Book Reviews

Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world

Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world

Rana Asfour provides an intimate look at two new Arab novels in translation, from Lebanese and Syrian authors.

10 JANUARY 2022 • By TMR
Recovering/Remembering Love, Sex and Trauma

Recovering/Remembering Love, Sex and Trauma

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi follows her novels "Fra Keeler" and "Call Me Zebra" with a story set...

13 DECEMBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
From Jerusalem to a Kingdom by the Sea

From Jerusalem to a Kingdom by the Sea

Rana Asfour reviews a new memoir about the legendary Dajani family, charged by a Turkish sultan with watching...

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By TMR
Three Banned Saudi Novels Everyone Should Read

Three Banned Saudi Novels Everyone Should Read

Despite its repressive regimes, Saudi Arabia has produced a number of world-class novelists — several of whom have...

22 NOVEMBER 2021 • By TMR
Diary of the Collapse—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire

Diary of the Collapse—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire

A.J. Naddaff reviews the latest work of creative nonfiction by Lebanon's Charif Majdalani, as his nation teeters on...

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?

The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?

Hadani Ditmars reviews Janine di Giovanni's ambitious new travelogue on beleaguered Christian communities in Iraq, Gaza, Syria, and...

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Mohja Kahf
The Ignominy of Guantánamo: a History of Torture

The Ignominy of Guantánamo: a History of Torture

Marian Janssen, biographer of a forthcoming volume on the flamboyant American poet Carolyn Kizer, reviews the new memoir...

8 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Gil Anidjar
Racha Mounaged’s Debut Novel Captures Trauma of Lebanese Civil War

Racha Mounaged’s Debut Novel Captures Trauma of Lebanese Civil War

From time to time, TMR reviews recent titles published in other languages, to give readers insight before they...

18 OCTOBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
Faraj Bayrakdar, Once Syria’s Prisoner, is Freedom’s Poet

Faraj Bayrakdar, Once Syria’s Prisoner, is Freedom’s Poet

India Hixon Radfar reviews the newly-translated collection of poetry from a former prisoner in Syria.

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By India Hixon Radfar
Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed

Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed

India Hixon Radfar reviews the first collection of poetry from Palestinian firebrand Mohammed El-Kurd.

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By India Hixon Radfar
Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, Infamous Symbols of US Human Rights Violations

Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, Infamous Symbols of US Human Rights Violations

Mischa Geracoulis reviews Maria Armoudian's "Lawyers Beyond Borders, Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts."

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
Egypt Dreams of Revolution, a Review of “Slipping”

Egypt Dreams of Revolution, a Review of “Slipping”

Mohamed Kheir’s oneiric novel takes readers on a journey around Egypt after the failed Arab Spring.

8 AUGUST 2021 • By Danielle Haque
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