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1980s: Life in the beleaguered city of Beirut
B as in Beirut
What you need to know before your trail
The four interlocking narratives that make up this extraordinary novel belong to four women who live in the same apartment building in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. There is Lilian with her two children, desperate to emigrate, with or without her husband. Warda cannot recover from the loss of her daughter, and finds that no matter how many times she goes over it, the story of her life no longer makes sense. Camilia has returned to Beirut to make a film about her former homeland, but becomes irrevocably caught up in its violence. Maha remains in the building even as her family, her neighbours, her city, and her country fracture around her. As the war continues each day, unending, divisions between past and present begin to break down. Younes’ intimate, haunting attention to these women’s lives creates an unforgettable portrait not only of her characters but of the nature of war. Here, loss is the city’s most constant resident, and its story will inevitably overcome all the rest.
Locations
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Beirut during the Lebanese war
This is a novel about the impact of the Lebanese Civil War on four different women in Beirut. As you can imagine, this is a tough read but a raw and realistic portrayal of the human effects of war.
Everyone has to cope and survive as best they can. Losing someone is the norm but carrying on is difficult when your own future, your own present is so precarious. Life in the ruined city is hard. Streets are bombed, houses are broken and the people are largely homeless.
Pain is everywhere in a city at war.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: B is as Beirut
Destination: Beirut Author/guide: Iman Humaydan Younes Departure Time: 1980s
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