story are the fantastical stories of Fatima, a slave girl a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Tortla rated it:

I love postmodern-y stories centered on storytelling. And this is definitely one of those.

But it lost me at times with its (un)parallel stories. The fabulous one comes first, before the actual family history. So that was kind of disconcerting. And I didn't really care about Baybar's story. (A fact that meant too much skimming and not enough actual digesting of the book...) And I got confused by the (overlapping) names. And I don't really know enough (okay, anything) about Beirut, so More...

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Feb 12, 2010

Linda rated it:

I thought I would love this book, but the reality was a little different. The narrative consists of interlocking stories, past and present, mythical and real (real in the fictional sense). The stories thematically inform each other. Clever structure, right?

Unfortunately, I found the whole enterprise rather static, without a compelling through line that I could become engaged in. I was reading it for about six weeks, and never felt compelled to spend more time with it than a few min More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Melissa rated it:

I'm not quite done, but I have several hundred pages behind me. This book is beautifully written and I love how the author conceptualized it. Unfortunately I had to read it mainly in short spurts of time which made it hard to keep up with the many layers of stories and characters. I also felt virtually no connection with the main contemporary character, which was unfortunate because it caused me to sometimes just not care about the story. Overall, a well written and unique read, but it requi More...

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Sep 11, 2009

Emily rated it:

If you were following my reading habits closely, you might notice that I tend to read several books at a time. This ends up meaning that I have a series of narratives that I pick up at different moments throughout my reading day and I get to travel through them, at will. This book is like that. Except for the "At will" part. The narrative of this book is like reading several books at once and remarkably, the author manages to sustain multiple threads of stories without too much confusi More...

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Jan 13, 2010

Alice rated it:

This is a complicated book, as the story is written similarly to 1001 Arabian Nights. It takes place in 20th century, Lebanon, with flash backs to the narrator's childhood and also his life in America, to legends of gins & gods, from the Arabian Nights. It is not political, but it does touch on the lives of families living in Lebanon when Israel would bomb every now and again. I enjoy reading it, but i have put it down for other books. I can pick up the thread of it easily again when I want to d More...

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Nov 02, 2010

Liz rated it:

First book I have read by Alameddine and I found it very engaging. A long haul and with a slow start, this book can take awhile to really plug into and commit to. But soon you'll find it is the best part of your day.
Alameddine weaves tradition "Arab" tales with a story of pre- and post-war Lebanon through the eyes of a youth who comes from a family of story tellers. At times I struggled with a few of the more traditional tales and found myself more interested in the happenings in More...

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Nov 19, 2009

Erin F. B. rated it:

I'm not sure if Hakawati, which means storyteller in Arabic, refers to the various storytelling characters or the author himself because I was so thoroughly enchanted and entranced. This book is beautiful beyond explanation and words. Rich with Middle Eastern folklore and religious fables from all the heavy hitters. With a supreme subtlety, Alameddine weaves the tales of Islam, Christianity and Judaism to remind us that they all share the same geographical birthplace and many of the same stor More...

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