I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters

sincerity flowing from half-formed artifice, chinks and cracks and gaping holes. sarah is a woman most herself when trying to be someone else. and so, by extension, is alameddine. he is his characters, whatever guise they take, and their stories are his stories.

and this is the book that stays with me, however many times re-read—because here he plays it straight.

If you were telling the story of your life, where would you begin? With your first breath, your first memory, your first love, your first loss? With the story of your family or your people? Each chapter in "I, The Divine" is a new beginning, each chapter a puzzle piece in the life of Sarah Nour El-Din. The effect is kalaidescopic -- you see hues and shapes and stories that you recognize, but never in the same place twice. By the end, Alameddine forces you to step back and marvel at what a beautiful object you hold in your hands.

This book consists entirely of first chapters of a memoir that the narrator, Sarah Nour el-Din, is trying to write - but where should she begin? and how should she seek to write the story of her life? The longest chapter is around a dozen pages - some are only a paragraph or two. Some are fictionalised, a couple are in French, a few start with her parents or with other members of her family. But gradually a picture of her life builds up.

I love the format of this book. I like the idea, as a general principle, and it's wonderful to have chosen it for a book about the difficulty of building your own identity when you are caught between two cultures (Sarah's mother is American, and as an adult, she lives in the US), and about creating show more yourself as an individual within a strong family.

Unfortunately, for me there was too much of a focus on Sarah in the present, rather neurotically mourning her abandonment by her latest lover two years before - which takes up time which could have been better spent on her family, her childhood, and on the interesting questions of identity that the book raises. show less

The idea of writing a novel entirely in first chapters is original -- the premise being that the protagonist is trying to write her story, mostly as a memoir, but sometimes as a novel. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Putting together the pieces of Sarah's story through all these introductions was enjoyable, but I couldn't entirely buy her as a character.

(I picked this novel because I enjoyed Alameddine's short story "A Kiss to Wake the Sleeper" in [b:My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales|7945295|My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me Forty New Fairy Tales|Kate Bernheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327926278s/7945295.jpg|11460338].)

The style itself will draw you into this series of first chapters. If anything can give you a glimpse of what life was like during the war in Beirut, this will.

This was very interesting.....

Sarah is living in the u.s. after coming here to study from Lebanon... Beirut was a dangerous & unhappy place to live.

Her father Lebanese, her mother American, divorced when Sarah was two... Her father then married a much younger woman, a Lebanese peasant, who made life difficult for Sarah & her two sisters.

Sarah's story is told in First Chapters (how clever), going back and forth in time. Two of the chapters were written in French, so I didn't bother with those.

I'm amazed that a man was able to write the story of a woman w/ such clarity & accuracy....

Deze roman begint steeds opnieuw. De Libanese Sarah probeert in het steeds terugkerende eerste hoofdstuk greep op haar leven te krijgen. Ze is van een druzische familie en door haar grootvader vernoemd naar de actrice Sarah Bernardt. Ze leeft in Amerika, maar keert regelmatig terug naar haar familie in Beiroet. Sarah is sinds haar jeugd, als eerste meisje op een jongensschool, altijd buitenstaander gebleven. Gaandeweg onthullen zich de familie-intriges uit het verleden. Ook grootvader valt van zijn voetstuk. Uiteindelijk realiseert Sarah zich dat ze een onlosmakelijk deel van deze bizarre familie is. Alamaddine heeft een goed geconstrueerde, gevoelige roman geschreven. Een aanwinst voor de Libanese literatuur die altijd van hoogstaand show more niveau is geweest. Mooi omslag in steenrood met voorovergebogen vrouwengelaat; kleine druk. (bron: www.bibliotheekboxtel.nl - Drs. L.K. de Voogd) show less