Learning English by Rashid al-Daif

Description

No matter how hard Rachid tries to recreate himself, to become educated and worldly-to "learn English"-it is impossible for this hip Beiruti with his cell phone and high-speed internet to sever the connection to his past in the Lebanese village of Zgharta, known for its "tough guys" and old-fashioned clan mentality. When the news of his father's murder, a case of blood revenge, reaches him by chance through a newspaper report, it drags him inescapably back into the world of his past. show more Suddenly he is plunged once again into the endless questions that plagued his childhood: questions about his parents' marriage and his own legitimacy, questions he would rather have forgotten and which threaten not only his new lifestyle, but now, according to the protocol of vendetta culture, his very life. The accomplished al-Daif hooks his readers from page one of this, his ninth, novel-partly with pieces and fragments of suspense-filled plot and partly with his typically idiosyncratic narrator, whose bizarre stories, comical asides and uncannily perceptive comments on human nature lead us through this tantalizing, funny, and sober book about the hold the past has on Lebanon, and on us all. show less

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Narrator Rachid is a middle aged university professor in Beirut. He's living a modern life with a 'friends with benefits' girlfriend, all the latest technology - and he's even started English lessons.
After the first page - where he learns by chance in a cafe that his father has been killed back home in a 'blood feud' - the whole story takes place in his head.
Rachid ponders over why no one's informed him of the death. Is his life in danger from the feud? Do they expect him to avenge his father? And then he meanders back to recollections and suppositions about his dysfunctional family: his resentful mother (might she have done it?); her best friend who later married into the family (might she have divulged his mother's confidences?); his show more father's adultery; his uncles...
It took a determined effort to finish it. No real conclusion. Not recommended. show less

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