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Rawi Hage

Author of De Niro's Game

7+ Works 1,225 Members 52 Reviews 4 Favorited

About the Author

Includes the names: Rawi Hage, Rawe Hage

Image credit: Photo by Nigel Beale / Flickr

Works by Rawi Hage

De Niro's Game (2006) 607 copies
Cockroach (2008) 372 copies
Beirut Hellfire Society (2018) 112 copies
Carnival (2012) 92 copies
Exilio 1 copy
Spinnen füttern (2013) 1 copy

Associated Works

McSweeney's Issue 42 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern): Multiples (2013) — Translator/Contributor — 62 copies
Granta 141: Canada (2017) — Contributor — 58 copies
Beirut Noir (2015) — Contributor — 40 copies

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Reviews

Stray Dogs is a collection of lithe, playful stories, sometimes tilting toward surreal but always grounded in issues of real-world significance. Rawi Hage’s characters are restless travelers, seekers and strivers. Some are artists. Without exception they are intellectually curious, culturally astute and politically cognizant. Many of these tales of modern anxiety feature people who are discovering that long-held assumptions are mistaken or personal histories are fraudulent, or even that they have been misled by a notion or way of life held in reverence. In “The Iconoclast,” a successful writer narrates the unsettling story of Lukas, a German photographer who, amidst a newly formed sympathy for the oppressed, leaves behind a settled life, renouncing his art with the declaration that “the image is the root of all evil.” In the title story, Samir, a Jordanian philosopher and critic of conceptual photography, is invited to Japan for a conference. There he presents his paper, a comparative study of images of dogs taken by two master photographers—one Japanese, the other Czech. But, following his presentation, Samir is disheartened when audience members criticize his argument on cultural grounds, questioning the validity of his perspective as an Arab. “Mother, Mother, Mother” is narrated by a Lebanese man who, receiving notice that his mother back home has died, narrates the turbulent story of her life and his own childhood, describing without sentiment his mother’s obsessive vanity and damaging class-consciousness. And “The Fate of the Son of the Man on the Horse” tells the bittersweet story of unemployed photographer Guiseppe Cassina, an Italian living in Montreal, and how, in 1970, Guiseppe’s life is turned upside down when he receives an unexpected visit from the actress Sophia Loren and learns the shocking facts about his lineage. Throughout the volume, Hage writes with vigour and sly wit, creating narrative thrust with prose crowded with active verbs. The stories themselves are filled with surprising and abrupt twists and turns. Hage’s characters do not sit still for long. These are people constantly on the go, changing their minds, traveling far and wide, moving from country to country as they search for truth and understanding. Rawi Hage writes about people who act on the strength of their convictions. Driven by a crisis of identity or a conflict of ideologies, they jettison old beliefs and venture out to discover more about themselves and the world around them. This sounds daunting, but don’t be put off by the author’s weighty themes. For all the urgency at its core, Stray Dogs provides a quick, absorbing and highly entertaining read.… (more)
 
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icolford | 1 other review | Jan 9, 2023 |
The ideas in this book of short stories were challenging and the writing was concise and smart. Each story leaves you with things to ponder and chew on. It isn't a book for casual reading as it demands quite a bit from the reader. I read it for book club and it was helpful to be able to talk about it with a group. It provided some interesting discussion.
½
 
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Iudita | 1 other review | Jan 1, 2023 |
Pretty strange: half cockroach, half human, an Arab exile living in Quebec helps avenge torturers, narcissists, pretentious assholes who have hurt him or his loved ones by switching to his cockroach self and slipping undetected through streets and houses.
 
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burritapal | 15 other reviews | Oct 23, 2022 |
Lebanese author,
lit from "Canada", North America, Canada,
fiction, comedy, surrealism,
poverty, identity, immigration, crime, 21st century,
 
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VanBlackLibrary | 15 other reviews | Aug 19, 2022 |

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Works
7
Also by
4
Members
1,225
Popularity
#20,958
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
52
ISBNs
105
Languages
15
Favorited
4

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