Him, me, Muhammad Ali : stories

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Title:

Him, me, Muhammad Ali : stories

Author:

Jarrar, Randa author.

Uniform Title:

Short stories. Selections

ISBN:

9781941411315

Physical Description:

201 pages ; 22 cm

Contents:

The lunatic's eclipse -- Building girls -- Lost in freakin' Yonkers -- How can I be of use to you? -- A sailor -- Grace -- Testimony of Malik, prisoner #287690 -- Accidental transients -- Asmahan -- Him, me, Muhammad Ali -- The story of my building -- A frame for the sky -- The life, loves, and adventures of Zelwa the Halfie.

Subject Term:

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Genre:

Short stories.

Magic realist fiction

Summary:

"In her first story collection, Jarrar employs a particular, rather than rhetorical approach to race and gender. Thus we have "How Can I Be of Use to You," with its complicated relationship between a distinguished Egyptian feminist and her young intern, demonstrating that gender politics are never straightforward, and both generations-old and new-take advantage of each other. There's also a healthy dose of magic surrealism, as in the wild and witty story "Zelda the Halfie" which follows a breed of half Ibexes/half humans and their various tribulations. The writing is peppered with gorgeous imagery: a moon reflected in an ice cream scoop, breath that runs ahead of its body, and two apartments in a high rise whose tenants precisely mirror each other.

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	FICTION JAR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Award-winning novelist Randa Jarrar's new story collection moves seamlessly between realism and fable, history and the present, capturing the lives of Muslim women and men across myriad geographies and circumstances. With acerbic wit, deep tenderness, and boundless imagination, Jarrar brings to life a memorable cast of characters, many of them "accidental transients"--a term for migratory birds who have gone astray--seeking their circuitous routes back home. Fierce and feeling, Him, Me, Muhammad Ali is a testament to survival in the face of love, loss, and displacement.

Randa Jarrar is the author of a highly successful novel, A Map of Home , which received an Arab-American Book Award and was named one of the best novels of 2008 by the Barnes & Noble Review . She grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, and moved to the United States after the first Gulf War. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine , the Utne Reader , Salon.com, Guernica , the Rumpus , the Oxford American , Ploughshares , and more. She blogs for Salon, and lives in California.

Author Notes

Randa Jarrar: Randa Jarrar is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Her novel A Map of Home was published in six languages, won an Arab-American Book Award, and was named one of the best novels of 2008 by The Barnes & Noble Review .

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Jarrar follows up her novel, A Map of Home, with a collection of stories depicting the lives of Arab women, ranging from hypnotic fables to gritty realism. In "The Lunatics' Eclipse," Qamar, infamous for trying to bring down the Moon, must escape her arranged marriage to flee with Hilal, a man building a rocket to space. In "Building Girls," Aisha struggles with her Egyptian roots, and Perihan-who moved to the U.S.-can't let go of them fast enough; together the childhood friends find a common language for their past and sexuality. "Lost in Freakin' Yonkers" finds Aida disowned by her family after deciding to have a baby out of wedlock. "A Sailor," in which a husband refuses to get mad at his wife for having an affair, is a nuanced portrait of a relationship. In the title story, after her father dies Kinshasa searches for her history in a missing photograph of Muhammad Ali posing with her father. Often witty and cutting, these stories transport readers and introduces them to a memorable group of women. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Debut collection from the award-winning author of A Map of Homenbsp;(2008).The Lunatics Eclipse is a fable about a girl who wants the moon and a boy who builds a rocket. How Can I Be of Use to You? is a sly interrogation of the ways in which women are exploited, particularly by each other. Lost in Freakin Yonkers is a desperate, foulmouthed rant by a young Egyptian-American woman pregnant with a drunk losers baby. These stories are set in locations geographically as disparate as Cairo and Paramus, New Jersey. A Sailor is a carefully controlled exercise in very short fiction, while Grace is a weird tale that gets a bit Borges-ian toward the end. Many of the stories gathered here have been published alreadysome more than oncein a range of literary journals, including such prestigious outlets as Ploughshares and Guernica. This variety is impressive, but it doesnt necessarily make for a satisfying reading experience. Taken as a whole, these stories feel like a series of experimentsor assignmentsconsistent only insofar as they share a certain superficiality. Jarrar lived in Kuwait and Egypt before moving to the U.S. as a teenager, and much of her work turns on a clash of cultures. Unfortunately, in most instances, this dynamic dichotomy is the whole story. An author is not obligated to resolve the conflicts she sets up, but Jarrar seldom sticks around long enough to explore the results of the conditions she creates. In this regard, most of these stories seem unfinished. Building Girls is an exception. This is a subtle interrogation of class spanning multiple generations and an exploration of desire enlivened by a dash of magical realism. A record of an author finding her voice. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Jarrad's (A Map of Home, 2008) sharp collection features characters struggling with varied predicaments and relationships alongside explorations of cultural, familial, and personal identity. The excellent title tale follows a 25-year-old narrator in the wake of her father's sudden death, recounting her parent's tumultuous relationship, which leads her from America to Cairo in search for a storied family photograph. Lost in Freaking Yonkers follows college student Aida as she navigates heady terrain: an unexpected pregnancy, alcoholic boyfriend, and disownment by her Arab parents. Jarrad's stories span continents and perspectives. Building Girls follows an Egyptian woman, Aisha, who has worked her whole life at an apartment building under the eyes of her parents. When a tenant, also a childhood friend, arrives after years away, Aisha finds herself confronted with unexpected urges as well as the reality of her life's particular circumstances. Asmahan follows two adult sisters in the aftermath of a car accident, revealing inner wounds and suppositions. Jarrad is witty and knowing, unafraid to explore the tricky pulls of individual transience versus familial responsibility.--Strauss, Leah Copyright 2016 Booklist

Library Journal Review

You have to hand it to Jarrar, author of the Arab-American Book Award winner A Map of Home; the heroines in her brave, bright, tell-it-like-it-is collection are generally not submissive. When forced, the sharp-tongued unwed mother who narrates "Lost in Freakin' Yonkers" chooses her baby over her traditional family; the heroine of "Building Girls" may work for her parents in Egypt, knowing she'll never leave, but she finds an imam who declares, "Nothing in the Koran says a woman can't love a woman." Elsewhere, a girl in Alexandria aims (literally and figuratively) to reach the moon, another in Paramus, NJ, gets kidnapped from a Pathmark, a kestrel found in Turkey with an Israeli tag tells its story, and a college graduate contends with a famed Egyptian feminist. VERDICT Impressively varied in style and content, Jarrar's collection is recommended for a wide range of -readers. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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