Death is hard work

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Death is hard work

Title:

Death is hard work

Author:

Khalīfah, Khālid, 1964- author.

Price, Leri, translator.

Summary:

Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest son, Bolbol, is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral village of Anabiya. Though Abdel was hardly an ideal father, and though Bolbol is estranged from his siblings, this conscientious son persuades his older brother Hussein and his sister Fatima to accompany him and the body to Anabiya, which is--after all--only a two-hour drive from Damascus. There's only one problem: Their country is a war zone. With the landscape of their childhood now a labyrinth of competing armies whose actions are at once arbitrary and lethal, the siblings' decision to set aside their differences and honor their father's request quickly balloons from a minor commitment into an epic and life-threatening quest. Syria, however, is no longer a place for heroes, and the decisions the family must make along the way--as they find themselves captured and recaptured, interrogated, imprisoned, and bombed--will prove to have enormous consequences for all of them.

Edition:

First American edition.

Contents:

If you were a sack of cumin -- A bouquet floating down a river -- Bolbol flying in a confined space.

Physical Description:

180 pages ; 22 cm

Subject Term:

Families -- Fiction.

Fathers and sons -- Fiction.

Burial -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Syria -- History -- Civil War, 2011- -- Fiction.

Author(s):

Price, Leri,

Publisher:

Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

Publication Date:

2019

ISBN:

9780374135737

Publication Information:

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.

Award Note:

National Book Award, Finalist for Translated Literature, 2019

Call Number:

KHALIFA

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003443630	Adult Fiction	KHALIFA	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE

A dogged, absurd quest through the nightmare of the Syrian civil war

Khaled Khalifa's Death Is Hard Work is the new novel from the greatest chronicler of Syria's ongoing and catastrophic civil war: a tale of three ordinary people facing down the stuff of nightmares armed with little more than simple determination.

Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest son, Bolbol, is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral village of Anabiya. Though Abdel was hardly an ideal father, and though Bolbol is estranged from his siblings, this conscientious son persuades his older brother Hussein and his sister Fatima to accompany him and the body to Anabiya, which is--after all--only a two-hour drive from Damascus.

There's only one problem: Their country is a war zone.

With the landscape of their childhood now a labyrinth of competing armies whose actions are at once arbitrary and lethal, the siblings' decision to set aside their differences and honor their father's request quickly balloons from a minor commitment into an epic and life-threatening quest. Syria, however, is no longer a place for heroes, and the decisions the family must make along the way--as they find themselves captured and recaptured, interrogated, imprisoned, and bombed--will prove to have enormous consequences for all of them.

Author Notes

Khaled Khalifa (1964-2023) was born near Aleppo, Syria, the fifth child of a family of thirteen siblings. He studied law at Aleppo University and actively participated in the foundation of Aleph magazine with a group of writers and poets. A few months later, the magazine was closed down by Syrian censorship. Active in the arts scene in Damascus where he lived, Khalifa was a writer of screenplays for television and cinema as well as novels that explore Syrian history. His 2019 novel Death Is Hard Work was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Leri Price is the translator of Khaled Khalifa's In Praise of Hatred and No Knives in the Kitchens of This City , as well as literature from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Khalifa's novel compellingly tackles the strain of responsibility felt by a man in war-torn Syria. After his father, Abdel Latif, dies in hospital, 40-something Bolbol gathers his estranged siblings Hussein and Fatima and, with the corpse in the back of Hussein's minibus, sets off from Damascus to honor Abdel's deathbed wish to be buried alongside his sister in the village of Anabiya. Though the distance is short, the quartet's quest is frequently interrupted by violence and corrupt military checkpoints, forcing the journey to stretch over days, during which time Abdel's body bloats beneath its burial shroud. Khalifa (No Knives in the Kitchens of This City) punctuates repetitious roadblocks with segues detailing the histories of all four characters. For example, after taking refuge at the home of a former girlfriend, Bolbol reminisces about his father's own pursuits of an old flame; and later, Hussein's teenage abandonment of his parents and siblings crops up while their adult counterparts contemplate the purpose of fulfilling Abdel's request. The narrative choice to summarize conversation indirectly, rather than placing the dialogue directly on the page, might distract some readers. Nonetheless, the novel is at times harrowing-the family flees wild dogs and faces masked guards-and serves as a reminder of the devastation of war and the power of integrity. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Abdel Latif makes his dying wish, to be buried in his home village, known to his son Bolbol. Bolbol enlists his older brother, Hussein, and sister, Fatima, to accompany him in transporting the body from Damascus to Anabiya, near Aleppo, where relatives will comply with Abdel Latif's last wish. It's normally a two-hour drive, but Aleppo and Damascus, and everywhere in between, are on opposite sides of a civil war. This surreal tale discloses the myriad tyrannies of war, loyalty, religion, duty, and bureaucracy. Can the family survive ten checkpoints, arrests, interrogations, and abuse? Can the corpse survive 48 hours on ice in a minivan? Nicely read by Neil Shah, who keeps Bolbol's narrative moving along. Descriptions of the physical and psychological absurdities of fear, stress, and decomposition are quite graphic and as often funny as they are disgusting. Verdict Powerful and poignant, this audiobook is very highly recommended for adult fiction collections. ["Flawlessly translated and exquisitely written, this novel from the winner of the -Naguib Mahfouz Prize is a genuine tour de force as well as a thoughtful and provocative examination of what it means to be alive": Xpress Reviews 4/19/19 starred review of the Farrar hc.]-Cliff Glaviano, formerly with Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.