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Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol, by Elias Khoury
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Karim Chammas returns to Lebanon, his family, and his past after ten years of establishing a new life in France. Back in Beirut, Karim reacquaints himself with his brother Nassim, now married to his former love Hind, and old friends from the leftist political circles within which he once roamed under the nom de guerre Sinalcol. By the end of his six-month stay, he has been reintroduced to the chaos of cultural, religious and political battles that continue to rage in Lebanon. Overwhelmed by the experiences of his return, Karim is forced to contemplate his identity and his place in Lebanon's history. The story of Karim and his family is born of other stories that intertwine to form an imposing fresco of Lebanese society over the past fifty years. Broken Mirrors examines the roots of an endemic civil war and a country's unsettled past.
- Sales Rank: #1787080 in Books
- Published on: 2016-02-09
- Released on: 2016-02-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.60" h x 1.50" w x 6.10" l, .81 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 500 pages
Review
"As a teller of tales and a spinner of stories, the Lebanese author Elias Khoury is on fire in his latest work of fiction, Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol. . . Though occasionally delirious, the patter of Khoury's tangential storytelling also feels well planned, as if he were quietly and deliberately building an argument about the capacity of art to beat back the sense that history is meaningless, repeating itself dumbly. . . The countervailing effect of Khoury's novel is to show how an entire world of literary forms—from pre-Islamic poetry to proverbs, oral storytelling traditions, and the tales within tales of A Thousand and One Nights—may be the more meaningful ancient phenomenon that returns, like overgrowth in a ruin, to heal and regenerate the culture of a badly damaged place. . . All those broken mirrors and fractured stories seem not chaotic or confusing but rather strangely hopeful, as if they could one day add up to a place where people who have hated and killed one another might find that they can live together, through a war, by folding it into the stories that came before and will continue to be told after." — Bookforum
"Within a finely rendered sociopolitical framework, Lebanese novelist Khoury (Gate of the Sum) dives down deeply to portray enduring personal pain." — Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal Reviews
"Broken Mirrors is a fascinating and trenchant literary exploration of a society at war with itself, but it is both more, and something other, than a war novel. It is an exploration of trauma, nostalgia, and the importance of the stories we tell." — Los Angeles Review of Books
"[Khoury] is a writer of panoramic scope and ambition, and Broken Mirrors is rich with sly ironies, incisive political observations, and a cosmopolitan array of ideas and literary allusions." --Azadeh Moaveni, Financial Times
"By turns tender, cruel, violent, passionate, but at the same time profoundly literary." --L'Orient Littéraire (Lebanon)
"Khoury's capacious and entrancing novel, masterfully translated by the award-winning Humphrey Davies, is an extraordinary achievement." --The National (UAE)
"Khoury's narrative skills in this novel are at their peak: reading Shattered Mirror one has the impression of finding oneself in the eye of a whirlwind of a thousand tales, first glimpsed at, then shattered, then finally recovered." --Finzioni Magazine (Italy)
"In Sinalcol (Shattered Mirror), the great storyteller Elias Khoury recounts nearly fifty years of in Lebanese history in his usual eloquence" --Le Nouvel Observateur (France)
"This bounding novel by Elias Khoury is a powerful illustration of Lebanon, its history, and the intricate mosaic of religious communities and political factions that must coexist in this small country" --La Cause Littéraire (France)
About the Author
Elias Khoury, born in Beirut, is the author of thirteen novels, four volumes of literary criticism, and three plays. He was awarded the Palestine Prize for Gate of the Sun, which was named Best Book of the Year by Le Monde Diplomatique, The Christian Science Monitor, and The San Francisco Chronicle, and a Notable Book by The New York Times. Khoury's Yalo, White Masks, Little Mountain, The Journey of Little Gandhi, and City Gates are also available in English. Khoury is a Global Distinguished Professor of Middle Eastern and Arabic Studies at New York University. As Though She Were Sleeping received France's inaugural Arabic Novel Prize.
