Books

How Fragile We Are: Hisham Matar’s My Friends

How Fragile We Are: Hisham Matar’s My Friends

Adib Rahhal reviews Hisham Matar's latest novel, in which the precariousness of existence and Libya serve as springboards.

25 MARCH 2024 • By Adib Rahhal
Four Books to Revolutionize Your Thinking

Four Books to Revolutionize Your Thinking

TMR's managing editor, Rana Asfour, offers four books to challenge the world as we know it.

3 MARCH 2024 • By Rana Asfour
The Myth of the West: A Discontinuous History

The Myth of the West: A Discontinuous History

Arie Amaya-Akkermans reviews "The West: a new history of an old idea" that argues how the West was...

3 MARCH 2024 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Do or Despair: Political Action in My Great Arab Melancholy

Do or Despair: Political Action in My Great Arab Melancholy

Katie Logan reviews Lamia Ziadé's latest illustrated volume that prompts a reckoning with the concept of melancholy.

3 MARCH 2024 • By Katie Logan
Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir—A Review

Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir—A Review

Nazli Tarzi reviews a book that challenges the uncritical view of eyeliner as a mere “exercise in vanity”...

19 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Nazli Tarzi
Rotten Evidence: Ahmed Naji Writes About Writing in Prison

Rotten Evidence: Ahmed Naji Writes About Writing in Prison

In tone, "Rotten Evidence" is cynical, bitterly funny, and oftentimes tender without ever being sentimental, writes Lina Mounzer.

12 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Lina Mounzer
Arthur Kayzakian’s Stolen Painting and The Nameless Father

Arthur Kayzakian’s Stolen Painting and The Nameless Father

Sean Casey on a rather unusual and remarkable debut from Arthur Kayzakian that melds poetry, prose and correspondence.

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Sean Casey
Love Across Borders—on Romance, Restrictions and Happy Endings

Love Across Borders—on Romance, Restrictions and Happy Endings

Lina Mounzer reviews the new book by Anna Lekas Miller that gathers stories of love- and border-challenged couples.

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Lina Mounzer
Illuminated Reading for 2024: Our Anticipated Titles

Illuminated Reading for 2024: Our Anticipated Titles

Four editors at The Markaz Review share some of their most anticipated titles publishing in 2024.

22 JANUARY 2024 • By TMR
War Weariness & Absurdity in Jamaluddin Aram’s Debut Novel

War Weariness & Absurdity in Jamaluddin Aram’s Debut Novel

Something beyond war-weariness informs Jamaluddin Aram’s depiction of 1990s Afghanistan in his debut novel, writes Rudi Heinrich.

15 JANUARY 2024 • By Rudi Heinrich
An Iranian Novelist Seeks the Truth About a Plane Crash

An Iranian Novelist Seeks the Truth About a Plane Crash

Novelist Négar Djavadi deploys non-fiction to question Iran's downing of an international flight out of Tehran.

15 JANUARY 2024 • By Sepideh Farkhondeh
The Rebels of Football, Then and Now

The Rebels of Football, Then and Now

Justin Salhani argues that the "beautiful game" has been a powerful instrument of emancipation for workers, feminists and...

8 JANUARY 2024 • By Justin Olivier Salhani
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