Gravel Heart

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A powerful story of exile, migration, and betrayal, from the Booker Prize shortlisted author of Paradise.Salim has always known that his father does not want him Living with his parents and his adored Uncle Amir in a house full of secrets, he is a bookish child, a dreamer haunted by night terrors It is the 1970s and Zanzibar is changing Tourists arrive, the island s white sands obscuring the memory of recent conflict the longed for independence from British colonialism swiftly followed by bloody revolution When his father moves out, retreating into disheveled introspection, Salim is confused and ashamed His mother does not discuss the change, nor does she explain her absences with a strange man silence is layered on silence.When glamorous Uncle Amir, now a senior diplomat, offers Salim an escape, the lonely teenager travels to London for college But nothing has prepared him for the biting cold and seething crowds of this hostile city Struggling to find a foothold, and to understand the darkness at the heart of his family, he must face devastating truths about those closest to him and about love, sex, and power Evoking the immigrant experience with unsentimental precision and profound understanding, Gravel Heart is a powerfully affecting story of isolation, identity, belonging, and betrayal, and Abdulrazak Gurnah s most astonishing achievement. Read Gravel Heart author Abdulrazak Gurnah – kino-fada.fr 2.5 stars rounded to 3Salim has a complicated childhood At one point he lives with his mom, dad and uncle Amir in a humble dwelling in Zanzibar One day, without previous notice, his dad packs up his things and moves out Stranger still, Saida his mother meets with a strange man often but offers no explanation When he is older, his uncle Amir now a diplomat sponsors him and brings him to live with him and his family to London Though Salim does his best to please his uncle, tensions arise 2.5 stars rounded to 3Salim has a complicated childhood At one point he lives with his mom, dad and uncle Amir in a humble dwelling in Zanzibar One day, without previous notice, his dad packs up his things and moves out Stranger still, Saida his mother meets with a strange man often but offers no explanation When he is older, his uncle Amir now a diplomat sponsors him and brings him to live with him and his family to London Though Salim does his best to please his uncle, tensions arise and secrets that had been bruried come to light.This is a tricky book to rate While the prose is nicely written and there are aspects of the novel I liked, generally speaking, I did not like this boo...i cannot say that i liked this book i don t know there is much to like, butabout this later but there are authors, and gurnah is one of them, that are so good, so established, so deep, that you read their books and cannot but find that the writing is full of wonder and wisdom the sense i get is that these writers, writers who have been writing forever not to win prizes but to tell the truth about their countries, don t care about how they will be received there is an inner compulsi i cannot say that i liked this book i don t know there is much to like, butabout this later but there are authors, and gurnah is one of them, that are so good, so established, so deep, that you read their books and cannot but find that the writing is full of wonder and wisdom the sense i get is that these ...I received a free advance copy of this novel through Netgalley in return for an honest review.There were so many aspects of this novel that appealed to me It is set partially in Zanzibar, a country I don t think I have ever encountered in literature and deals with a young man s move to Britain, the original coloniser of his home country I expected an exploration of the immigrant expe...Seeof my book reviews on my blog, Literary FlitsGravel Heart is a first person narrated novel exploring themes of isolation, exile and family loyalties from the point of view of Salim, a child at the beginning of our story The book is written in a dignified and reserved style which initially made it difficult for me to get into the story Emotions are strong, but stifled under conventions of honorable behav...This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers To view it, click here This book is a hard one to rate It was definitely worth the read It has problems It scharacter driven than plot The characters are all terribly flawed.Such superb writing This novel delved into a range of complex issues with a gentleness of prose Thanks to this author s talent, I was able to enjoy both the plot and nuanced storytelling.Couldn t finish I tried but it just didn t do it for me so I m not rating it It would be unfair to rate something I never finished but have no desire at all to pick up again The main reason I didn t enjoy it was because the narrative style was so detached like the narrator hadn t experienced any of the events and was merely relating someone else s life There also didn t seem to be any drive or point or anchor to the story And whil...This is a solidly written book with a rambling tone and pacing I ve read 4 of his other books and while I enjoyed those, I can t say that this book was compelling The emotional tone was not as intriguing as in those other books.Gurnah has a pattern boy grows up in Zanzi...I first came across Abdulrazak Gurnah s fiction when his 1994 novel Paradise was short listed for the Booker Prize And while it s been many years now since I read it, I remember being impressed by it So when I saw that he had a new novel coming out this season, I jumped at the chance to get a review copy Thanks to Bloomsbury USA for sending me the review copy I admit I was secretly hoping to discover a new hit before it reached booksellers.Well, I had the wrong publication date, so the n I first came across Abdulrazak Gurnah s fiction when his 1994 novel Paradise was short listed for the Booker Prize And while it s been many years now since I read it, I remember being impressed by it So when I saw that he had a new no...I was first introduced to the work of Abdulrazak Gurnah whilst studying for my MA in English with The Open University Paradise was one of the set books and I really enjoyed it despite having to write an assignment about it So I was keen to read Gravel Heart when I saw the title on NetGalley.Gurnah returns to some familiar themes colonialism especially British , the importance of stories telling, retell...

Gravel Heart
  • 03 April 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 272 pages
  • 163286813X
  • Abdulrazak Gurnah
  • Gravel Heart