Humphrey Davies' translations include Naguib Mahfouz's Thebes at War (American University in Cairo Press, Anchor Books) and Alaa al-Aswany's The Yacoubian Building (AUC Press). He has lived throughout the Middle East and is currently based in Cairo.
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
"The smell of memory made him dizzy..."
By S. McGee
This is not a novel to approach lightly; indeed, if you assume that this is a tale that you can pick up and quickly follow, analyze and digest, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's something to nibble at, in pieces; to approach over and over again, slowly, on its terms, and to think about and ponder when you're not actually reading it. Only then, I suspect will a reader of Elias Khoury's newly-translated epic novel of identity and displacement stand a chance of getting past the disorder of the structure -- which mirrors the disorder of the internal life and the existence of the main character, the expatriate Lebanese, Kasim Chammas.
We learn the basics -- or what seem to be the basics -- in the first few pages. Kasim has returned to a war-ravaged Beirut to discuss building a hospital with his long-estranged nearly-twin brother, Nasim (both were born in the same year, one at the beginning, one at the end). But now the project is falling apart, and Kasim is in the final hours of his stay in Beirut, about to head for the airport the day after his 40th birthday. We learn of his sexual fascination for the women in his life -- his French wife, Bernadette; Hend, Ghazala, Muna. We hear about his father, and his father's recent death. With each chapter that follows, Khoury brings us back to one or more of these characters, in ever-greater depth, introducing them in new ways and in the context of new themes, with shifting perspectives shedding new light on Kasim, his life, and his relationships -- and above all, on his decision to leave Beirut and move to France.
There are multiple themes here -- fathers who struggle to raise children and who can't negotiate with the women in their lives until it's too late; first loves, whether for a person, a favorite food or a homeland, and how that leaves its imprint on someone for decades; the way that divisions that separate individuals can divide an entire nation. There are smaller linguistic and stylistic elements that Khoury emphasizes; the whiteness of some women seems to be a threat, in the same way that the whiteness of the cataracts blurring Kasim's father's vision is a danger; meanwhile, Kasim relishes the brown skin of Hend and Ghazala. Mirrors can be literal, but eyes also are mirrors, in Khoury's telling of this story. The metaphors multiply like rabbits left unattended, even as the narrative circles back on itself dizzyingly, telling us once again the essential story of a rift between brothers; of the woman -- Hend -- who links them in spite of themselves, just as their ties to their country also bind them together. Ahmed, the architect who will (perhaps) construct the hospital, views Beirut as a city constantly reinventing itself, a prospect that Kasim -- the expatriate, who cherishes his memory of a past Beirut -- finds horrifying. Or is it only by destroying the past that Beirut can rebuild?
Buried in the midst of all this is Kasim's quest for Sinalcol, a mysterious figure from the height of the civil war in the 1970s, and a kind of doppelganger. But who is Sinalcol? Depending on where you are in the narrative, he's a petty thief taking advantage of chaos or a mighty rebel. Did he disappear? Was he killed? And what is it about him that makes Kasim so fascinated? Little by little, with each turn of the kaleidoscope, the pieces fall into different patterns, and eventually, the narrative emerges complete -- for those with the patience to get there.
That said, it takes a lot of patience. This won't be a novel for everyone, and at times I found it frustrating and irritating. I'd suggest avoiding it if you don't have a fundamental knowledge of the timeline of recent Lebanese history or aren't willing to read on in spite of a lack of that knowledge (although kudos to the publishers for including a helpful glossary at the end, identifying terms, places, and people that might cause the average readers bemusement). I ended up enjoying it and relishing the complexity, but found myself unable to read more than 20 or 25 pages at once. Like many an ambitious epic novel, it repays efforts to approach it slowly and thoughtfully. 4.5 stars, rounded down to reflect that reading the first 200 pages felt like a chore.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Highly Insightful and Fascinating Novel
By Erika Borsos
This book is about one man's journey back to his homeland of Lebanon and to the city of Beirut where he grew up. It is about reconnecting with family, friends, his former fiancé, and most importantly of all memories, some long suppressed. The book explores the meaning and effect of having taken part in a civil war, its toll on the living and the dead, many of whose hopes, dreams, and future were forever changed. Dr. Karim Shammas returns to Lebanon at the request of his brother to help with a hospital construction project but in reality, his personal reason for returning is to face his memories and emotions, long suppressed. The purpose of his visit is to examine the past and find new meaning in his life experiences. As his past is revealed and relived, in light of the present, Karim reexamines his relationships and develops fresh insights into his life with each successive change, twist and turn of the plot.
