katniss_li's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
One of the best, most surprising and most shocking books I’ve ever read in terms of style and technique. (It's like my writing but more poignant and concise and beautiful and everything you admire and want to achieve in your own work amplified ten thousand times [get the allusion?]. Some stylistic choices made are so similar to mine, it's incredible. It's like looking in the mirror and seeing the ideal you, but ten thousand times smarter and more beautiful)
The romanticization of lives, young and broken and dreaming amid a horrific war, the detachment, the emotionlessness of the unreliable narrator, it hits different. It goes off on tangents, in stream-of-conciousness and almost post-modern imaginations and rambles, in a confusion of reality and speech and imagination and past trauma and present horrors. Yet it never loses its focus. And it is all made very, very, shockingly beautiful.
Particular aspects of the book remind me of The Haunting of Hill House (the loneliness, the absence of a home), The Bell Jar (the jumbling of past and present, the numbness, the numb sadness) and The Cather in the Rye (the anguish, the confusion, the mistakes and being lost in the world), although De Niro's Game discusses themes very different from these books mentioned. Simply genius.
The romanticization of lives, young and broken and dreaming amid a horrific war, the detachment, the emotionlessness of the unreliable narrator, it hits different. It goes off on tangents, in stream-of-conciousness and almost post-modern imaginations and rambles, in a confusion of reality and speech and imagination and past trauma and present horrors. Yet it never loses its focus. And it is all made very, very, shockingly beautiful.
Particular aspects of the book remind me of The Haunting of Hill House (the loneliness, the absence of a home), The Bell Jar (the jumbling of past and present, the numbness, the numb sadness) and The Cather in the Rye (the anguish, the confusion, the mistakes and being lost in the world), although De Niro's Game discusses themes very different from these books mentioned. Simply genius.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, War, Confinement, Death of parent, Suicide, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Xenophobia
scarlettlarry's review
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved the writing style and narrative voice. It captured the anger, grief and confusion of war. Bassam was such and interesting and complex character.
xkrow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
stacydodds's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sumi3wow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
amywong's review against another edition
3.0
The first thing that struck me is how casual war is in this story. And it's not just a backdrop either the characters are all immersed in war yet there's a clear striking numbness to it. Bombs are dropping left and right and nobody blinks an eye cause it's just another day. It's uncomfortable yet beautiful.
Bassam and George are two sides of the same coin. They're both capable of the same things but how they feel about it is completely different. George plans to survive by climbing as high as he can in Beirut. Bassam was just going along, assimilating until a loss that pushes through his numbness and he does a 180 and works to leave asap.
I don't see much I dislike about this book but my feelings are that, just like the characters, I'm also finding myself numb to it. Very in the middle book for me.
Bassam and George are two sides of the same coin. They're both capable of the same things but how they feel about it is completely different. George plans to survive by climbing as high as he can in Beirut. Bassam was just going along, assimilating until a loss that pushes through his numbness and he does a 180 and works to leave asap.
I don't see much I dislike about this book but my feelings are that, just like the characters, I'm also finding myself numb to it. Very in the middle book for me.
thebacklistborrower's review against another edition
3.0
July ended up being a weird time to read this novel. Set during the war, and frequently referring to the destruction of the city, the falling bombs, it was just two weeks after finishing the book that the explosion of stockpiled weaponry at the port destroyed the city.
This book took me a long time to get into, and it isn't a long book. Bassam, the main character, and George (AKA De Niro) are two friends trying to make ends meet in a city in the middle of a war. Bassam works the port, and De Niro, at a casino. Over time, De Niro gets wrapped up in the Christian milita, gaining power and connections, Meanwhile Bassam tries to avoid the war, and increasingly his friend George, before eventually escaping to Europe.
This is the second book I've read by Rawi Hage, the first being [b:Cockroach|8787256|Cockroach|Rawi Hage|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348757402l/8787256._SX50_.jpg|4040733], and both have failed to connect with me. I think both are strongly connected to the sense of desperation, and despondency as one's life condition worsens, and the absence of drive, or of purpose, is present in the style of the writing. While this is a stylistic choice to communicate those emotions through the literal words on the page, I find it harder to connect with than other styles.
All that being said, I did enjoy the book by the end, and I'm glad to have read it. The language has moments of hilarity and happiness and fun, and the descriptions of Beirut and the surrounding area are unforgettable.
This book took me a long time to get into, and it isn't a long book. Bassam, the main character, and George (AKA De Niro) are two friends trying to make ends meet in a city in the middle of a war. Bassam works the port, and De Niro, at a casino. Over time, De Niro gets wrapped up in the Christian milita, gaining power and connections, Meanwhile Bassam tries to avoid the war, and increasingly his friend George, before eventually escaping to Europe.
This is the second book I've read by Rawi Hage, the first being [b:Cockroach|8787256|Cockroach|Rawi Hage|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348757402l/8787256._SX50_.jpg|4040733], and both have failed to connect with me. I think both are strongly connected to the sense of desperation, and despondency as one's life condition worsens, and the absence of drive, or of purpose, is present in the style of the writing. While this is a stylistic choice to communicate those emotions through the literal words on the page, I find it harder to connect with than other styles.
All that being said, I did enjoy the book by the end, and I'm glad to have read it. The language has moments of hilarity and happiness and fun, and the descriptions of Beirut and the surrounding area are unforgettable.
strikingthirteen's review
3.0
It's the writing style and the subject matter that get to me more than the plot does. The plot is actually...I don't want to say incidental but you could probably quite easily swap out these two main characters for other people and it would just as well. We are not dealing with a sympathetic environment or sympathetic characters here. We can feel sympathy for their situation, and what that has done to make them who and want they are, but it's hard to engage with them. You end up as detached as you do attached.
There's a lot to talk about with this book and that's for sure.
There's a lot to talk about with this book and that's for sure.
eliahaber's review
4.0
You get a very real feel of the ground. You also get a very detached narration of very intimate and invasive emotions. This is the ultimate experience you get, in addition to the author's unique storytelling charm.
mylogicisfuzzy's review
3.0
I thought two thirds of the book really very good and the last third a bit of a let down. Shame.