Oh, Salaam!

by Najwa Barakat, Luke Leafgren (Translation)

A BRAVE, COMPELLING NOVEL ON THE ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCES OF WAR AND GENDER VIOLENCE

Najwa Barakat’s Oh, Salaam! tells the story of three friends—an explosives expert, a sniper, and a torturer—whose lives are transformed by their involvement in a civil war in an unnamed Arab country, and by their relationship with the novel’s anti-heroine, Salaam. Two of the friends live to see the end of the war but struggle to survive the arrival of peace and to make a life for themselves in a society that has no use for ex-paramilitaries. As the characters seek to find love, make it rich, or get out of the country alive, they use and torment each other, revealing the ultimate consequences of war and gender violence in a “city that no longer resembles itself.”

First published in Arabic (Yaa Salaam!, 1999) and translated into Italian and French, Oh, Salaam! has been acclaimed for its skillful, unflinching treatment of antisocial characters, gender roles, and the effects of civil war.

Genres: Lebanon, Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

See نجوى بركات

Najwa Barakat is a Lebanese Arab novelist.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ghada Sabih · Rating 3 out of 5]

يا لهذه البشاعة .... يا لهذا القيء والوساخة ...نعم إنها الحرب والجهل والخوف
وكلمة شجاعة ...دقيقة ... موجعة
نجوى كيف كتبت كل هذا الألم؟؟؟؟

[Sdrucciola]

Tutta colpa della guerra, dice Luqman. Se non fosse finita, se non avesse lasciato questo tempo vuoto di pace, sarebbero ancora i padroni della città.
La pace si è portata via l’Albino e ha costretto Najib a trovare un nuovo nemico, i ratti, su cui sperimentare torture e ossessioni. La pace ha sospeso la loro eccezionalità, che ora va riconquistata e difesa a ogni costo. Frugando tra le macerie della città, al riparo di nuove forze che vigilano sull’ordine e sulla normalità che soffoca ogni inziativa.

Come Salam, la zitella rimasta vedova di un amore inventato che prova a crearne uno nuovo sacrificando ad esso vita, affetti e senno.

Come Luqman, che però ha ancora un asso nella manica. Lui non si farà prendere, non tornerà a essere un nulla, si dedicherà da solo alla conquista di un dominio extra territoriale che gli spetta.

Najwa Barakat è una scrittrice libanese che vive in Francia e questi sono i protagonisti che ha scelto per raccontare la fine della guerra civile che per quindici anni ha devastato il Libano.
Non sono simpatici, non sono tristi reduci che si interrogano sulle sorti della patria. Sono furfanti, torturatori e assassini senza una coscienza. Sono la rappresentazione di uno degli effetti della pace in un paese impreparato ad accoglierla, incapace di fare i conti con le forze che lo hanno nutrito e dissanguato allo stesso tempo.
Sono i ratti che prosperano nella miseria e sopravvivono a ogni ecatombe aspettando con pazienza che si prepari la successiva.

[Jenna Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly don’t know how I feel about this book. I wish we had gotten something that made the characters a little more like able or even relatable or even a little bit human. The author very slightly explained how the characters had been profitable during the war and now that it was over were left with nothing monetarily as well as no hope. When you have nothing to live for it is understandable how one can head down the wrong path but this was such a new level of dark. This was so well written but I am so grateful it was a shot book because much like the characters I don’t know if I could have taken much more.

[Serah J Blain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa. This is probably the darkest book I've ever read. What a nightmare. It needs all the trigger warnings! This strange and surreal tour of war, sexual violence, and misogyny skillfully depicts the darkest sides of humanity and what evokes the worst in people. It's gritty and disturbing with a satisfying ending. This is one of those books that I wouldn't wish on anyone, but also I recommend it, but also I don't.

[HekumHanan · Rating 1 out of 5]

رواية لا أعلم ما جذبني إليها، ، ولماذا استمريت في قرأتها، شخصيات كريهة لامتهانها المستمر لقيمة المرأة تحوي رجال ساديين ونساء فارغات

[Ali Ebrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

السؤال الذي خطر في بالي .. ( هل البيئة التي نعيش فيها هي المسؤولة عن كوننا شخصيات شريرة ؟ )
لا أعلم أين الجانب المشرق في الحياة .. الرواية مزدحمة بالشخصيات الكريهة، الخالية من الرحمة، الاستغلالية ..فالحرب أخذت معها الرحمة والإنسانية في الرواية

[Jacques · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se lee muy diferente si también lees Mister N., espero que los editen juntos (o tal vez mejor no) en un futuro.

Alertas de contenido: Violencias, muchas. De género, sexual, física, animal. Manipulación. En resumen, que es un libro muy desagradable.

No mentiré, quedé un pelín decepcionado. Como sabrán, el ya mencionado Mister N. es de mis mejores lecturas de este año y tenía muchas expectativas de este teniendo en cuenta que están conectados. Pero Oh, Salaam! está a años luz de lo que es Mister N. Aunque, como dije al inicio, el segundo le da más dimensiones al primero. Pero, a final de cuentas, la reseña va por libro individual, así que hagámolo como si no conociera el otro.

Luqman, el protagonista, es una horrible persona. Por todos lados, desde todos los ángulos. Se le puede entender como a otros personajes masculinos horribles como el de Indigno de ser humano de Dazai. Pero, lo que más me pesa y en lo que más me falló Barakat fue que no profundizó PARA NADA en su pasado. Luqman queda bastante plano, sin mucho para comprender por qué termina siendo un misántropo. Misántropo como todos los personajes secundarios, Salaam y Najeeb, que tampoco se explica, fuera de la guerra, la razón de sus odios. Sin esto la novela termina siendo solo un puñado de personas asquerosas haciendo cosas asquerosas.

Aunque Barakat escribe muy bien, el estilo tampoco fue tan brillante. El primer y último capítulo me parecieron maravillosos, es una pena que no haya explotado más ese recurso. Estuvo también bastante lleno de símbolos camusianos(? Aunque eso puede ser solo sugestión mía (sabiendo que ella lo tradujo).

Una pena. Aunque estoy feliz de que esto abriera el camino para aquello:
Youtube
Instagram

[Krista · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for Middle Eastern Gothic class. This semester I read a lot of books that really centered assault and violence against women for this class (would not recommend) and frankly I'm exhausted. This one also has a lot of violence against women and violence in general. It isn't until the last chapters where it turns to Lurice's perspective that it kind of flips the script. There is a lot of gothic elements in this one and lots of depiction of the grotesque by virtue of violence, rats, and biological warfare (or a plague... it wasn't clear).

[The New Arab]

Oh, Salaam! by Najwa Barakat is a compelling novel about the aftereffects of civil war in Lebanon and how value, meaning, and self-worth in Lebanon are linked to oppressive ideas of colonialism and classism.
Read our review here: https://www.newarab.com/features/oh-s...

[Issam abbas · Rating 4 out of 5]

البداية كانت ضعيفة ولكن الرواية بدأت تأخذ محور الروايات المظلمة خاصة في جزئها الأخير، أحببت القسم الثاني من الرواية

[Aisha (thatothernigeriangirl) · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.newarab.com/features/oh-s...

[Kathleen McKim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I brought this home for the summer as part of my Arabic in Translation series. All I can say is, "Bleck!" I could barely get through the first half, the story was so repulsive. This novel is set in a fictional Middle-East city after a long civil war (Beirut, anyone?) and the story concerns itself with how criminals and warlords can't deal with peace. The protagonist Luqman is a total creep. I might feel more kindly disposed toward him had he been described as good-looking, but the only real physical description the reader is given is that he thinks with his penis. He is using, Salaam, the former fiancé of his dead friend, the Albino, to finance his hooker habit. Salaam may or may not be stealing that money from the Albino's semi-lucid, elderly mother. And, please, let's not talk about the disgusting incest between Salaam and her halfwit brother in the state mental institution! I quit reading after his "war buddy" Najeeb recounts the horrible way they captured and gang raped a girl back in the day. But, before that, I was treated to a violent and unnecessary stomping of a dead rat and blatant misogyny. It's definitely a dark story, with a darkly satisfying end. There is no hope or redemption, though, just Barakat's revenge. OH, SALAAM! gets a NO, SALAAM! from me.

For a better review, check out Lynx-Qualey's informed opinion at the link below:

http://www.full-stop.net/2015/04/20/r...

[terrystad dit Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman court bien ficelé. Cercle vicieux des traumatismes que génèrent la guerre « civile » et les pauvretés subséquentes. L’espoir face à l’impossible dénouement des problèmes. Cru, repoussant, nauséeux, nuageux… à ce point, ça ne peut qu’exploser.
Roman qui a été écrit bien avant La gigantesque explosion du 4 août 2020 au port de Beyrouth qui a fait plus de 200 morts et 6500 blessés.

[Nada Elshabrawy]

سيئة