Elias Khoury demonstrates a deep understanding of human nature, dark emotions, the importance of the place called "home", the people of Lebanon and Middle Eastern culture, and most important of all the impact of relationships and feelings on a person's life. The author uses lyrical prose and at other times labyrinthine descriptions which hypnotize and magnetize the reader into wanting to continue reading. The reader experiences exotically spiced food, unusually pleasant and intoxicating fragrances, as well as the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of the city of Beirut.
The book is highly complex and explores deep emotions associated with relationships between many characters which can not be described in a short review but which is very much worth reading. At times there are unexpected and surprising sexual relationships (which are not graphically described )but had occurred in the past or are alluded to which fully support the plot and storyline. About halfway through the book, the context of the plot changes as Karim learns new information about someone whom he cared about. This new information forces him to relive the past and reassess it based on a wholly new perspective. His thoughts, feelings, and conclusions about a revolutionary fighter takes on new meaning. The reader gains an understanding of the motivation, desire, dedication and self-sacrifice associated with someone who is willing to become a martyr for their cause.
The title of the book, "Broken Mirrors" is an apt metaphor and existentially accurate. It sums up the contents of this superbly written, mesmerizing, unusual and fascinating novel. The novel is entertaining, highly engaging, serious, funny at times, complex, educational and eye-opening. The book is very detail oriented and often compares the past and present in a manner which may lose some readers. However, for those who stay the course, the rewards are well worth it. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Rose of Lebanon
By Roger Brunyate
"His life had become a broken mirror. He'd lied a lot and they'd lied to him a lot, but his return to Beirut and his consent to his brother's hospital construction project were the mistakes that had brought his whole story out into the open and shattered it, making it hard to gather up the slivers and put flesh back onto a life that had been smashed to pieces."
In the opening chapter of this long novel, Karim Shammas, a Lebanese physician, is about to leave Beirut to return to Montpellier in France, where he practices in a hospital. But Khoury no sooner mentions this departure, which is interrupted by shelling, than he goes back to his earlier one, when Karim left Beirut for the first time. This is but one example of the author's tendency to conflate and telescope time. He does the same with people. In a single sentence, we learn about the recent death of Karim's father, a wealthy pharmacist, and his twin brother Nasim's plan to build a hospital. In six lines on the first page, Karim mentions four women that he has loved: Ghazala, Muna, Bernadette, and Hend. No explanation, just the names.
My first impression was that I was reading a later volume in a multi-part saga, and that those who had started from the beginning would know all these names and their stories to date. But no, it is simply Khoury's narrative method, which may well have roots in some Middle Eastern storytelling tradition. He presents a tight knot of family, lovers, and families of lovers, folded together like a furled rose, and then watches it come into bloom, returning again and again to characters and events as the petals open, adding details, seeing the same thing from different angles. It is a slow, almost hypnotic approach, but you keep reading for two reasons. One is that, like a rose, it also has a scent, the smell of labneh, zaafar, and Lebanese apples, that come back to Karim in distant France while he is making love, awakening a devastating homesickness. The whole novel is a love poem to his shattered country.
The other reason to keep reading is that the country IS shattered, and Khoury's narrative will eventually turn back to the thorns and stem of that rose, the various wars that have torn it apart, and in some respects still continue to do so. When these are added to the mix, the novel is no longer merely about family and sexual dynamics. But while opening out in subject matter, it continues to furl in upon itself, obsessively reexamining the same elements. And although the viewpoint keeps subtly shifting and new insights continue to emerge, the process may be too slow to hold many readers' interest.
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