The Bookseller's Notebooks

by Jalal Barjas, Paul G. Starkey (Translator)

Winner of the 2021 International Prize for Arabic Fiction—known as the "Arabic Booker Prize"— this novel explores themes of loneliness, homelessness, and mental illness.

After losing his job and refuge, Ibrahim al-Warraq, a bookseller, decides to live with the homeless people in his city and assuming the identities of the heroes of the novels he has read.

Set between 1947 and 2019, this novel is based on several notebooks of stories about people facing different hardships, such as losing their homes or not knowing who their families are. Their interwoven destinies reveal the value of the house, as a symbol of one’s homeland, as opposed to the surrounding ruination. The central character is Ibrahim the bookseller, a cultured man, and voracious reader of novels who takes on the identity of the protagonists in novels which appeal to him. He becomes a professional thief who robs banks and the very wealthy in order to help the abject poor and impose his own form of justice like Robin Hood. But due to his isolation, loneliness, and maltreatment by a cruel world, he suffers mental illness and descends into full schizophrenia. He attempts suicide, before meeting a mysterious woman who will change his life.

As events unfold, Barjas opens up many surprises for his reader, illustrating through his flawed characters the ruined state and complete emptiness of the world. In intensely poetic language, he throws light on a totally schizophrenic reality in his country, and brilliantly uses all the tools of emotional stress and engagement and of psychological exploration of human behavior that narration necessitates.

324 pages, Paperback

Published December 6, 2022

Reviews

[مومنہ❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

یہ کتاب شاید بہت اچھی ہو لیکن یہ ترجمہ بہت ہی برا تھا۔ ایسا معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ اس کی پروف ریڈنگ بھی نہیں کی گئی ہے۔

[Hassan ( semi -hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended by a friend from another part of the world and I could not be more greatful to them for introducing me to this writer.

It was riveting from the get go and even with the busy schedule I’m having these days I was able to find to read this book.

“ violence produces only something resembling of justice, but it distances people from the possibility of living just leave without violence”
Leo Tolstoy
What really stood out in the book for me was so many lonely characters, filling their void with books and at some level I could very well relate to that myself and almost the main characters are veracious readers.

Then the book is full of twists and turns some of which you could easily predict but others still keep the suspense and grip your attention till the very end.

I do think ending could have been slightly better but I’m not super critical when it comes to rating so it gets full five stars .

The this also introduced me to some more authors such as Naguib Mahfouz, Attila Jozef, Tayeb Salih etc whom work I would definitely endeavour to read in future inshallah.

[Vi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually rather sad to be leaving such a low rating, as I went into the book expecting to really loving it. However, I found the literary devices underdeveloped, to the point I failed to see why, out of all the characters in literature, our protagonist would choose the ones mentioned to carry on his crusade: nothing seemed to change in his way of thinking, nor in the writing, except for the reader being *told* he adopted their movements and expressions. Furthermore, while most of the plots and characters described stayed true to their original bookish self (and I speak for the books I read, namely Dostoevsky's Idiot, Season of Migration to the North and the Cairo Trilogy, funnily enough all novels I've read this very year), the story of Notre Dame de Paris was completely different from the original book, a mixture of book and movie details that quite frankly left me perplexed: was it intentional? If it was, there was no sign for the reader to come to that conclusion.

Everything else was rather moving and I found the intertwined notebooks quite clever of a plot device, but I cannot really express my enjoyment or approval for a book based on literary devices that (in my opinion) fails to carry them across in a meaningful way.

[Amir Moosavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, subtle, and still underrated novel coming from one of the most innovative and overlooked authors writing in Arabic today. The Bookseller's Notebooks intertextual engagement with other well-known works of world lit, its treatment of contemporary social issues (mental health, loneliness, the brutality of the capitalist economy), and representation of the city of Amman and modern regional history makes it not only an interesting read, but also a great teaching tool. The translation is smooth and very readable. Highly recommended for your own pleasure reading and, if you're an university instructor, for your syllabus.

[Rose Richi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of this book was what drew me in, but it felt very scattered up until the last 100 pages or so. I was very confused while reading it. I’m not sure if things were lost in translation but there were dozens of grammatical/spelling/repetition errors that made it frustrating to read at times. It’s possible the original arabic translation feels more put together; I did start liking the book much more towards the end where things became clearer and the various characters’ stories became interwoven to create a very interesting plot. But, I probably wouldn’t recommend this book to a friend.

[Myles Baldwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not what I was expecting after reading the synopsis. It literally failed to meet any thought I had going in and put me in quite the reading slump. The ending was quite weird and left me with more questions than answers. I just found it hard to get through this one.

[Doni · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Arab killing a stranger.

[Celinehabchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good in the beginning
But then, between the storyline and the style of writing (not sure if it's because of the translation), it felt like the book was trying too hard

[Neuza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Around World #118: Jordan

[Jerry Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, The Bookseller’s Notebooks by Jalal Barjas. Set between 1947 and 2019, The Bookseller’s Notebook tells the story of Ibrahim, a bookseller and voracious reader, who loses his shop and finds himself on the street. He lives with the homeless in his city and assumes the identities of the heroes in the novels he has read! …oh my goodness, brilliant!