A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAIF GHOBASH BANIPAL PRIZE
Abdel Latif, an old man, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in
Damascus. Before he dies, he tells his youngest son Bolbol that his
final wish is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral
village of Anabiya in the Aleppo region. Though Abdel Latif was not
the ideal father, and though Bolbol is estranged from his siblings, he
decides to persuade his older brother Hussein and his sister Fatima to
accompany him and their father's body to Anabiya - only a two-hour
drive from Damascus.
But the country is a warzone. 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 honour their father's request quickly escalates from a
dutiful commitment into an epic and life-threatening quest. Syria is
no longer any place for heroes, and the trials that confront the
family along their journey - while they are captured and recaptured,
interrogated, imprisoned, and bombed - will prove to have enormous
consequences for them all.
A mixture of brutal, front-line reportage and surreal humor evocative
of Beckett and Kafka, _Death is Hard Work_ is an unforgettable journey
into a contemporary heart of darkness.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780571346066
Publisert
2019
Utgiver
Vendor
Faber & Faber
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter